New 13" MacBook Pro drops digital audio input for FireWire and SD
The new 13" MacBook Pro unveiled at WWDC makes room for its new SD card slot and FireWire 800 port in part by giving up a digital audio input port. Instead, the new model uses the same integrated mic and headphone port as the iPhone.
Most MacBook users are unlikely to ever employ the combination digital and analog audio input port, which has appeared on all Mac notebooks for years. Podcasters are likely to use a USB mic like the Blue Snowball instead.
However, lots of users are likely to want to use their iPhone or iPod touch combination headset/mic with their MacBook for video conferencing, and recent notebooks have added the additional pin required to support recording audio in addition to stereo headphone analog outputs and digital audio output.
Dropping the rarely used audio input jack helped enable Apple's engineers to include a new SD card slot for accommodating SD, mini SD and micro SD flash RAM cards from cameras and other devices. The new port also appears to supports the SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) standard, which allows card capacities up to 32GB.
Support for FireWire 800 is also new, signaling a return to the ubiquitous FireWire Target Mode feature that has long defined the Mac experience. While capable of speeds theoretically twice as fast as standard FireWire 400, the FW-800 specification uses a different plug to accommodate extra wires needed to support faster speeds with FW-800 devices. It is, however, backwardly compatible with FireWire 400 devices and only needs a simple FW-400 to FW-800 cable to work with existing FW-400 hard drives and other devices.
Most MacBook users are unlikely to ever employ the combination digital and analog audio input port, which has appeared on all Mac notebooks for years. Podcasters are likely to use a USB mic like the Blue Snowball instead.
However, lots of users are likely to want to use their iPhone or iPod touch combination headset/mic with their MacBook for video conferencing, and recent notebooks have added the additional pin required to support recording audio in addition to stereo headphone analog outputs and digital audio output.
Dropping the rarely used audio input jack helped enable Apple's engineers to include a new SD card slot for accommodating SD, mini SD and micro SD flash RAM cards from cameras and other devices. The new port also appears to supports the SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) standard, which allows card capacities up to 32GB.
Support for FireWire 800 is also new, signaling a return to the ubiquitous FireWire Target Mode feature that has long defined the Mac experience. While capable of speeds theoretically twice as fast as standard FireWire 400, the FW-800 specification uses a different plug to accommodate extra wires needed to support faster speeds with FW-800 devices. It is, however, backwardly compatible with FireWire 400 devices and only needs a simple FW-400 to FW-800 cable to work with existing FW-400 hard drives and other devices.
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I just tried to submit this story and it wouldn't go through:
(quoting myself here)
The SDXC (SD eXtended Capacity), a new specification just announced at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show, will allow for up to 2 TB capacity cards.
As you know, Apple is now offering a SD on it's new Mac laptop models.
Apple's tech specs on laptop hardware doesn't specify the speed or SD capacity of their new SD slot. (edit: SDHC at least)
This is a big development, and allows huge amounts of content to be easily transported in a small device.
CD and DVD's may be on their way out, and BlueRay may not even come to the Mac platform as a result.
So what? is that a scoop or what? So what do I win?
Are you able to record in stereo with the other options? Or is it mono only? Just curious- no complaints.
Let the whining begin.
For what the lack of BlueRay?
Steve has said BlueRay is a "bag of hurt" so it looks like SD is going to be the "new thing"
2TB is huge amount and SD's small slim factor is ideal for very thin laptops and future iPhones.
So now we know.
Oh jesus, buy San Disk...but wait, SD isn't cheap...
oops
If apple really wanted to keep both, they could have made it happen.
And the feature that defines the mac experience is really FireWire Target Mode? Really? Sure, it's cool, but it Defines the Experience?
For what the lack of BlueRay?
Steve has said BlueRay is a "bag of hurt" so it looks like SD is going to be the "new thing"
2TB is huge amount and SD's small slim factor is ideal for very thin laptops and future iPhones.
So now we know.
Oh jesus, buy San Disk...
I think using optical media for storing data is a thing of the past mainly because they take forever to record data and it is cheaper to use other alternative (SD, USB flash drives, external HDD... etc). I see BluRay for video only not data for the previous reasons and personally I prefer watching HD movies on 32"+ display.
The port is tiny, it could have gone anywhere, this is bullsh*t.
I don't like the idea of the dropped audio input port, this is just a slow slide against pro and audio creators in favor of locked down consumer machines.
The port is tiny, it could have gone anywhere, this is bullsh*t.
Pfft, most "audio pros" use Firewire these days. I remember getting quite excited about the audio line-in when I bought the 15" PowerBook G4 I'm using right now only to find I needed a preamp.
It's not necessarily about if they could fit it in but should they. If the line-in's removal contributed to the across-the-board price drops, fine by me. It's good to know the headphone jack now sports another connector for audio input sans preamp, in addition to the built-in mic, USB2.0, and FW800.
1) It?s not just the line-in that is gone, the Kensington lock port has also been removed. It now resides on the opposite at the front of the optical drive slot.
2) From my preliminary measurements the space from the MagSafe adapter to the audio jack has not changed from the previous model from the MagSafe to the Kensington lock port.
3) The cord-based headphone controls work from the audio jack like you are controlling your iPhone, 3G Shuffle or other newer iDevices.
I don't like the idea of the dropped audio input port, this is just a slow slide against pro and audio creators in favor of locked down consumer machines.
The port is tiny, it could have gone anywhere, this is bullsh*t.
I understand you PoV, but this is only on the 13? MBP and a USB-to-3.5mm female jack will probably come out just for this. I can?t imagine it being too expensive from Monoprice. (And I understand your position for having to buy an adapter for something that is usually included
Outstanding tradeoff. Adding an SD slot will help TONS of users, while removing the input will hurt very few.
I agree
When you think about how easy it will be to add 32GB of storage to your computer with a 1oz card versus losing an audio in port that can be added via USB or FW I can live with this tradeoff as well.
SDHC...I hope this is confirmed. If so ...great deal!
they mention that the audio out actually has audio in so that you can use your iphone ear-phones. additionally, a mic actually worth using wouldn't have used the old input port, instead it would be USB.(like the article points out)
it is a shame that they removed the expansion card slot, BUT i think they did this cause its probably mostly used for net-access, but now with FW3.0 they figure people will have an iphone and us it for tethering.
I don't like the idea of the dropped audio input port, this is just a slow slide against pro and audio creators in favor of locked down consumer machines.
Did anyone use the audio in port? Most pro audio users have other means of input, mainly outboard usb boxes, but mainly firewire ones. If anything, the addition of firewire is far better for the pros than anything else.
I'm not 100% pleased with ditching the expressport for SD (after all, can't you get an express port SD adapter?). But I'm going to freak here, the addition of firewire makes everything better, and I'm happy they didn't go all PC with us and throw 6 different card slots on the machines
Couldn't care less about SD. They should have left the ExpressCard slot in until they could start using USB 3 ports, which can basically use the PCI Express bus like ExpressCard (and with latency similar to Firewire, supposedly).
What's the point of expansion if the cards don't work well enough. I swear the reason why Apple got rid of expansion cards in the iMac line was probably predicated on the notion that
expansion cards = trouble and higher tech support costs.
Did anyone use the audio in port?
Yes, I did. I liked being able to jack my guitar right into the MacBook for quick recordings. While I'm not thrilled with the new audio plug situation, I'm happy that FireWire is back. It sounds like if I had the right adapter I could still plug my guitar in... though I guess the jury is still out.