For a very simple reason : because not everybody is WiFi-equipped these days. The building of the U I'm teaching at (that's why I've got an educational rebate) has no WiFi. So I have to use a good old Ethernet cable instead. WiFi is installed, but it does not work, for unknown reasons. I'm sure it'll be fixed some day, but when?
Since Apple Support is now deleting threads on the topic, it's clear that a huge proportion of Mac users are expressing displeasure at the removal of Firewire and there will be implications of this in the sales numbers of the new laptops.
This is the kind of ham-fisted nonsense that Apple could have easily prevented.
• If Firewire is done as a mass consumer interface, just say so.
• If the interface was left off until the new 3200 standard is ready, just say so.
• If it will remain on all desktops and just high end laptops, just say so.
• If a USB version of Target Disk mode is in development, just say so.
The guessing game is going to hurt more than anything.
Apple just basically killed the consumer Firewire peripherals market.
If they had replaced Firewire's usefulness with USB3, then that would be one thing.
But to switch the most useful interface with a lesser quality one - and then ask for a premium price - is ridiculous.
Agreed. And it's sad that Apple Support is trying to suppress ppl expressing their viewpoints on this. It'll just make customers madder, and it won't really fix the prob. \
I can agree Apples silence in such cases can be counterproductive and frustrating.
Whoa, I actually agree with you for once.
Quote:
If they had replaced Firewire's usefulness with USB3, then that would be one thing.
But to switch the most useful interface with a lesser quality one - and then ask for a premium price - is ridiculous.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TenoBell
The expensive CPU and chipset is what accounts for most of the price of the MacBook.
Wow... what're we trying to say here? That the two most expensive things on the MacBook are the Core2Duo CPU and FireWire, and that the cost of having FW is comparable to the cost of the Intel CPU?
Seems very unlikely. Didn't they use to have FW on iPods?
What a massive shame. Fantastic products with fatal, and completely avoidable, flaws.
+100000000. And I've seen it come down like this a number of times.
You know what I think it is, this time? Steve thinks he's 'seen the future' and it's the MacBook Air.
So, the future of the MacBook is now
- remove any port that Steve deems 'unnecessary'. Absolute minimalism here.
- remove the optical drive
- sacrifice all else for 'thin, thin, thin'. Fashion statement uber alles.
Thing is, not everyone wants that, necessarily. Maybe even most don't want that. The MB Air is a niche product, more or less. It may become mainstream eventually, but it isn't there yet. So it's suitability as a template for the consumer line is questionable at this point in time.
But Steve, as per usual, is dragging everyone into HIS future, quite a bit earlier than they'd like. He's done it before. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes it doesn't.
You know I have to admit ...amidst the Steve Jobs' health scare a part of me
hoped that he'd retire.
Steve is Jekyll and Hyde. As a visionary he can take your breath away with some of his deft decision making but the luddite in him causes the most boneheaded decision.
The Macbook Pro has to stand on its own. You cannot continue to hobble other products in deferrence to the MBP.
if people want a 15"+ screen - MBP
If people want a discrete GPU- MBP
if people want ExpressCard- MBP
That and other MBP features are more than enough to create a line of demarcation betwen
Macbook and Macbook Pro.
Steve Jobs reality is one of those parable stories in which a person asks for something wonderful and gets it ...albeit in a most twisted and uncouth way.
I've seen it come down like this a number of times.
You know what I think it is, this time? Steve thinks he's 'seen the future' and it's the MacBook Air.
So, the future of the MacBook is now
- remove any port that Steve deems 'unnecessary'. Absolute minimalism here.
- remove the optical drive
- sacrifice all else for 'thin, thin, thin'. Fashion statement uber alles.
Thing is, not everyone wants that, necessarily. Maybe even most don't want that. The MB Air is a niche product, more or less. It may become mainstream eventually, but it isn't there yet. So it's suitability as a template for the consumer line is questionable at this point in time.
But Steve, as per usual, is dragging everyone into HIS future, quite a bit earlier than they'd like. He's done it before. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes it doesn't.
-
I think you're probably right and I don't think this is gonna work out great.
I've been using Macs for almost 20 years now and in every previous clanger of a gear change, the reasoning behind it has involved technological and ease-of-use improvements.
If Apple had taken away Firewire and given us USB 3, that would have made sense. If Apple had taken away the matte option as standard and made pros pay for it, that would have been annoying but, again, it would have made sense.
To strip away basic, vital functions from professional and standard consumer machines makes no sense at all. Many people - pros or not - simply will not buy laptops with glossy screens because they're harder to look at, harder to work with and are great for triggering tension headaches.
Complaints are all over the web about the firewire and screen issues now - everyone from self-proclaimed fanboys at MacWorld to Jason O'Grady, not to mention the scores of mac users on forums.
I'm sitting here with £3000 in my pocket and wondering what the hell to do with it now. I'd imagine enough other people are in the same boat to make this, at the very least, a slightly disappointing launch day for Apple. Judging by the post deletions on their own forum, I'd say it might even have been a very disappointing day.
There's a big difference between inspired leadership and vainglorious leadership.
The MacBook Air is such a niche product that it may very well die in a years time.
Its a funny thing, I've been an avid supporter of Apple products over the years and have bought many pieces of Apple kit as well as recommending Macs to friends and family alike.
Now here's the thing. Just recently I have been asked for an honest opinion and purchasing advice as regards a home computer for a school child. While I really wanted to be able to recommend an Apple purchase I really could not due to three main factors.
1: The market domination of Windows PC's in schools.
2: The increasingly frustrating trend of Macs becoming more form over function (you get a better deal on a PC tech wise) , which brings me to...
3: Price. That is the real deal breaker. Never mind running Windows on a Mac via BootCamp et al. Money talks.
So the purchase of a new HP Pavillion with dual core etc. etc. was made and you know what... the thing is, it's a beautiful piece of kit and half the price of a Mac! Damn I hate myself.
The current debacle over the 'new' MacBook less FireWire has done nothing to shore up any faith that I may have had left in Apple. It looks like they are heading down the wrong path with Steve blindly leading the way, It's a one way street. HIS way. Pissing off your loyal user base is certainly not the way to go, neither is overpriced, under specced machines. "But its sooo pretty!" Who cares! Maybe it's time for Steve to go.
So the purchase of a new HP Pavillion with dual core etc. etc. was made and you know what... the thing is, it's a beautiful piece of kit and half the price of a Mac! Damn I hate myself.
The current debacle over the 'new' MacBook less FireWire has done nothing to shore up any faith that I may have had left in Apple. It looks like they are heading down the wrong path with Steve blindly leading the way, It's a one way street. HIS way. Pissing off your loyal user base is certainly not the way to go, neither is overpriced, under specced machines. "But its sooo pretty!" Who cares! Maybe it's time for Steve to go.
What Pavillion did you get. I noticed this one is pretty popular and it absolutely embarasses the wackbook in comparison.
I want to know how many of you use Macbook as the only Mac in the household?
Apple's action is very logical - Macbook's market is totally different from MBP. MBP is likely to be the primary (or only) Mac in the house, so it gets all the goodies and more expensive. On the other hand, MB is a secondary laptop. Most likely you have another Mac in the house, which you can use to do the heavy duty work (like editing movies), or at least use that to get the DV tape to your mac.
So, my question is very simple - to all the existing Macbook owners, do you have another Mac in the household?
I still have an iBook, which is my only Mac, and when my iBook dies I will replace it with a Macbook. I have no problem whatsoever with the lack of Firewire, and I like the glossy screen. I have other computers, though, but no other Macs.
Man I would kill if the higher end Macbook would have a 1440 by 900 resolution option. I'd be willing to even pay a few extra hundred for that. Also Firewire, I hardly knew thee....
You know, for those with the last generation Macbooks and Macbook PRos? I say wait for REV B. Maybe Apple could pleasantly surprise us!
Man I would kill if the higher end Macbook would have a 1440 by 900 resolution option. I'd be willing to even pay a few extra hundred for that. Also Firewire, I hardly knew thee....
You know, for those with the last generation Macbooks and Macbook PRos? I say wait for REV B. Maybe Apple could pleasantly surprise us!
Yes these def should have been bumped upto 1440 x 900.
EDIT: WOW, I've never really paid attention or looked at the macbook pro's as I would never even think of buying something that big or heavy, but I guess I assumed since they are always touted so highly that they would be rocking 1920 x 1200. I just looked on Apple's site and it says they are 1440 x 900. WTF??? The only 15" notebook I ever bought was a mid-grade Dell back in 2003/2004 and that had 1920 x 1200. And that was 4-5 years ago!!!
I'm typing this on an iBook G4 that has a cracked screen so it is hooked up to an old HP monitor, and I couldn't be happier. Does that convince anyway that these new laptops are nothing special?
The MacBook is a consumer product. It always has been and it always will be. It won't have all of the features of a Pro model. We should all be thankful that the new Macbooks were even given such great graphics among MANY other very very nice upgrades.
For me, and I would only assume many other people, the lack of a firewire is a NON ISSUE. I am a college student. I have an external hard drive and a digital camera, both of which have USB cords. Along with my printer, those are the only peripherals I use. To the average consumer, I would assume that is about all of the types of peripherals one might use. I have never once in my life needed a firewire cord other than when using old school iPods.
I don't think Steve would go out on a whim and delete a firewire port from his BEST SELLING PRODUCT EVER without extensive market research. Clearly, his research must have shown than on the whole, not a great deal of his consumers use firewire. People who are heart broken over the firewire issue are either a minority of computer users or are expecting too much out of a compact consumer apple product.
Wow... what're we trying to say here? That the two most expensive things on the MacBook are the Core2Duo CPU and FireWire, and that the cost of having FW is comparable to the cost of the Intel CPU?
Seems very unlikely. Didn't they use to have FW on iPods?
So the purchase of a new HP Pavillion with dual core etc. etc. was made and you know what... the thing is, it's a beautiful piece of kit and half the price of a Mac! Damn I hate myself.
Its always telling when someone talks about some great PC. How often people don't tell which PC it is.
The MacBook is a consumer product. It always has been and it always will be. It won't have all of the features of a Pro model. We should all be thankful that the new Macbooks were even given such great graphics among MANY other very very nice upgrades.
For me, and I would only assume many other people, the lack of a firewire is a NON ISSUE. I am a college student. I have an external hard drive and a digital camera, both of which have USB cords. Along with my printer, those are the only peripherals I use. To the average consumer, I would assume that is about all of the types of peripherals one might use. I have never once in my life needed a firewire cord other than when using old school iPods.
I don't think Steve would go out on a whim and delete a firewire port from his BEST SELLING PRODUCT EVER without extensive market research. Clearly, his research must have shown than on the whole, not a great deal of his consumers use firewire. People who are heart broken over the firewire issue are either a minority of computer users or are expecting too much out of a compact consumer apple product.
"The Macbook is a consumer product" nonsensical statement. Every Macbook until October 14th has had Firewire thus any correlation you attempt to make between Firewire being a Pro only feature will be easily repudiated.
Assuming anything is foolhardy. Technicians use Firewire often to rescue hard drives or transfer files easily using Target Disk Mode. TDM is one of those features that you might not realize the power until it saves your bacon or makes transferring files much easier. It's not gone.
All the market research in the world doesn't ameliorate the simple facts. Preceding Macbooks have always had Firewire. The relative cost of the technology must be low as Apple created the format and purchased Zyante
The best selling HP Pavillion has Firewire, card reader and Expresscard 34 slots. What's Apple's excuse for removing a feature that is on most PC consumer laptops?
I think it's very telling that the excuses given for the removal of a feature that was replaced with nothing center around silly anecdotes or banal logic and correlations.
With connectivity ..more is almost always preferrable to less.
"The Macbook is a consumer product" nonsensical statement. Every Macbook until October 14th has had Firewire thus any correlation you attempt to make between Firewire being a Pro only feature will be easily repudiated.
Assuming anything is foolhardy. Technicians use Firewire often to rescue hard drives or transfer files easily using Target Disk Mode. TDM is one of those features that you might not realize the power until it saves your bacon or makes transferring files much easier. It's not gone.
All the market research in the world doesn't ameliorate the simple facts. Preceding Macbooks have always had Firewire. The relative cost of the technology must be low as Apple created the format and purchased Zyante
The best selling HP Pavillion has Firewire, card reader and Expresscard 34 slots. What's Apple's excuse for removing a feature that is on most PC consumer laptops?
I think it's very telling that the excuses given for the removal of a feature that was replaced with nothing center around silly anecdotes or banal logic and correlations.
With connectivity ..more is almost always preferrable to less.
I understand your points about the old MacBook, but I think you failed to understand my points about the new MacBook. Steve Jobs is not an idiot. He single handedly leads the computer industry. If he made a choice to drop a certain type of port from his best selling line of computers of all time, he must have had good evidence to support his decision. If firewire is the only means of rescuing harddrives and transferring data, then clearly this would have been a bad decision. Apple is not that stupid, however. I am not a computer EXPERT, so I can't rattle of different means of doing what you described off the top of my head, but i guarantee you there are ways to solve those issues without a firewire port. The times are changing in the computer industry and Apple clearly feels as though its time to phase out firewire.
The best selling HP Pavillion has Firewire, card reader and Expresscard 34 slots. What's Apple's excuse for removing a feature that is on most PC consumer laptops?
While I agree with you in spirit. In reality is highly likely the MacBook is outselling that HP Pavilian with higher profit margins.
Do most consumers really want or care about firewire, card readers, express card slots, or HDMI ports?
Comments
So why not remove Ethernet?
For a very simple reason : because not everybody is WiFi-equipped these days. The building of the U I'm teaching at (that's why I've got an educational rebate) has no WiFi. So I have to use a good old Ethernet cable instead. WiFi is installed, but it does not work, for unknown reasons. I'm sure it'll be fixed some day, but when?
People all over the intraweb are going nuts about lack of FireWire, and rightly so.
Best form of protest (besides contacting Apple directly) is NOT TO BUY ONE.
Leave 'em on the shelf until such times as Apple see the light and 'revise' with FireWire.
Such a farce.
Ditto the glossy-only screen options.
What a massive shame. Fantastic products with fatal, and completely avoidable, flaws.
Since Apple Support is now deleting threads on the topic, it's clear that a huge proportion of Mac users are expressing displeasure at the removal of Firewire and there will be implications of this in the sales numbers of the new laptops.
This is the kind of ham-fisted nonsense that Apple could have easily prevented.
• If Firewire is done as a mass consumer interface, just say so.
• If the interface was left off until the new 3200 standard is ready, just say so.
• If it will remain on all desktops and just high end laptops, just say so.
• If a USB version of Target Disk mode is in development, just say so.
The guessing game is going to hurt more than anything.
Apple just basically killed the consumer Firewire peripherals market.
If they had replaced Firewire's usefulness with USB3, then that would be one thing.
But to switch the most useful interface with a lesser quality one - and then ask for a premium price - is ridiculous.
Agreed. And it's sad that Apple Support is trying to suppress ppl expressing their viewpoints on this. It'll just make customers madder, and it won't really fix the prob.
Also, read my sig.
...
I can agree Apples silence in such cases can be counterproductive and frustrating.
Whoa, I actually agree with you for once.
If they had replaced Firewire's usefulness with USB3, then that would be one thing.
But to switch the most useful interface with a lesser quality one - and then ask for a premium price - is ridiculous.
The expensive CPU and chipset is what accounts for most of the price of the MacBook.
Wow... what're we trying to say here? That the two most expensive things on the MacBook are the Core2Duo CPU and FireWire, and that the cost of having FW is comparable to the cost of the Intel CPU?
Seems very unlikely. Didn't they use to have FW on iPods?
...
Ditto the glossy-only screen options.
What a massive shame. Fantastic products with fatal, and completely avoidable, flaws.
+100000000. And I've seen it come down like this a number of times.
You know what I think it is, this time? Steve thinks he's 'seen the future' and it's the MacBook Air.
So, the future of the MacBook is now
- remove any port that Steve deems 'unnecessary'. Absolute minimalism here.
- remove the optical drive
- sacrifice all else for 'thin, thin, thin'. Fashion statement uber alles.
Thing is, not everyone wants that, necessarily. Maybe even most don't want that. The MB Air is a niche product, more or less. It may become mainstream eventually, but it isn't there yet. So it's suitability as a template for the consumer line is questionable at this point in time.
But Steve, as per usual, is dragging everyone into HIS future, quite a bit earlier than they'd like. He's done it before. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes it doesn't.
-
hoped that he'd retire.
Steve is Jekyll and Hyde. As a visionary he can take your breath away with some of his deft decision making but the luddite in him causes the most boneheaded decision.
The Macbook Pro has to stand on its own. You cannot continue to hobble other products in deferrence to the MBP.
if people want a 15"+ screen - MBP
If people want a discrete GPU- MBP
if people want ExpressCard- MBP
That and other MBP features are more than enough to create a line of demarcation betwen
Macbook and Macbook Pro.
Steve Jobs reality is one of those parable stories in which a person asks for something wonderful and gets it ...albeit in a most twisted and uncouth way.
I've seen it come down like this a number of times.
You know what I think it is, this time? Steve thinks he's 'seen the future' and it's the MacBook Air.
So, the future of the MacBook is now
- remove any port that Steve deems 'unnecessary'. Absolute minimalism here.
- remove the optical drive
- sacrifice all else for 'thin, thin, thin'. Fashion statement uber alles.
Thing is, not everyone wants that, necessarily. Maybe even most don't want that. The MB Air is a niche product, more or less. It may become mainstream eventually, but it isn't there yet. So it's suitability as a template for the consumer line is questionable at this point in time.
But Steve, as per usual, is dragging everyone into HIS future, quite a bit earlier than they'd like. He's done it before. Sometimes it works out great, sometimes it doesn't.
-
I think you're probably right and I don't think this is gonna work out great.
I've been using Macs for almost 20 years now and in every previous clanger of a gear change, the reasoning behind it has involved technological and ease-of-use improvements.
If Apple had taken away Firewire and given us USB 3, that would have made sense. If Apple had taken away the matte option as standard and made pros pay for it, that would have been annoying but, again, it would have made sense.
To strip away basic, vital functions from professional and standard consumer machines makes no sense at all. Many people - pros or not - simply will not buy laptops with glossy screens because they're harder to look at, harder to work with and are great for triggering tension headaches.
Complaints are all over the web about the firewire and screen issues now - everyone from self-proclaimed fanboys at MacWorld to Jason O'Grady, not to mention the scores of mac users on forums.
I'm sitting here with £3000 in my pocket and wondering what the hell to do with it now. I'd imagine enough other people are in the same boat to make this, at the very least, a slightly disappointing launch day for Apple. Judging by the post deletions on their own forum, I'd say it might even have been a very disappointing day.
There's a big difference between inspired leadership and vainglorious leadership.
Its a funny thing, I've been an avid supporter of Apple products over the years and have bought many pieces of Apple kit as well as recommending Macs to friends and family alike.
Now here's the thing. Just recently I have been asked for an honest opinion and purchasing advice as regards a home computer for a school child. While I really wanted to be able to recommend an Apple purchase I really could not due to three main factors.
1: The market domination of Windows PC's in schools.
2: The increasingly frustrating trend of Macs becoming more form over function (you get a better deal on a PC tech wise) , which brings me to...
3: Price. That is the real deal breaker. Never mind running Windows on a Mac via BootCamp et al. Money talks.
So the purchase of a new HP Pavillion with dual core etc. etc. was made and you know what... the thing is, it's a beautiful piece of kit and half the price of a Mac! Damn I hate myself.
The current debacle over the 'new' MacBook less FireWire has done nothing to shore up any faith that I may have had left in Apple. It looks like they are heading down the wrong path with Steve blindly leading the way, It's a one way street. HIS way. Pissing off your loyal user base is certainly not the way to go, neither is overpriced, under specced machines. "But its sooo pretty!" Who cares! Maybe it's time for Steve to go.
So the purchase of a new HP Pavillion with dual core etc. etc. was made and you know what... the thing is, it's a beautiful piece of kit and half the price of a Mac! Damn I hate myself.
The current debacle over the 'new' MacBook less FireWire has done nothing to shore up any faith that I may have had left in Apple. It looks like they are heading down the wrong path with Steve blindly leading the way, It's a one way street. HIS way. Pissing off your loyal user base is certainly not the way to go, neither is overpriced, under specced machines. "But its sooo pretty!" Who cares! Maybe it's time for Steve to go.
What Pavillion did you get. I noticed this one is pretty popular and it absolutely embarasses the wackbook in comparison.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....de=23-750059-2
Less than $1300 gets you
15.4" screen
2Ghz C2D processor
4GB of RAM
320GB drive
Blu-ray playback
Digital Media Reader
256MB Dedicated video memory
Modem
HDMI and eSATA/USB combo port
Expresscard 34
Firewire
I want to know how many of you use Macbook as the only Mac in the household?
Apple's action is very logical - Macbook's market is totally different from MBP. MBP is likely to be the primary (or only) Mac in the house, so it gets all the goodies and more expensive. On the other hand, MB is a secondary laptop. Most likely you have another Mac in the house, which you can use to do the heavy duty work (like editing movies), or at least use that to get the DV tape to your mac.
So, my question is very simple - to all the existing Macbook owners, do you have another Mac in the household?
I still have an iBook, which is my only Mac, and when my iBook dies I will replace it with a Macbook. I have no problem whatsoever with the lack of Firewire, and I like the glossy screen. I have other computers, though, but no other Macs.
You know, for those with the last generation Macbooks and Macbook PRos? I say wait for REV B. Maybe Apple could pleasantly surprise us!
Man I would kill if the higher end Macbook would have a 1440 by 900 resolution option. I'd be willing to even pay a few extra hundred for that. Also Firewire, I hardly knew thee....
You know, for those with the last generation Macbooks and Macbook PRos? I say wait for REV B. Maybe Apple could pleasantly surprise us!
Yes these def should have been bumped upto 1440 x 900.
EDIT: WOW, I've never really paid attention or looked at the macbook pro's as I would never even think of buying something that big or heavy, but I guess I assumed since they are always touted so highly that they would be rocking 1920 x 1200. I just looked on Apple's site and it says they are 1440 x 900. WTF??? The only 15" notebook I ever bought was a mid-grade Dell back in 2003/2004 and that had 1920 x 1200. And that was 4-5 years ago!!!
The MacBook is a consumer product. It always has been and it always will be. It won't have all of the features of a Pro model. We should all be thankful that the new Macbooks were even given such great graphics among MANY other very very nice upgrades.
For me, and I would only assume many other people, the lack of a firewire is a NON ISSUE. I am a college student. I have an external hard drive and a digital camera, both of which have USB cords. Along with my printer, those are the only peripherals I use. To the average consumer, I would assume that is about all of the types of peripherals one might use. I have never once in my life needed a firewire cord other than when using old school iPods.
I don't think Steve would go out on a whim and delete a firewire port from his BEST SELLING PRODUCT EVER without extensive market research. Clearly, his research must have shown than on the whole, not a great deal of his consumers use firewire. People who are heart broken over the firewire issue are either a minority of computer users or are expecting too much out of a compact consumer apple product.
Wow... what're we trying to say here? That the two most expensive things on the MacBook are the Core2Duo CPU and FireWire, and that the cost of having FW is comparable to the cost of the Intel CPU?
Seems very unlikely. Didn't they use to have FW on iPods?
...
I have no idea what you are talking about.
Panasonic's new AVCHD prosumer camera that records 1080i. Uses HDMI and USB ports, NO FIREWIRE.
So the purchase of a new HP Pavillion with dual core etc. etc. was made and you know what... the thing is, it's a beautiful piece of kit and half the price of a Mac! Damn I hate myself.
Its always telling when someone talks about some great PC. How often people don't tell which PC it is.
Here are my 2 Cents on the new MacBook.
The MacBook is a consumer product. It always has been and it always will be. It won't have all of the features of a Pro model. We should all be thankful that the new Macbooks were even given such great graphics among MANY other very very nice upgrades.
For me, and I would only assume many other people, the lack of a firewire is a NON ISSUE. I am a college student. I have an external hard drive and a digital camera, both of which have USB cords. Along with my printer, those are the only peripherals I use. To the average consumer, I would assume that is about all of the types of peripherals one might use. I have never once in my life needed a firewire cord other than when using old school iPods.
I don't think Steve would go out on a whim and delete a firewire port from his BEST SELLING PRODUCT EVER without extensive market research. Clearly, his research must have shown than on the whole, not a great deal of his consumers use firewire. People who are heart broken over the firewire issue are either a minority of computer users or are expecting too much out of a compact consumer apple product.
"The Macbook is a consumer product" nonsensical statement. Every Macbook until October 14th has had Firewire thus any correlation you attempt to make between Firewire being a Pro only feature will be easily repudiated.
Assuming anything is foolhardy. Technicians use Firewire often to rescue hard drives or transfer files easily using Target Disk Mode. TDM is one of those features that you might not realize the power until it saves your bacon or makes transferring files much easier. It's not gone.
All the market research in the world doesn't ameliorate the simple facts. Preceding Macbooks have always had Firewire. The relative cost of the technology must be low as Apple created the format and purchased Zyante
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m..._5/ai_84450485
The best selling HP Pavillion has Firewire, card reader and Expresscard 34 slots. What's Apple's excuse for removing a feature that is on most PC consumer laptops?
I think it's very telling that the excuses given for the removal of a feature that was replaced with nothing center around silly anecdotes or banal logic and correlations.
With connectivity ..more is almost always preferrable to less.
"The Macbook is a consumer product" nonsensical statement. Every Macbook until October 14th has had Firewire thus any correlation you attempt to make between Firewire being a Pro only feature will be easily repudiated.
Assuming anything is foolhardy. Technicians use Firewire often to rescue hard drives or transfer files easily using Target Disk Mode. TDM is one of those features that you might not realize the power until it saves your bacon or makes transferring files much easier. It's not gone.
All the market research in the world doesn't ameliorate the simple facts. Preceding Macbooks have always had Firewire. The relative cost of the technology must be low as Apple created the format and purchased Zyante
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m..._5/ai_84450485
The best selling HP Pavillion has Firewire, card reader and Expresscard 34 slots. What's Apple's excuse for removing a feature that is on most PC consumer laptops?
I think it's very telling that the excuses given for the removal of a feature that was replaced with nothing center around silly anecdotes or banal logic and correlations.
With connectivity ..more is almost always preferrable to less.
I understand your points about the old MacBook, but I think you failed to understand my points about the new MacBook. Steve Jobs is not an idiot. He single handedly leads the computer industry. If he made a choice to drop a certain type of port from his best selling line of computers of all time, he must have had good evidence to support his decision. If firewire is the only means of rescuing harddrives and transferring data, then clearly this would have been a bad decision. Apple is not that stupid, however. I am not a computer EXPERT, so I can't rattle of different means of doing what you described off the top of my head, but i guarantee you there are ways to solve those issues without a firewire port. The times are changing in the computer industry and Apple clearly feels as though its time to phase out firewire.
The best selling HP Pavillion has Firewire, card reader and Expresscard 34 slots. What's Apple's excuse for removing a feature that is on most PC consumer laptops?
While I agree with you in spirit. In reality is highly likely the MacBook is outselling that HP Pavilian with higher profit margins.
Do most consumers really want or care about firewire, card readers, express card slots, or HDMI ports?