New MacBook does not have a firewire port

[Mr. Quimper]

Makes this look even more appealing -- it has FW400.


http://www.axiotron.com/index.php?id=modbook

That said, I see that it's a modified white Macbook...so I wonder what will happen once Apple phases those out.

[carrythebanner]

I thought the MBP had TWO FireWire ports before? So if they've taken one away, then the ExpressCard port can't be used for UAD-1 or an eSATA hard drive connection. No matter how you look at it, the new MBP is thus FAR less capable of providing proper connectivity in the studio or on the road.

Even with multiple ports, the old MBPs still only had one FW bus (unless you added a second one via the ExpressCard slot). FW is designed to have daisy-chained devices so it doesn't really matter how many ports are on the Mac itself (unless your devices don't have additional ports on them to allow daisy-chaining).

[bug67]

Not to be alarmist, but frankly, it's making me take a look at PC laptops for the first time in a decade.

This thing can have up to 3 firewire ports w/ an Express-card: http://www.rainrecording.com/products/livebook/

Clearly, no DP, but I could run all my NI stuff, Pro Tools, Live, etc on Windows and Pure Data and Aurdor on Linux if I felt like going that route for live electronics, etc.

Not saying I'm ditching the Mac platform, but it is making me look around out of curiosity.

You're not alone in your curiosity. I've quietly been looking at Windows since the release of, in my opinion, the disaster that is Leopard. Now, with the absence of a connectivity standard that Apple helped develop and push, I am once again thinking of switching back.

Those Rain computers look sweet!

[michkhol]

You're not alone in your curiosity. I've quietly been looking at Windows since the release of, in my opinion, the disaster that is Leopard. Now, with the absence of a connectivity standard that Apple helped develop and push, I am once again thinking of switching back.

Those Rain computers look sweet!

As a lot of audio software require an Internet connection to register, please don't forget about an antivirus, anti-adware software and turn on automatic updates. Remember, an unpatched Windows machine gets infected just by being connected to the Internet in 15 minutes

[mhschmieder]

Many devices, such as Powercore Firewire, do not support daisy-chaining. This pretty much throws the MBP out of the equation for those of us who have been holding off so long on deciding which Mac to upgrade to (and I'm not the only person on this forum still in G4 iMac or other non-tower pre-Intel Mac land).

I guess that's a somewhat different topic than the OP about the low-end MB not having any FW whatsoever though.

And on that note, here is an excellent writeup of the context of Apple's decision, as well as hints about where things might head:

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08 ... ewire.html

[Mr. Quimper]

As a lot of audio software require an Internet connection to register, please don't forget about an antivirus, anti-adware software and turn on automatic updates.

I guess once you're set up, just commit yourself to never hooking your system up to the 'net again.

Hey, who knows, maybe that would be a good thing, in terms of our musical productivity!

[Mr_Clifford]

I've quietly been looking at Windows since the release of, in my opinion, the disaster that is Leopard.

Umm, what about the disaster that is Vista?

[sdfalk]

You're not alone in your curiosity. I've quietly been looking at Windows since the release of, in my opinion, the disaster that is Leopard. Now, with the absence of a connectivity standard that Apple helped develop and push, I am once again thinking of switching back.

Those Rain computers look sweet!

I totally get the macbook thing, but Leopard??? What the heck???
I've had Pc musician on top of PC musician coming to my place of work going.."Vista..SUCKS!"
They have one look at a Mac, actually USE Leopard and wonder why the hell they saddled themselves with Vista/Windows
in the first place

[bug67]

Umm, what about the disaster that is Vista?

Yup. Apple and microsoft both in my opinion. And, while OSX is and always will be leaps and bounds over anything microsoft can come up with, I've been running XP on my Compaq Presario notebook and it is by far the most stable operating system/computer I own. Oh, and it has a firewire port.

I am in no way the only person that isn't entirely happy with Leopard. From what I understand, it works a lot better on an Intel machine. I'm running an old dual G5 tower and my current laptop is an even older G4 PowerBook. Maybe I should of stayed with Tiger. I dunno, Apple said Leo would run fine on my systems and I believed them.

Everything worked fine with Tiger, except the two logic boards that fried on two different PowerBooks, a video something or other that fried on my current PowerBook, a power supply that fried of my G4 tower and gone south RAM and dead firewire ports on my current G5 tower. But other than that, everything worked great!

I'm not saying I'm gonna switch back, I'm just saying some of my needs are not being met by Apple Computer these days. Oh, wait. They dropped the "Computer" part

Honestly, I dunno what I'm gonna do at this point. Probably keep patching things up like I've been for the past few years. I don't want to go back to windoze. I want rock solid stability and dependability from both my hardware and my software. Or, maybe I just want to come here and gripe about Apple dropping firewire from the new MacBooks.

[Bill O'C]

Apple's move was way too high-handed and manipulative--and at a time when people are curtailing their spending.

Since they're making so much on gadgets and iTunes, I wish they'd just license OSX for PCs. Their hardware *is* nice, but still on the pricey side.

[mhschmieder]

I must say, those products from Rain Recording make a fairly compelling case for switching from the Mac.

If only DP ran on both platforms...

I'm going to have to give this some deep thought. It seems that Rain has our backs, while Apple continues to make one bizarre move after another that disregards the needs of audio professionals.

Unfortunately, Sonar has been moving in a direction that I'm not happy with in terms of GUI and workflow, so my earlier praise for that product as being on a par with Digital Performer must sadly now be qualified. I find the new version visually noisy and confusing; whereas MOTU has focused on what's at the heart of productivity and workflow with DP 6.

Probably most of what I use is dual platform -- although the paid-for licenses may not be transferrable. But as DP is at the heart of everything I do, and I have invested a lot of time in becoming semi-expert at it, I can't imagine making a DAW switch.

Rain makes a rack-mount AMD-based computer, as well as the laptop that has a gazillion ports and busses. When I was just comparing "regular" Wintel computers to Macs, it was a no-brainer, but this changes everything.

[Bill O'C]

What really gets to me is Apple is signaling a phase out of FireWire 400. Oh, yes, FireWire 800 is available on the new MacBook Pros--and perhaps that portends the way it will be with the next generation of towers. I've used a FireWire 800 to 400 adapter, and it does work well...for a jury-rig.

But Apple straightened out the FireWire 400 Core Audio drivers for Leopard *only last spring.* That's how long my Apogee Ensemble has been working properly. And this dropping FireWire support completely for the entry level MacBooks partially undermines the whole philosophy behind Apple's joint development and marketing program with Apogee. Not to mention some of MOTU's meat-and-potatoes. (This has really been a poke-in-the-eye-with-a-sharp-stick to MOTU). And Steinberg/Yamaha has just introduced several new FireWire audio devices.

I'm glad I hung onto all of my PC licenses after moving over to the Mac. When my Apple Care runs out on my Mac Pro, and the first major repair comes along, I may grab an ADK, a Rain, another Sonica , or even go back to "rolling my own." And maybe by then Microsoft will have a 64-bit operating system that's worth using.

Can you imagine how Prism and Prism Orpheus customers must feel with their new $5,000 FireWire 400 unit?

Yes, I've lodged an official complaint with Apple--and expressed my wild-eyed thoughts on their forum.

[mhschmieder]

If companies like TC Electronic, RME, Apogee, etc., develop Ethernet devices and either supply bridging technologies or a good rebate program, this may work out OK in the end. But even if so, the question will be, how long are firewire devices essentially orphaned or crippled during the transition phase?