No Firewire; many possible problems, continued

Nubz N. wrote:
This thread is a continuation of No Firewire; many possible problems, which has been locked. The thread was too long and some browsers were timing out. The above link goes back to the original thread.

Thank you.

Apple Discussions Hosts

I agree, thank you for continuing the thread. I think I can speak for everyone that we appreciate your tolerance on the subject. Obviously it's an important topic to a lot of Apple customers and potential customers, and it's great that Apple is willing to allow us to voice our concerns in this forum.

Having said that, it would also be great if we could just get some sort of official response. 😟

Can you tell us whether these concerns are recognized or acknowledged by upper management?

Thanks in advance.

alansky wrote:
+I've also seen reports that the new model laptops are selling well...+

Wonder how all those MacBook buyers are migrating data from their old machines? Especially since the majority of buyers at this point are likely to be home users with limited expertise.

Transferring is effortless if they buy it from an Apple Retail Store. "Buy a Mac at an Apple Retail Store and a Genius will help you transfer all your files from your old computer to your new one. If you’d rather do it yourself, you can use a USB or FireWire hard drive or a local network to transfer photos, music, documents, and more. Watch the video".
Full link:
http://www.apple.com/getamac/whymac/

alansky wrote:
+If you’d rather do it yourself, you can use a USB or FireWire hard drive or a local network to transfer photos, music, documents, and more. Watch the video".+

Well, forget firewire drives... The new MacBook doesn't have a firewire port.

But The Gibbon makes a good point -- he grabbed that text verbatim from the apple website at

http://www.apple.com/getamac/whymac/

But I do know you can buy an adaptor (adapter) that can be plugged into a usb slot

There are no USB to Firewire adapters. (Desperate aluminum Macbook owners are looking, but it can't be done.)

Firewire MUST be in the computer.

If you need Firewire look at the new (early 2009) white Macbook it has Firewire. (and the new NVIDIA graphics.)

http://www.apple.com/macbook/white/

Well,

actually I've just come to be a little more optimistic. Considering threads of similar impact to a decision made by Apple, had so far not even come close to being continued in a new thread for means of convenience. Possibly some of it is read by decisionmakers after all. So I do see a good chance. Provided of course, we actually are large enough a group of customers and do not only believe to possibly be such a group.

I was very surprised and happy, it wasn't just closed....

But correct, and be it just for the sake of planning my future investments, I am not yet quite, but close to desperately looking for some official note.

Dirk

Thank you. It is good to see that Apple sees some value in this discussion, as evidenced by the willingness to be flexible in enforcing the Terms of Use.

Products like the iPod and iPhone get a lot of press, but the invention of FireWire means more to many of us, to whom FireWire represents Apple at its best. (Not knocking the other stuff - we have a ton of iPods and an iPhone in our house.)

I, too, appreciate Apple's willingness to host this very lengthy and not altogether flattering discussion about the company's decision to drop firewire from the new MacBook. It's their company, not ours, one might say. But that's not the whole truth here. Companies can't exist without customers any more than people can function without the products and services that companies provide. One hand washes the other. It's a symbiotic relationship that needs good will on both sides in order to flourish. I have little doubt that everyone (well, almost everyone) contributing to this discussion holds Apple in the highest regard and wishes the company great success in everything they do going forward. But we, Apple's loyal customers, are also part of the picture. Our interests must also be served or the relationship starts falling apart.

So thanks again to Apple for letting this discussion continue on their turf. What would be even better, of course, would be a response from Apple. What a concept!

Its good to see a new continuation, but funnily enough Firefox could handle the long thread but not Safari... 😟

+As for the new FW-Less Macbook:+

My trusty 3 year old iBook was about to die on me so I really was going to buy one of the new release.

I was in the Apple shop and just 2 mins away from buying the new Alu MacBook when I realised that my MiniDV camcorder would not work with it. I did not want to buy a new USB Camcorder. Or lose the use of my mutiple Firewaire Drives. And I certainly did not want to buy into old technology again (ie the vintage white one they are still selling..) even though its a bit cheaper...

So, before I buy a MacBook again, I am still waiting out for either:

1) Restoration of a Firewire port on the new MacBook, or

2) A smaller MacBook Pro (13" ?)

They used to have a small Powerbook that was really portable, but 15" MBP is just too much of a lump to cart around.

Asus have 10 models of Netbook PCs (their Eee range) out and they are 1/3 of the price of a MacBook so for surfing on the sofa I might even be tempted to jump ship to the world of windows...

Finally, I rejuvenated my iBook via Carbon Copy Cloner & re-formatting the disc then cloning back.... so hopefully it will last another three years!

And I still have US$1200 :):)

Ah, a 12-inch MacBook Pro WITH FIREWIRE ... what would Apple do with all the profits. That is the real problem. Hello Apple. Maybe even throw in a matte screen option.

I was in the Apple shop and just 2 mins away from buying the new Alu MacBook when I realised that my MiniDV camcorder would not work with it. I did not want to buy a new USB Camcorder. Or lose the use of my mutiple Firewaire Drives. And I certainly did not want to buy into old technology again (ie the vintage white one they are still selling..) even though its a bit cheaper...

So, before I buy a MacBook again, I am still waiting out for either:

1) Restoration of a Firewire port on the new MacBook, or

2) A smaller MacBook Pro (13" ?)

They used to have a small Powerbook that was really portable, but 15" MBP is just too much of a lump to cart around.

Asus have 10 models of Netbook PCs (their Eee range) out and they are 1/3 of the price of a MacBook so for surfing on the sofa I might even be tempted to jump ship to the world of windows...

I have also been waiting for an up-to-date replacement for my 1.5GHz 12" Powerbook G4, which is easily the best portable computer I have ever owned. The new MacBook, although its footprint is significantly larger than the 12" Powerbook, weighs about the same and would be well-worth considering as a replacement if it had a firewire port. Close but no cigar. What I really want, of course, is a new machine with the same footprint as my 12" Powerbook + firewire. USB is really not a satisfactory substitute for firewire. It removes valuable functionality without adding anything of value. This is the point that Apple seems to be ignoring.

While I bemoan the decision to drop FW on Apple laptops that cost only an arm, rather than an arm and a leg, I too applaud Apple's decision to continue the thread. Strange isn't it, that the company is more open and tolerant than some of the users going on about "stop whining" and "this forum isn't the place for these messages".

To reiterate my opinion, coming from the audio world, FW interfaces are head and shoulders above USB ones, many users have invested in such interfaces plus a MB because it was a sensible, functional and economically sound thing to do. I'm no Pro, neither are most of the FW audio users. Anyway, the use of the word "pro" on many things is laughable, it's just a label. I will continue to use my excellent previous-gen MB until it dies. Then, I hope that Apple will be producing a laptop with a FW port that is within my price range. If it is, I'll buy it. If not, then unless I'm a lot richer than now, I'll investigate the PC options.

Yes, thanks for continuing the thread!

No back to the topic at hand....

dazzer wrote:
While I bemoan the decision to drop FW on Apple laptops that cost only an arm, rather than an arm and a leg,

That's the jig... For a premium price, you'd expect the MacBook to at least have as many expansion options as it's cheaper priced PC counterpart.

And just because the trend for camcorders is to go tapeless, it doesn't mean everyone is going to throw out their miniDV machine and run out to buy a brand new camcorder...

And just because newer consumer camcorders aren't using Firewire doesn't mean professional Mac users won't want a cheaper, smaller laptop for their Firewire devices.

And what about all the consumer Firewire audio devices that were released on the market this year?

I hope that Apple will be producing a laptop with a FW port that is within my price range. If it is, I'll buy it. If not, then unless I'm a lot richer than now, I'll investigate the PC options.

Unfortunately, my thoughts exactly.

"Hey PC! how are you?"
"What's up Mac?"
"it was my birthday yesterday!"
"Happy birthday! hope you got some nice presents!"
"actually I did, my girlfriend got me a very nice Hi Def camcorder"
"Oh cool"
"actually PC I am a bit sad, maybe you can help me"
"Sure what happened?"
"My dad had an argument with my mom, he left us and he forgot to leave the firewire"
"too bad Mac"
"Maybe PC you can help me with your firewire - without it I feel locked out... and I can't tell my girlfriend I have no firewire anymore... she'd get upset"

"Hey PC! how are you?"
"What's up Mac?"
"it was my birthday yesterday!"
"Happy birthday! hope you got some nice presents!"
"actually I did, my girlfriend got me a very nice Hi Def camcorder"
"Oh cool"
"actually PC I am a bit sad, maybe you can help me"
"Sure what happened?"
"My dad had an argument with my mom, he left us and he forgot to leave the firewire"
"too bad Mac"
"Maybe PC you can help me with your firewire - without it I feel locked out... and I can't tell my girlfriend I have no firewire anymore... she'd get upset... you know the camcorder she got me is a tape one - she said that is the better quality... i cant tell her i can't sick it in..."

I was hoping to be able to buy a Macbook with firewire around christmas, so i waited for the release of the new macbook all those rumours were talking about. My main hobbies regard music and video. I have spent a lot of money on an audio interface with FW and of course on a DV camera, by working overtime for months and being patient. Chopping the FW off the new macbooks forces me either to consider to buy a MBP, or to buy a PC laptop running Vista or even capable of running OSX86. I find Apple's move very annoying. It is the kind of move Microsoft did by forcing everyone to upgrade their PCs just to be able to run Vista. I will not be forced neither to sell my Audio and Video equipment, nor to spend twice the amount of money for the MacBook Pro.

The option of buying an older mac is not really an option. Faster graphics are a must if you run CPU-hungry applications on a system with shared memory graphics.

congratulations, you just lost 1 customer.

PS. A Macbook Pro with just 1 firewire port is a joke.

PS.2 I already posted this message but i guess on the wrong thread.. sorry.