forget FW. give me an eSATA. Much more useful (speed and booting)
Right on. DisplayPort was a great move, doing away with the old and getting onto an extensible new standard. eSata would not have surprised me either. Definitely more useful than old FireWire. Based on SCSI too, just like it.
What is very disappointing to me is that the only difference between MB and MBP now is the missing FW port. Now it's the MBP and MBP Mini...and...the old COOL TIMELESS design Macbook
So when do we get the "pro version" of the MB - including FW?
BTW...the "old" FW enabled us to use 2,5" harddrives without further power supply, and most cool NEW audio interfaces as well as video equipment uses FW
forget FW. give me an eSATA. Much more useful (speed and booting)
You're joking, right? If your life evolves around your 1TB music collection on an external HDD and you want it to be eSATA, then explain how come that hasn't caught on in the PC World.
eSATA doesn't cover the Video industry, doesn't chain devices like FW and much more.
BTW...the "old" FW enabled us to use 2,5" harddrives without further power supply, and most cool NEW audio interfaces as well as video equipment uses FW
Most 2.5" hard drives require less than 500mA of power, and can be powered by the USB bus.
What is very disappointing to me is that the only difference between MB and MBP now is the missing FW port. Now it's the MBP and MBP Mini...and...the old COOL TIMELESS design Macbook
So when do we get the "pro version" of the MB - including FW?
The MBP also has two graphics processors, expresscard slot, up to 2.8GHz processor, and a larger screen.
And it's gonna bite'em in the ass. The judgement differentiation should have been a motherboard that offers 8GB of Ram and offers a 500 GB HDD.
7200RPM drives standard on the MacBook Pros wouldn't have hurt, either. And a higher density screen. That extra $400 between the MacBook and the MacBook Pro really doesn't get you much.
I find the apple store employees generally very knowledgeable and always helpful.
I was disappointed wednesday however when I drove two hours round trip to the apple store in tampa and there were no new computers on display. ("these new computers will be in the store tomorrow", which would have been wednesday, we were told during the product announcement.) "We have them in the store," an employee told me when i complained. "They're just not out on display."
In the store, but not "in" the store. It was like Bill Clinton parsing "What is 'is'?" I registered a complaint with the store manager and left, disappointed. As an apple investor, i can only imagine a move like that let down some would-be first-time Mac buyers, who enthusiastically went to the store only to find out they couldn't see the computers after all.
True: I don't know whether this unsatisfactory outcome was unique to the tampa store or true in all the chain's stores. And i know within a week, when i get a chance to get to the store again, this will all be only a minor bump. All I'm sayin' is, it shouldn't happen that way. Sometimes the devil's in the details.
was it worth the petrol though?! don't you know there's a war/recession/climate meltdown on?!
would it not somewhat hinder access to the optical drive if you? should've been out of the way towards the back.
...that's where the security slot has always been. That's where it is on the three year old 15" PowerBook G4 I'm typing this on. The nearest port on the right side (looking at the display), one of the two USB2 ports, is the same distance from the slot, if not closer, which seems like it would create more of a problem as these days, most people use the USB ports of their computer more than the disc drive.
Of course, this is ignoring the fact that if you're in front of your laptop and using it, you don't need it locked to the table (unless you're really paranoid).
Most 2.5" hard drives require less than 500mA of power, and can be powered by the USB bus.
Most 2.5" drives use slightly more than 500mA that the official USB specifications allows. Typical power requirements I have seen range from 550mA to 700mA of current at 5V. This can cause problems because in the interaction between Mac and external drive, the external drive might ask for more power than the Mac can provide, and problems may be exhibited in two ways:
1) The computer may tell you that the external cannot be provided enough power and thus ask you to disconnect it, or
2) The drive might appear to have power, but won't have enough current to spin up the drive reliably. Sometimes a drive will mount on a desktop Mac but not a MacBook/PowerBook. Sometimes a drive won't mount and sometimes it will (and this is on the same Mac).
PCs generally don't concern themselves with the 500mA current that a USB port is supposed to be limited to and can often source up to 1500mA without complaining or dying in the process.
Many USB external 2.5" drives have two USB (A) plugs, and are meant to source their >500mA from a combination of both these ports. To use these successfully, you disconnect the drive from the cable, plug in the Power-Only plug (USB-A) into the computer, then the Power-And-Data (USB-A) into the computer, then plug the other end into the external drive (usually mini-USB-5). This has not worked well with the older MacBooks, MacBook Pros or PowerBooks where there is a single USB-A on each side of the computer and this USB Y-cable doesn't reach both ports at once. The New MacBooks with both USB-A ports on the same side will work better with these cables.
Another option for some external USB drives is to use a mini plugpack power supply to power the drive and use the USB cable to transmit data only. This requires you to lug around a power supply and possibly a double-power adapter to power computer and drive simultaneously. Some external USB drives don't have provision for additional power.
The last option is to use a powered USB hub to provide sufficient current - again, it's one more extra that has to be carried around.
Firewire external drives can often be chained together without the need for additional power supplies, but the FireWire400 plugs and sockets have killed many logic boards and drives due to them being forceably plugged in the wrong way. FireWire800 is a neat and sure connection and usually gives much better performance as well.
Now, I know some people are upset about the lack of firewire on the new MacBook. While many of your thoughts as to why it's missing may be plausible, you might take a look at the tear-down pictures to get a feel for the internals of the machines. Sure, from the outside it looks like there is plenty of room to throw in a firewire port, but if you look at the MacBooks logic board and case design, you will see that there is no more room without making the laptop larger.
Either you have to give up a different port or increase the overall size if you really want that firewire port. Would you be complaining if Apple only included one USB port, but gave you Firewire?
Now, I know some people are upset about the lack of firewire on the new MacBook. While many of your thoughts as to why it's missing may be plausible, you might take a look at the tear-down pictures to get a feel for the internals of the machines. Sure, from the outside it looks like there is plenty of room to throw in a firewire port, but if you look at the MacBooks logic board and case design, you will see that there is no more room without making the laptop larger.
Either you have to give up a different port or increase the overall size if you really want that firewire port. Would you be complaining if Apple only included one USB port, but gave you Firewire?
As was said when that was posted for the first time, the cramped-looking logic board isn't a good excuse.
Features are set BEFORE the Logic board is designed, not the other way around.
If the smaller 12" Powerbook had the space for all the current MB ports PLUS a modem port and a Firewire port, you can be assured there is the room inside the laptop for Firewire this time around.
If the smaller 12" Powerbook had the space for all the current MB ports PLUS a modem port and a Firewire port, you can be assured there is the room inside the laptop for Firewire this time around.
Exactly. But they should reduce somewhat the battery size to accomodate some more circuitry.
forget FW. give me an eSATA. Much more useful (speed and booting)
Unless I missed it on Wikipedia, the problem with eSATA is it cannot power external devices. USB 3.0 (specs 90+% complete) will be faster than eSATA and FireWire400, plus it will have the benefit of being backward compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 which will make the transition transparent. Obviously, if you have a computer with USB 3.0 ports you will look for devices that support USB 3.0 so you can take advantage of the speed it will offer.
Comments
I always wonder, where is the security slot on the macbook pro?
and
I'm wondering the same thing
Don't stress your brains too much guys:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...cbook_pro.html
forget FW. give me an eSATA. Much more useful (speed and booting)
Right on. DisplayPort was a great move, doing away with the old and getting onto an extensible new standard. eSata would not have surprised me either. Definitely more useful than old FireWire. Based on SCSI too, just like it.
So when do we get the "pro version" of the MB - including FW?
They want to differentiate, this was a judgement call about that. It's annoying as hell though.
And it's gonna bite'em in the ass. The judgement differentiation should have been a motherboard that offers 8GB of Ram and offers a 500 GB HDD.
forget FW. give me an eSATA. Much more useful (speed and booting)
You're joking, right? If your life evolves around your 1TB music collection on an external HDD and you want it to be eSATA, then explain how come that hasn't caught on in the PC World.
eSATA doesn't cover the Video industry, doesn't chain devices like FW and much more.
BTW...the "old" FW enabled us to use 2,5" harddrives without further power supply, and most cool NEW audio interfaces as well as video equipment uses FW
Most 2.5" hard drives require less than 500mA of power, and can be powered by the USB bus.
What is very disappointing to me is that the only difference between MB and MBP now is the missing FW port. Now it's the MBP and MBP Mini...and...the old COOL TIMELESS design Macbook
So when do we get the "pro version" of the MB - including FW?
The MBP also has two graphics processors, expresscard slot, up to 2.8GHz processor, and a larger screen.
And it's gonna bite'em in the ass. The judgement differentiation should have been a motherboard that offers 8GB of Ram and offers a 500 GB HDD.
7200RPM drives standard on the MacBook Pros wouldn't have hurt, either. And a higher density screen. That extra $400 between the MacBook and the MacBook Pro really doesn't get you much.
I find the apple store employees generally very knowledgeable and always helpful.
I was disappointed wednesday however when I drove two hours round trip to the apple store in tampa and there were no new computers on display. ("these new computers will be in the store tomorrow", which would have been wednesday, we were told during the product announcement.) "We have them in the store," an employee told me when i complained. "They're just not out on display."
In the store, but not "in" the store. It was like Bill Clinton parsing "What is 'is'?" I registered a complaint with the store manager and left, disappointed. As an apple investor, i can only imagine a move like that let down some would-be first-time Mac buyers, who enthusiastically went to the store only to find out they couldn't see the computers after all.
True: I don't know whether this unsatisfactory outcome was unique to the tampa store or true in all the chain's stores. And i know within a week, when i get a chance to get to the store again, this will all be only a minor bump. All I'm sayin' is, it shouldn't happen that way. Sometimes the devil's in the details.
was it worth the petrol though?! don't you know there's a war/recession/climate meltdown on?!
and
Don't stress your brains too much guys:
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...cbook_pro.html
would it not somewhat hinder access to the optical drive if you? should've been out of the way towards the back.
would it not somewhat hinder access to the optical drive if you? should've been out of the way towards the back.
...that's where the security slot has always been. That's where it is on the three year old 15" PowerBook G4 I'm typing this on. The nearest port on the right side (looking at the display), one of the two USB2 ports, is the same distance from the slot, if not closer, which seems like it would create more of a problem as these days, most people use the USB ports of their computer more than the disc drive.
Of course, this is ignoring the fact that if you're in front of your laptop and using it, you don't need it locked to the table (unless you're really paranoid).
Most 2.5" hard drives require less than 500mA of power, and can be powered by the USB bus.
Most 2.5" drives use slightly more than 500mA that the official USB specifications allows. Typical power requirements I have seen range from 550mA to 700mA of current at 5V. This can cause problems because in the interaction between Mac and external drive, the external drive might ask for more power than the Mac can provide, and problems may be exhibited in two ways:
1) The computer may tell you that the external cannot be provided enough power and thus ask you to disconnect it, or
2) The drive might appear to have power, but won't have enough current to spin up the drive reliably. Sometimes a drive will mount on a desktop Mac but not a MacBook/PowerBook. Sometimes a drive won't mount and sometimes it will (and this is on the same Mac).
PCs generally don't concern themselves with the 500mA current that a USB port is supposed to be limited to and can often source up to 1500mA without complaining or dying in the process.
Many USB external 2.5" drives have two USB (A) plugs, and are meant to source their >500mA from a combination of both these ports. To use these successfully, you disconnect the drive from the cable, plug in the Power-Only plug (USB-A) into the computer, then the Power-And-Data (USB-A) into the computer, then plug the other end into the external drive (usually mini-USB-5). This has not worked well with the older MacBooks, MacBook Pros or PowerBooks where there is a single USB-A on each side of the computer and this USB Y-cable doesn't reach both ports at once. The New MacBooks with both USB-A ports on the same side will work better with these cables.
Another option for some external USB drives is to use a mini plugpack power supply to power the drive and use the USB cable to transmit data only. This requires you to lug around a power supply and possibly a double-power adapter to power computer and drive simultaneously. Some external USB drives don't have provision for additional power.
The last option is to use a powered USB hub to provide sufficient current - again, it's one more extra that has to be carried around.
Firewire external drives can often be chained together without the need for additional power supplies, but the FireWire400 plugs and sockets have killed many logic boards and drives due to them being forceably plugged in the wrong way. FireWire800 is a neat and sure connection and usually gives much better performance as well.
Either you have to give up a different port or increase the overall size if you really want that firewire port. Would you be complaining if Apple only included one USB port, but gave you Firewire?
Now, I know some people are upset about the lack of firewire on the new MacBook. While many of your thoughts as to why it's missing may be plausible, you might take a look at the tear-down pictures to get a feel for the internals of the machines. Sure, from the outside it looks like there is plenty of room to throw in a firewire port, but if you look at the MacBooks logic board and case design, you will see that there is no more room without making the laptop larger.
Either you have to give up a different port or increase the overall size if you really want that firewire port. Would you be complaining if Apple only included one USB port, but gave you Firewire?
As was said when that was posted for the first time, the cramped-looking logic board isn't a good excuse.
Features are set BEFORE the Logic board is designed, not the other way around.
If the smaller 12" Powerbook had the space for all the current MB ports PLUS a modem port and a Firewire port, you can be assured there is the room inside the laptop for Firewire this time around.
If the smaller 12" Powerbook had the space for all the current MB ports PLUS a modem port and a Firewire port, you can be assured there is the room inside the laptop for Firewire this time around.
Exactly. But they should reduce somewhat the battery size to accomodate some more circuitry.
forget FW. give me an eSATA. Much more useful (speed and booting)
Unless I missed it on Wikipedia, the problem with eSATA is it cannot power external devices. USB 3.0 (specs 90+% complete) will be faster than eSATA and FireWire400, plus it will have the benefit of being backward compatible with USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 which will make the transition transparent. Obviously, if you have a computer with USB 3.0 ports you will look for devices that support USB 3.0 so you can take advantage of the speed it will offer.