Why the new MacBooks don't have Firewire
Rainier Brockerhoff's autopsy of the new MacBooks is a fascinating read, extrapolating and explaining how the new unibody construction informed the design at every point... including the controversial decision to abandon Firewire.
In older models, the motherboard either spanned the entire width of the machine to accomodate ports on both sides, or there was a secondary module on the opposite side, with fragile/expensive ribbon cables connecting that to the main board; not a good solution. Remember that making a unibody is an expensive process and that cost must be shaved off elsewhere; even so, the MacBook is $100 more expensive than its predecessor.So we pretty much have to accomodate all ports on one side of the MacBook... No Firewire also means no target disk mode. Target mode for migration, while convenient, is not really necessary if you have gigabit Ethernet. With the hard drive so easily accessible, a technician no longer needs target mode for debugging; it's easy to yank the drive out and plug it into a SATA-USB converter.
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Why I bemoan a lack of firewire, and thus a lack of target disk mode:
At one point, years ago, I was part of a freelance computer tech team.
We impressed customers into contracts by plugging iPods into their laptops / servers / workstations and using target disk mode to boot from the iPod - and running disk diagnostics, among other tools.
Alas, now I need ... a full laptop, and a SATA-USB converter.
Hey! I thought you said "fascinating". Seems pretty straightforward and logical. Good, concise answer, next question, please.
I'm sorry to say but this is not why Firewire was cut from the Macbooks. No plastic Macbook ever had a separate board to handle extra ports, they were all directly soldered to the main logic board and indeed: this is the case for the Firewire port old Macbooks had. Only the Macbook Pro and aluminum Powerbooks that preceded them (both 15" and 17" models) had lefthand extender boards that connected to the logic board via a ribbon cable. No such board was "removed" from the new Macbooks to cut cost.
Now, I do believe Firewire was cut from the Macbook to save money but it has literally nothing to do with the non-existent lefthand board found in other machines Apple used to make.
Now that Macbooks have similar performance to Macbook Pros, it seems pretty obvious that the missing firewire is a deliberate feature omission to significantly separate the two lines.
Oh, and Macworld Labs says that only firewire works properly for migration and that some files can be lost when using migration via Ethernet--something that you'd think shouldn't happen, but does.
What about the video editors? Or the sound guys with external control units and interfaces? What about the hundreds of dollars of hardware I have that uses firewire to operate? My external, portable hard drive that gets all of it's operating power from firewire?
Mac is supposed to be the artsy computer. It's supposed to be the platform for me, and others like me, who make a living being creative and using the specialized tools of our creative field. Now those of us with MOTUs and HDcams and the like are looking at being unable to effectively use these "exciting" new laptops.
Sigh... I don't want an explanation, I want my FW back.
Gainclone, wouldn't most video editors and sound guys buy the higher end system anyway?
yeah mac books have a significant market for video editing and digitizing. most (if not all) of the cameras and decks out there work on fire wire. so it seems like a rather hefty omission.
Skep is right on. This is a pattern evident in Apple product history, but if the pattern continues as before, there's nothing to worry about.
Exhibit A: The iMac's external display connector. For years, this functionality makes Apple uncomfortable about cannibalizing its pro line. So, the connector is firmware-locked to only allow mirroring instead of an expanded desktop.
At last with the Intel iMac, Apple overcomes its fear and removes this silly restriction, spurring the adoption of the iMac in creative offices that don't need a Mac Pro.
Exhibit B: The iPod Touch. Apple is obviously worried about cannibalizing iPhone sales, and so strips most of the useful software from the iPhone, even removing the "add" button from the calendar.
Within six months, Apple offers a software upgrade and begins packaging it with new units. Six months later, an updated Touch is released with even more features from the iPhone.
So, give them a few revs, and if there's enough demand, we'll see 1394 back in the MacBook once the cannibalism paranoia is over.
"Target mode for migration, while convenient, is not really necessary if you have gigabit Ethernet."
Yeah, okay, true. But how many MacBook owners a) have gigabit Ethernet on the machine they're migrating FROM, and b) have a gigabit network?
Seriously... the MacBook's the consumer model. Nearly every consumer with a machine old enough to justify the expense of a new laptop is migrating from a machine w/o gigabit. And most LAN/wifi routers currently in people's homes don't support gigabit anyway.
The 12" iBook G4 was a pretty nice alternative to the 12" PB, once you installed a screen spanning patch to allow non-mirrored displays, and iScroll to allow 2-finger scrolling. I can't figure out why Apple doesn't make a high-end notebook with a smaller screen. Except that it would look just like a Macbook with a FW port :) Smaller laptops command a price premium on the PC side.
I have a $2000 firewire audio interface (apogee). USB 2 can't handle audio like firewire 800 or even 400 in my experience. Not that USB sucks, it just sucks for audio. It's fine for things like controllers.
I should have a giant tower in the studio to run all the audio apps, but I get by with a Mini. It's also silent, which is important for a recording studio. I don't think the macbooks or pros are as quiet.
Next gen firewire could be 3.2 or 4.7 Gbps. USB is still going to be useless for audio.
Toxonix, I'm definitely with you on that one. USB suxxxx for audio, or storage, or any of a number of things, really. Both slower (USB2.0 is still slower than Firewire 400 for disk usage) and less reliable, in my experience.
"Gainclone, wouldn't most video editors and sound guys buy the higher end system anyway?"
See Toxonix comment for answer.
I don't understand. MacBooks never had Firewire. I have four under my care now. MacBook _Pro's_ had firewire, and so do the new ones. What's the fuss?
I ordered one of the new MacBooks, so I could use it with my Phonic firewire mixer. I opened the thing up, played with it for about an hour, and decided to see where they put the firewire port. Oh man, it was hard not chucking the thing across the room the moment I discovered that it didn't have firewire. After much phone time with Apple and a whole host of others, an extraneous trip out to BestBuy (for a fabled firewire to usb adapter...I know how silly that sounds, but I was desperate, and they assured me they had one), I finally send my MacBook back and got a Pro. I'm happy: better video card, snazzy backlit keyboard, and of course firewire. But man, it was a nightmare.
The best part, though, was feeling sharing a sense of enraged bewilderment with everyone I talked to at Apple.
Crisis ended, but such frustration.
@#15: Up until the recent recast, MacBooks had a single FireWire 400 port. Removing the port is a sure indicator that Apple thinks FireWire is dead (and/or dying). Personally, I'm happy that Apple has been giving us a heads-up on this since the MacBook Air.
#14, that only goes for the mini. (It doesn't have FW? I did not know?)
The MB and the MBP are equally noisy. I would even think they're both about as noisy as the mini, but I don't know about that. The mini is a laptop in a different form factor, and it has fans, so I'm probably not far off.
Anyway, apart from the physical size of the thing, if you're a pro, why not buy the pro machine? If you're going to want to minimise latency the best way you can, why not go all the way and get the Pro? If you get the 2.5GHz, it even has double the L2 cache. Better performance.
"Anyway, apart from the physical size of the thing, if you're a pro, why not buy the pro machine? "
????
Because many pro's know that it is not necesary to pay more money than you need to on something that will work just fine for your application. Not everybody is rendering 3D animations or mixing 128 stereo channels of audio, or some such. And many like the smaller form factor of the Macbook.
Now that Macbook performance is similar to Macbook Pro performance, it makes sense to use a Macbook for many applications--except, of course, for the conspicuously absent Firewire port. Coincidence? I think not..
I use Firewire in macbook for video camera, hard disc, and profesional Digidesign Audio Interfase...
bye
@ BARDFINN
I fail to see how target disk mode helps you to boot from an iPod, surely target disk mode would not allow you to boot the machine at all, you would just get a firewire symbol on the macs display and it goes no further.
all intel macs support booting from USB devices, so if you want to boot from a USB stick or pocket drive that will work fine. for disk repair an ideal solution for example is the great insert.cd bootable image.