According to Macworld's test results, that's not the case. An external drive attached via Firewire 800 will provide a boost in performance over the internal 5,400 RPM drives found in the mini.
You do know you can buy a 7200 RPM notebook HD right? If you really need to expand your desktop space to ungodly amounts (1TB or above) then perhaps you're buying a Mac that isn't made for you. .
I have got no idea what you are talking about.
Are you suggesting that anybody who has more than 1TB worth of movies/pics/music/files/backups etc.. should be using a Mac Pro?
What a strange thing to say. Storage requirements have nothing to do with the computer you use, and it makes perfect sense and should be considered good practice to store anything that you do not want to risk onto external drives, hopefully mirrored or at least backed-up.
Do you really suggest that people who use Mac Mini's should not back movies up to their hard disk?
A Mac Mini is my media center, I have 3TB worth of media on my storage drives. Are you saying I really should spend a fortune on a Mac Pro just to watch movies on?
Some Mac fans will say any old rubbish just to keep justifying Apple design.
The Mac Mini right now is offering some good value at that price/value/size point. The 9400 definitely is an achievement, we're talking graphics and gaming somewhere between the Wii and Xbox360. As for HTPC uses, It can push 1080p without breaking a sweat.
It's a very substantial upgrade because it's been so bloody long since the last time the Mini was updated.
Most of the gripes are about the iMac. For one thing, you tell me how the 9400, as good as it is, can drive 24" 1920x1200 in games, for example. So basically a 24" is more for watching videos. As for iLife and so on, at that resolution, I'm sure a discrete GPU would help, but Apple skimped on it for no apparent reason other than worries about the economy (but risk customers viewing it as poor value for money). I'm talking about the entry-level 24" here that is supposedly "cheaper" but it lost the discrete GPU, the 2600 Pro with *dedicated* 256MB VRAM... Which certainly most cases outclasses the 9400M easily, especially if we're talking about 1920x1200 resolutions. Serious prosumers who use Aperture for example, will definitely need to get the mid-range GT120 24" iMac. Well, maybe that's want Apple loves counting on, the upsell.
That said, I need a Mac for work/life/play so if my white MacBook Core Duo (near the end of the warranty) somehow bites the dust, the Mac Mini 2.0ghz 120gb (upgrade to 2GB RAM) is my straight away GO-TO Mac of choice.
Here's a hint, pop in a 7200rpm drive and the Mac Mini is a decent package for desktop use (certainly Adobe CS4, iMovie, dare I suggest a bit of Aperture, Logic and Final Cut).
Environmentally, I have to say the Mini is interesting because big huge PCs drawing 100 to 500W (or more with heavy gaming) GPUs ~ well, not that easy to swallow nowadays if you've seen a few of Al Gore's slideshows.
My top-of-the-line tower of a few years ago was a dual G4 500 that was so inferior in absolute performance compared to the mini that it's really rather staggering to imagine how far computer hardware has come. It cost roughly 10 times as much and came at the time with only 256 megs of RAM and a very, very poor dedicated GPU. It cost me roughly what it costs now to buy a mini to do upgrades on the G4 to get to roughly where the first-generation mini was at in terms of capabilities.
I suspect the vast, vast majority of computer buyers today could opt for a mini and get what they need from it. Times have changed and I'm pleased that Apple has not chosen to kill off the mini. I suspect that it could be the perfect product for the next few years, allowing Apple to retain customers who are going to be very concerned about costs.
I wonder how much of an impact the price increases will have on international sales.
International sales will take a hit as well, because of as you mention, the price increases across the board "due to" the strength of the US currency and the collapse of the pound and australian dollar, for example.
Given the economic slowdown is really global in nature because of how interconnected everything is, as such... I think for Mac sales the slowdown and the local price increases will hit international sales quite hard.
I'd be very surprised if Apple achieves anything better than -5% on a global, Mac unit numbers, year-over-year figure for Jan-Mar quarter. The sequential decline from previous quarter, again, I'd be surprised if it's anything better than -10%.
As for AAPL price, I don't really see it moving past $120 within 6 months at least. There could be a real turnaround in sentiment by June, or June could be the lowest point of the "global turnaround" (ie "the bottom").
Apple will still be profitable but they are definitely trying to manage things the best they can, like I said, I just hope they don't depend on the "premium" market too much. Some people need a phone and computer just to stay and keep their current jobs and to be able to stay sane by chilling out with it. Apple just has to convince them, this is *the* smart investment to make and hey, you can have more fancy stuff if you really want it next year.
Are you suggesting that anybody who has more than 1TB worth of movies/pics/music/files/backups etc.. should be using a Mac Pro?
What a strange thing to say. Storage requirements have nothing to do with the computer you use, and it makes perfect sense and should be considered good practice to store anything that you do not want to risk onto external drives, hopefully mirrored or at least backed-up.
Do you really suggest that people who use Mac Mini's should not back movies up to their hard disk?
A Mac Mini is my media center, I have 3TB worth of media on my storage drives. Are you saying I really should spend a fortune on a Mac Pro just to watch movies on?
Some Mac fans will say any old rubbish just to keep justifying Apple design.
What you said has nothing to do with what the poster I quoted said. They aren't backing up movies to a hard disk. They're running their computer off the hard disk. Big difference! I'm not suggesting that someone get a MacPro just because they're using 1 or 2TB of space. But maybe if they're that into their computer perhaps they bought the wrong one.
Just because it suits your needs doesn't mean it will suit others. Your needs have nothing to do with my quoted post.
But yeah...everyone who disagrees with you is automatically a "fanboy".
Well, for February anyways, sounds like they made a number of products some people didn't really want that much compared to last year... ...I don't know if Apple can simply blame the global economy. Maybe. Maybe not. Depends how you look at it.
I don't think it would have mattered what Apple released. Mac people (I'm one of them!) are the biggest bunch of whiners I've ever seen! Every time Apple releases something, there's always something to bitch about. Funny thing is....people still buy their products! Go figure!
Last year the economy wasn't in the crapper either. You can't deny that its not effecting Apple's sales. Its effecting EVERYONE! Apple isn't this special company that is immune to everything. If you thought Apple could keep up with last years sales or better you're out of your tree. You take the fact that the economy is getting worse, more and more people are losing their jobs and add that to the fact that this quarter is always Apple's worst quarter you're going to have a sales decline. It doesn't matter what kind of products you have. If people don't have the money they aren't going to buy the product!
You just wait for the iPhone OS demo later today and you see them come out of the woodwork just to whine and complain about it. But, they'll still download the 3.0 OS when its available.
Over 500 million people speak these and other RTL languages. If Apple targets their computers and software correctly they can bring in these markets.
That's precisely my point. Small changes for Apple will affect their sales and reputation in big ways.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cameronj
Uh huh, and if that number is true then over 10 times that many don't. Which only proves the OP's point - that adding that support would result in minimal change in Apple's finances.
If you're saying that 10% of potential users are irrelevant, keep in mind that Apple's worldwide market share is also not bigger than 10%. Does that make Apple irrelevant? If something is important (not to say critical) for some users, it shouldn't be dismissed.
If you have two Macs and cable with standard FW connectors on each end. I find that a much easier solution is to just boot from an external USB drive. I have a Time Machine drive that I carry and a small partition of that has OS X installed on it. I only to have one Mac with me to fix anything. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
That doesn't work if its a graphics/display problem.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cameronj
There are FAR more people in the computer buying world who don't care about Firewire than who do Hell, there are more people in the computer buying world who have never HEARD of Firewire than there are people who need it.
There are far more people in the computer buying world using using $500 windows machines, so should Apple switch to only making them? Building for the least demanding user only leads to less productive computers.
February Desktop sales are down? Really? File that one under "DUH!"
When the entire line of notebooks got refreshed last fall/Jan, anyone looking for a desktop who valued their money was waiting for a desktop refresh. When that refresh happened on March 3rd, I'm sure Apple got tons of orders. (I should know, I picked up a new Mini).
I'm sure next month we'll see a story about Apple having a great desktop sales number for March.
How to increase Mac sales: place at least one Firewire port on Macbook and MacBook Air (also with Ethernet port and at least two USB2 ports). No such ports, no purchase. That simple.
If you're saying that 10% of potential users are irrelevant, keep in mind that Apple's worldwide market share is also not bigger than 10%. Does that make Apple irrelevant? If something is important (not to say critical) for some users, it shouldn't be dismissed.
Nope, I'm saying that 10% of the potential users are a lot less valuable than the other 90%, which is why Apple puts its resources on those other 90%. You might not be aware of this, but Apple is a for-profit corporation. It makes its product choices based on the profitability of making the investment. Clearly you think they should be spending their money to develop RTL language capability. Clearly Apple does not agree. You can start a computer company and make that investment if you wish, but Apple did their research and determined that RTL writers wouldn't be a large enough market for its $1200 computers to make it worthwhile. Sorry!
Unfortunately, Apple's substantial market aren't graphics professionals and gamers. The Apple of 10-15 yrs ago isn't the same Apple of today. Apple doesn't need to tailor itself to the needs of creative professionals anymore to gain sales like it did 10yrs ago. It has a strong footing under itself with real everyday customers. I'm sorry Apple doesn't make the Mac you want. Apple can't be everything to everyone. Thats the problem with a lot of people, they think just because they and a few of their friends wants/needs something, everyone automatically wants/needs it. Apple knows its customer base. It knows who is buying these computers and why they buy them. They're not stupid. They just didn't get where they are today because they made products people didn't want.
I don't think it would have mattered what Apple released. Mac people (I'm one of them!) are the biggest bunch of whiners I've ever seen! Every time Apple releases something, there's always something to bitch about. Funny thing is....people still buy their products! Go figure!
You just wait for the iPhone OS demo later today and you see them come out of the woodwork just to whine and complain about it. But, they'll still download the 3.0 OS when its available.
Well said, mac users are the biggest whiners ever and now you have the iphone users also coming, it's 20 times worse.
Apple Mac sales have actually slowed two quarters in a row, this one will make it three in row and the culprit has been the lack of desktop updates. Apple FINALLY came to their senses with the iMac, Mac Pro and Mac mini refreshes!
(...)Clearly you think they should be spending their money to develop RTL language capability.(...)
In fact, the OS perfectly supports RTL capabilities and the proof is in TextEdit. Most of the work would have to be done at the level of the iWork and iLife applications. The cold facts are that the official Apple importer here in Israel offered Apple to help work on their office suite to include proper RTL capabilities and Apple (righty so, one could argue) refused.
I am surprised at your knee-jerk reaction to this matter, since it didn't contribute much to this discussion. Also, it's nothing short of illogical considering that most of Apple's applications work with say Japanese, which is spoken in only 1 country by less than half the number of Arabic and Hebrew speakers... Maybe that says more about you than about our favorite gadget firm...
Maybe for you...for a lot of people (first time buyers)...they couldn't give a rats ass about a FW port. If it were only as simple as putting those ports on those models.
You people need to let the damn FW thing go. It is what it is! There are as many people who couldn't care about FW as those who do.
I don't have FW on my Unibody MacBook and I've never ran into any issues where I needed FW, nor have I wished I had FW. I'd rather have more USB ports to be honest.
Target Disk Mode isn't the end all of repairs...There are other ways to fix a Mac, transfer information, etc...
I'd say sales were down because the economy is in the crapper, this time of the year is Apple's worst for sales, and a lot of people knew Apple was about to release new Macs. The uni-body MacBook and updated MBA has been selling since October. If you remember correctly, that was one of Apple's best quarters in its history. So it has nothing to do with the lack of ports. Pure BS right there. Also, don't forget that Apple still sells the white MacBook with the updated NVIDIA chipset and a FW port for $999. They even still have them demo'd in stores.
I'm pleased to hear that things are working out for YOU, because as long as YOU are happy, everyone else should be just fine. After all, if YOU don't need something no one should. Your right, it makes sense to have zero FW ports that Apple pushed to be an accepted standard in favor of even more USB ports. Since Apple doesn't make an Apple branded USB hub, there's no need to pick up one made by another company from newegg.com for 20 bucks.
Comments
Also Apple now has 10% world wide marketshare.
Sorry, but that is not exactly true. As you can see
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles...s_of_acer.html
the share of Apple in the US in the 4th Q of 2008 was 8%,
worldwide Apple even doesn't get mentioned explicitly but is summed up in "Others".
I think Apple is hovering at about 3-4% worldwide.
Interesting thought. Except, an internal 5400 RPM SATA drive is going to be faster than the external FW800 drive.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=663343
According to Macworld's test results, that's not the case. An external drive attached via Firewire 800 will provide a boost in performance over the internal 5,400 RPM drives found in the mini.
You do know you can buy a 7200 RPM notebook HD right? If you really need to expand your desktop space to ungodly amounts (1TB or above) then perhaps you're buying a Mac that isn't made for you. .
I have got no idea what you are talking about.
Are you suggesting that anybody who has more than 1TB worth of movies/pics/music/files/backups etc.. should be using a Mac Pro?
What a strange thing to say. Storage requirements have nothing to do with the computer you use, and it makes perfect sense and should be considered good practice to store anything that you do not want to risk onto external drives, hopefully mirrored or at least backed-up.
Do you really suggest that people who use Mac Mini's should not back movies up to their hard disk?
A Mac Mini is my media center, I have 3TB worth of media on my storage drives. Are you saying I really should spend a fortune on a Mac Pro just to watch movies on?
Some Mac fans will say any old rubbish just to keep justifying Apple design.
Also Apple now has 10% world wide marketshare.
Easy there Cowboy. 8% US share does not make 10% share of world market. Apple have more like a 2-3% worldwide marketshare.
Acer sold more netbooks last quarter than all Apple computers combined.
The Mac Mini right now is offering some good value at that price/value/size point. The 9400 definitely is an achievement, we're talking graphics and gaming somewhere between the Wii and Xbox360. As for HTPC uses, It can push 1080p without breaking a sweat.
It's a very substantial upgrade because it's been so bloody long since the last time the Mini was updated.
Most of the gripes are about the iMac. For one thing, you tell me how the 9400, as good as it is, can drive 24" 1920x1200 in games, for example. So basically a 24" is more for watching videos. As for iLife and so on, at that resolution, I'm sure a discrete GPU would help, but Apple skimped on it for no apparent reason other than worries about the economy (but risk customers viewing it as poor value for money). I'm talking about the entry-level 24" here that is supposedly "cheaper" but it lost the discrete GPU, the 2600 Pro with *dedicated* 256MB VRAM... Which certainly most cases outclasses the 9400M easily, especially if we're talking about 1920x1200 resolutions. Serious prosumers who use Aperture for example, will definitely need to get the mid-range GT120 24" iMac. Well, maybe that's want Apple loves counting on, the upsell.
That said, I need a Mac for work/life/play so if my white MacBook Core Duo (near the end of the warranty) somehow bites the dust, the Mac Mini 2.0ghz 120gb (upgrade to 2GB RAM) is my straight away GO-TO Mac of choice.
Here's a hint, pop in a 7200rpm drive and the Mac Mini is a decent package for desktop use (certainly Adobe CS4, iMovie, dare I suggest a bit of Aperture, Logic and Final Cut).
Environmentally, I have to say the Mini is interesting because big huge PCs drawing 100 to 500W (or more with heavy gaming) GPUs ~ well, not that easy to swallow nowadays if you've seen a few of Al Gore's slideshows.
My top-of-the-line tower of a few years ago was a dual G4 500 that was so inferior in absolute performance compared to the mini that it's really rather staggering to imagine how far computer hardware has come. It cost roughly 10 times as much and came at the time with only 256 megs of RAM and a very, very poor dedicated GPU. It cost me roughly what it costs now to buy a mini to do upgrades on the G4 to get to roughly where the first-generation mini was at in terms of capabilities.
I suspect the vast, vast majority of computer buyers today could opt for a mini and get what they need from it. Times have changed and I'm pleased that Apple has not chosen to kill off the mini. I suspect that it could be the perfect product for the next few years, allowing Apple to retain customers who are going to be very concerned about costs.
I wonder how much of an impact the price increases will have on international sales.
International sales will take a hit as well, because of as you mention, the price increases across the board "due to" the strength of the US currency and the collapse of the pound and australian dollar, for example.
Given the economic slowdown is really global in nature because of how interconnected everything is, as such... I think for Mac sales the slowdown and the local price increases will hit international sales quite hard.
I'd be very surprised if Apple achieves anything better than -5% on a global, Mac unit numbers, year-over-year figure for Jan-Mar quarter. The sequential decline from previous quarter, again, I'd be surprised if it's anything better than -10%.
As for AAPL price, I don't really see it moving past $120 within 6 months at least. There could be a real turnaround in sentiment by June, or June could be the lowest point of the "global turnaround" (ie "the bottom").
Apple will still be profitable but they are definitely trying to manage things the best they can, like I said, I just hope they don't depend on the "premium" market too much. Some people need a phone and computer just to stay and keep their current jobs and to be able to stay sane by chilling out with it. Apple just has to convince them, this is *the* smart investment to make and hey, you can have more fancy stuff if you really want it next year.
I have got no idea what you are talking about.
Are you suggesting that anybody who has more than 1TB worth of movies/pics/music/files/backups etc.. should be using a Mac Pro?
What a strange thing to say. Storage requirements have nothing to do with the computer you use, and it makes perfect sense and should be considered good practice to store anything that you do not want to risk onto external drives, hopefully mirrored or at least backed-up.
Do you really suggest that people who use Mac Mini's should not back movies up to their hard disk?
A Mac Mini is my media center, I have 3TB worth of media on my storage drives. Are you saying I really should spend a fortune on a Mac Pro just to watch movies on?
Some Mac fans will say any old rubbish just to keep justifying Apple design.
What you said has nothing to do with what the poster I quoted said. They aren't backing up movies to a hard disk. They're running their computer off the hard disk. Big difference! I'm not suggesting that someone get a MacPro just because they're using 1 or 2TB of space. But maybe if they're that into their computer perhaps they bought the wrong one.
Just because it suits your needs doesn't mean it will suit others. Your needs have nothing to do with my quoted post.
But yeah...everyone who disagrees with you is automatically a "fanboy".
Well, for February anyways, sounds like they made a number of products some people didn't really want that much compared to last year...
I don't think it would have mattered what Apple released. Mac people (I'm one of them!) are the biggest bunch of whiners I've ever seen! Every time Apple releases something, there's always something to bitch about. Funny thing is....people still buy their products! Go figure!
Last year the economy wasn't in the crapper either. You can't deny that its not effecting Apple's sales. Its effecting EVERYONE! Apple isn't this special company that is immune to everything. If you thought Apple could keep up with last years sales or better you're out of your tree. You take the fact that the economy is getting worse, more and more people are losing their jobs and add that to the fact that this quarter is always Apple's worst quarter you're going to have a sales decline. It doesn't matter what kind of products you have. If people don't have the money they aren't going to buy the product!
You just wait for the iPhone OS demo later today and you see them come out of the woodwork just to whine and complain about it. But, they'll still download the 3.0 OS when its available.
Over 500 million people speak these and other RTL languages. If Apple targets their computers and software correctly they can bring in these markets.
That's precisely my point. Small changes for Apple will affect their sales and reputation in big ways.
Uh huh, and if that number is true then over 10 times that many don't. Which only proves the OP's point - that adding that support would result in minimal change in Apple's finances.
If you're saying that 10% of potential users are irrelevant, keep in mind that Apple's worldwide market share is also not bigger than 10%. Does that make Apple irrelevant? If something is important (not to say critical) for some users, it shouldn't be dismissed.
If you have two Macs and cable with standard FW connectors on each end. I find that a much easier solution is to just boot from an external USB drive. I have a Time Machine drive that I carry and a small partition of that has OS X installed on it. I only to have one Mac with me to fix anything. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
That doesn't work if its a graphics/display problem.
There are FAR more people in the computer buying world who don't care about Firewire than who do
There are far more people in the computer buying world using using $500 windows machines, so should Apple switch to only making them? Building for the least demanding user only leads to less productive computers.
When the entire line of notebooks got refreshed last fall/Jan, anyone looking for a desktop who valued their money was waiting for a desktop refresh. When that refresh happened on March 3rd, I'm sure Apple got tons of orders. (I should know, I picked up a new Mini).
I'm sure next month we'll see a story about Apple having a great desktop sales number for March.
How to increase Mac sales: place at least one Firewire port on Macbook and MacBook Air (also with Ethernet port and at least two USB2 ports). No such ports, no purchase. That simple.
So that will all of a sudden make the sales jump?
If you're saying that 10% of potential users are irrelevant, keep in mind that Apple's worldwide market share is also not bigger than 10%. Does that make Apple irrelevant? If something is important (not to say critical) for some users, it shouldn't be dismissed.
Nope, I'm saying that 10% of the potential users are a lot less valuable than the other 90%, which is why Apple puts its resources on those other 90%. You might not be aware of this, but Apple is a for-profit corporation. It makes its product choices based on the profitability of making the investment. Clearly you think they should be spending their money to develop RTL language capability. Clearly Apple does not agree. You can start a computer company and make that investment if you wish, but Apple did their research and determined that RTL writers wouldn't be a large enough market for its $1200 computers to make it worthwhile. Sorry!
Unfortunately, Apple's substantial market aren't graphics professionals and gamers. The Apple of 10-15 yrs ago isn't the same Apple of today. Apple doesn't need to tailor itself to the needs of creative professionals anymore to gain sales like it did 10yrs ago. It has a strong footing under itself with real everyday customers. I'm sorry Apple doesn't make the Mac you want. Apple can't be everything to everyone. Thats the problem with a lot of people, they think just because they and a few of their friends wants/needs something, everyone automatically wants/needs it. Apple knows its customer base. It knows who is buying these computers and why they buy them. They're not stupid. They just didn't get where they are today because they made products people didn't want.
Couldn't have put it better.
Easy there Cowboy. 8% US share does not make 10% share of world market. Apple have more like a 2-3% worldwide marketshare.
Acer sold more netbooks last quarter than all Apple computers combined.
Yeah and Acer made bucketloads of money on all those netbooks.
I don't think it would have mattered what Apple released. Mac people (I'm one of them!) are the biggest bunch of whiners I've ever seen! Every time Apple releases something, there's always something to bitch about. Funny thing is....people still buy their products! Go figure!
You just wait for the iPhone OS demo later today and you see them come out of the woodwork just to whine and complain about it. But, they'll still download the 3.0 OS when its available.
Well said, mac users are the biggest whiners ever and now you have the iphone users also coming, it's 20 times worse.
Apple Mac sales have actually slowed two quarters in a row, this one will make it three in row and the culprit has been the lack of desktop updates. Apple FINALLY came to their senses with the iMac, Mac Pro and Mac mini refreshes!
Insightful analysis worth a read:
Evidence of slowing Mac growth - 2 consecutive quarters of deceleration
These updates by no means are amazing.
Anyone with a G5 may want to upgrade.
Anyone with an Intel iMac will want to hold off until the next refresh. That will be a product redesign, LED display and more features.
I was gonna update but will hold off till the next refresh. I was hoping for LED or BluRay or better graphics.
(...)Clearly you think they should be spending their money to develop RTL language capability.(...)
In fact, the OS perfectly supports RTL capabilities and the proof is in TextEdit. Most of the work would have to be done at the level of the iWork and iLife applications. The cold facts are that the official Apple importer here in Israel offered Apple to help work on their office suite to include proper RTL capabilities and Apple (righty so, one could argue) refused.
I am surprised at your knee-jerk reaction to this matter, since it didn't contribute much to this discussion. Also, it's nothing short of illogical considering that most of Apple's applications work with say Japanese, which is spoken in only 1 country by less than half the number of Arabic and Hebrew speakers... Maybe that says more about you than about our favorite gadget firm...
Maybe for you...for a lot of people (first time buyers)...they couldn't give a rats ass about a FW port. If it were only as simple as putting those ports on those models.
You people need to let the damn FW thing go. It is what it is! There are as many people who couldn't care about FW as those who do.
I don't have FW on my Unibody MacBook and I've never ran into any issues where I needed FW, nor have I wished I had FW. I'd rather have more USB ports to be honest.
Target Disk Mode isn't the end all of repairs...There are other ways to fix a Mac, transfer information, etc...
I'd say sales were down because the economy is in the crapper, this time of the year is Apple's worst for sales, and a lot of people knew Apple was about to release new Macs. The uni-body MacBook and updated MBA has been selling since October. If you remember correctly, that was one of Apple's best quarters in its history. So it has nothing to do with the lack of ports. Pure BS right there. Also, don't forget that Apple still sells the white MacBook with the updated NVIDIA chipset and a FW port for $999. They even still have them demo'd in stores.
I'm pleased to hear that things are working out for YOU, because as long as YOU are happy, everyone else should be just fine. After all, if YOU don't need something no one should. Your right, it makes sense to have zero FW ports that Apple pushed to be an accepted standard in favor of even more USB ports. Since Apple doesn't make an Apple branded USB hub, there's no need to pick up one made by another company from newegg.com for 20 bucks.