No Firewire 800 in MacBooks
Written on January 10, 2006 by Josh Pigford and 18 people have commented
Dan just informed me from Macworld that the new MacBook’s have no Firewire 800 in them. Steve seemed to have accidently left that little bit out. We’ve posed the question before about the possibility that firewire could be bowing out…could this be a major blow to it? Thoughts?
#1 Vicente Ribeiro says:Sad…
I never liked USB 2.0. For some reason, when I connect my iPod (60) using usb I get very funny results (sometimes it does not mount, sometimes can not unmount) while with FW 400 or 800 ir ALWAYS works great.
#2 Andrew says:doesnt it still have FW 400??
#3 Adam says:Perhaps the 10.4.4 update deals with some of the odd (and slower) USB 2.0 stuff. I can see some hardware vendors that put out FW800 drives etc being a little upset though.
#4 Adam says:yeah…still has FW400
#5 Michael says:The MacBook does have a FW 400, so the functionality is still there–just not the 800. So FW may be bowing out, but it’s not yet gone.
#6 Andrew says:well most things are FW 400 not 800..so really its fine with me… now the price tag is not ok anymore..
#7 Brion says:Perhaps some kind of agreement with intel? Intel does own USB after all. I think Apple would have a revolt on their hands if they didn’t include firewire 400, but I would assume 800 has a much smaller user base of people who actually rely on it day to day.
#8 david says:From what I understand it’s only a factor of the chipset and mainboard used in this model not being able to support FW800. It will eventually come back, probably in the next major upgrade to the processor (think Christmas 2006).
All the speculation about FW being dead is pretty silly. Aside from the fact that Apple has been instrumental in developing it, there are currently hundreds of devices (including basically every DV cam currently available) supporting it and that have plans to support it long into the future.
#9 Mondo Dynamo says:What about all the people that need a real pro apple laptop? Some people NEED firewire 800 and were wishing for a REAL PRO laptop from apple. Instead we get some wintel piece of crap running osx.
Fingers crossed for next time… Hopefully apple will start making machines for pros again one day instead of making them for newbies.
#10 ben says:As a video editor, I depend on Firewire 800. It’s significantly faster than FW 400–and when you’re dealing with massive amounts of data, it’s practically a necessity.
And what about them dropping the S-Video out? What the hell is that? So now there’s no video out at all? Fucking hell. I don’t have a TV–I have a projector which I run from my Mac!
Hopefully the next gen will be the mac that we all need it to be.
#11 John says:MacBook is not ready for prime time as a professional imaging/video editing system.
As released in Feb it will not reliably run any NLE software, audio editing software or any other software requiring sychronization timing. Nor will it run Photoshop correctly. These items are to be resolved with later software tweaks. However, the ommisssion of Firewire 800 is a slap in the face of professional media folks. Firewire 800 is necessary if the MacBook expects to be viewed as professionals editing system. Firewire 400 throughput is only capable of handling DV data rates, a prosumer solution at best. A number of “insanely great” RAIDs have come out in Firewire 800. I do understand that the MacBook will be able to run a 30-inch Apple monitor. Maybe f/w 800 would have been retained if Apple made the RAIDs.
It is a shame that Apple keep stubbing its toe what it comes to insanely great hardware. They sometimes only get the insane part right. Two steps forward. One step back
#12 El says:Ditto the disappointment. I was just putting my shoes on to head on over to my local Apple Store to buy a MacBook when I noticed in the specs that it only has FW400. I kicked my shoes off and decided to wait.
Elliott
#13 Johny Amigo says:I too was also going to buy a new Macbook but really wanted the firewire 800 to use with my external hard drive. I am debating on waiting and see if the change comes out soon but if it is going to be until Christmas 2006 that sucks.
#14 alex anderson says:can we add sata connections to our list of demands?
considering fcp is the only reason i use a mac (meaning i could care less what os i’m using), it would be nice to have a laptop that could run final cut reasonably well. firewire 800 would have made it worth considering, a couple external sata ports to plug in a 2-drive raid would have made it awesome. i know it’s not the most common thing, but it’s more pro than most features on the current model.
of course, you’ll be able to buy those expresswhatever cards, but why not just have it be in the pro laptop to begin with. how bout a higher res screen, please. fine, i understand this is sorta first gen, but omfg, can you make a decent pro laptop? i’ll part with more money, just make it right! or better than right. thanks.
#15 KC says:We all know the headaches caused from OS9 to OSX. But I think its safe to say it was worth it! Yes, no firewire 800 is a dissapointment, but I think it is something that will definitely come in newer models. Figured this would happen so I told myself to just be happy with my Powerbook for a while.
#16 KC says:One more note. With the addition of the express/34 slot, you will be able to add a firewire 800/SATA (whick smokes FW800) and many other peripherals. Once manufacturers start churning these cards out i think it will be nice to add the coonections you need instead of paying for them upfront.
#17 Jac Lam says:“With the addition of the express/34 slot, you will be able to add a firewire 800/SATA (whick smokes FW800) and many other peripherals.” - KC
Right. I wish. But where is that ExpressCard slot???
I have a great RAID SATA enclosure waiting for me……..
I need firewire 800 and SATA.
Seems like it is not gonna happen. Only option will be to wait for a MacBook Pro 12″ (if there will be one) and use ExpressCard.
#18 Bosie says:I agree with Mondo Dynamo, i’m not sure if Apple plans to progress firewire in wintel Macs though.
http://www.wiebetech.com/pressreleases/firewireevolution.pdf