No Firewire ports!

There are USB 2 camcorders, and used and refurbished Macbooks with Firewire, and used and refurbished MacBooks with built-in Firewire*.

This does pose a problem for those who wanted to use the Migration Assistant, Target Disk Mode, and Firewire over IP. Though bootable SAN hard drives I suppose are an option via ethernet, they are surely expensive to get the same speed as built-in Firewire. Those who don't like this feature change really should submit feedback to:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/macbook.html

- * Links to my pages may give me compensation.

Message was edited by: a brody

Yeah, this is pretty disappointing, and a deal breaker for me. Are there really no usb/firewire adapter solutions out there? That's all it would take for me to purchase a new macbook.

That's a shame. What about ethernet to firewire? I've seen that discussed in a few forums? Anyone know the definitive answer?

I've not seen that either.

This is the one people are pointing to. Looks pretty shoddy to me.

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=205852397&SearchEngine=DealTime&Search Term=205852397&Type=PE&Category=Comp&Gad=0&dcaid=15891

This is an outrage!!! I'm a video producer who has invested over $10K in gear that relies heavily on Firewire 400 for ingesting footage. I travel alot and was really looking forward to the 13.3 form factor, but the lack of FW 400 is the stupidest thing I think Apple has done.

I understand they are pushing change but most video professionals who use Prosumer cameras like the HVX200 Require firewire 400 to ingest the video. I understand that I can use a step down cable for the FW 800 port on the MBP, but this is still a pain and I was going for a smaller form factor and price! I hope Apple realizes that they screwed alot of people with this and offers an adapter, because that is the only way I see to fix this problem.

Good point. Thanks for the info. I guess there's no new computer for me this year.

Assuming it works as documented, it would not be an ethernet signal unless hooked up to an ethernet port on a computer, and it would just jump the signal from USB to Firewire. I would be interested in hearing the results of someone purchasing it.

Message was edited by: a brody

I'm also very disappointed from this firewire issue. My solution is to connect my DV camcorder via USB, import it into Windows Movie Maker, and copy the wmv files to Mac, and import it to iMovie. It's cheaper than buying an HDV camcorder.

Someone at work just told me to use my old powerbook as my Firewire converter! A very expensive converter... But I guess it would work.

FYI, the refurbished prices have come down and are quite reasonable. And all have firewire. I also think the $999 version has firewire, though they don't really say in the store.