Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware, MacBook
Farewell FireWire?
During the meta-liveblog yesterday, I was in full-out Apple fangirl mode. I won't lie; after the MacBook specs and design were revealed, I was already contemplating putting my current BlackBook (that I bought in August '07) on eBay or Craig's List, hoping that the RAM and hard drive upgrades and all the software I would include could net at least $900. Then I would buy a new MacBook.
After the dust settled and the specs were released, a dark cloud quickly dashed my plans: FireWire 400 ports are no longer included in the redesigned MacBook. The old style MacBook (now selling for $999) still includes FireWire 400, but the new beauties are FireWire free. What a bummer! Back in January, we listed lack of FireWire as one of the biggest downsides of the MacBook Air. On our Talkcast earlier this week, we actually discussed the idea of FireWire being withdrawn from the MacBook line. I thought it was plausible on the then-rumored $800 MacBook (a rumor that never materialized, sadly), but I was really, really hoping it wouldn't be removed from the line as a whole.
Whether the reason was based on user-feedback (which I'm sure Apple will claim), or done merely to force a schism between the "consumer" and "pro" lineups (as commenter Kai Cherry suggested), the net result is that a technology Apple has been pushing for nearly 10 years and that many of us have come to rely on, for external devices, target-disk mode and digital video needs, is no longer available in any laptop other than the MacBook Pro (or the older generation white MacBook).
No company has pushed IEEE-1394 (the technical name for FireWire) more than Apple (though Sony is close). The iPod was a FireWire device until its fifth revision in 2004 (USB adapters were available for the third and fourth generation units). Target Disk Mode is arguably one of the most useful Mac diagnostic tools. As long as you have a FireWire hard drive, you can safely migrate, repair or perform component tests on Mac, without damaging the internal drive.
As of right now, there is no true support for USB devices in target disk mode. Yes, you can boot from a USB device, but it's not the same as TDM. It's a shame that they are now phasing out this feature, and without a genuine successor. I don't want to start a USB 2.0 vs. FireWire 400 argument, but for sustained transfer, power consumption and the ability to daisy-chain devices, FireWire remains superior, especially under OS X (other operating systems don't benefit from FireWire as much). I mean, if you are going to get rid of FireWire, at least give us an eSATA port. That would at least be a better alternative for external drives than USB 2.0.
While it is true that FireWire-only devices are on a serious decline -- the latest generation of digital camcorders that use AVCHD and store data to SD cards all utilize USB 2.0, as do the vast majority of external devices -- are we really at the point that it is a "pros only" feature? It took years and years for consumers to finally ditch VHS-C and move on to miniDV. Are we already at the point that everyone has migrated to AVCHD and converted all their old footage digitally? Obviously, for existing Mac users who are just buying a new MacBook, this might not be a big deal. Use the iMac or an older MacBook for digital conversion. But this is still a blow to anyone who relies on (or -- shocking -- prefers) FireWire and wants to replace their primary machine.
There are bridge adapters available that will allow you to connect a FireWire device to a USB port, but they are expensive, and Windows XP-only. It is likely that a similar adapter will be created for the Mac, but how these devices will actually perform is questionable.
As a fervent supporter of the standard since 2000 (when I bought an OHCI compliant PCI card for my PC so that I could edit video at home or at school on an iMac DV), I have demanded FireWire support on every computer or laptop that I have purchased in the last 8 years. Buying a laptop without a FireWire port, that I will use as a primary computer, is frankly not an option for me. My next MacBook will have to be a MacBook Pro. And because spending another $1000 is a bit different from spending another $500, I won't be upgrading any time soon.
What are your thoughts? Is a FireWire-free MacBook a deal-breaker for you, or is it something you can live without? Do you know of any devices or cables that will help ease the transition? Sound off in the comments!
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 12)
Jay said 3:58PM on 10-15-2008
not a deal breaker by any means, but its certainly a letdown. i suppose i understand it...but its annoying. i don't shoot any video on dv anymore, so i don't really care about the video side of things but i've got to accept that either i pay another $700 or my backups are gonna be a lot slower.
and don't give me that usb2 is faster than firewire b.s. - you'll get trampled.
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Jerry H said 8:18PM on 10-15-2008
Right on Jay. I think the target mode is valuable and there is no need to be a geek to know how or to need to do this. I think it is the bit about someone else telling me that I have to spend 2M to get a simple feature that has been a standard for years in the low end notebooks. I have an aging PowerBook G4 that runs Leopard just fine and has FW 400 and 800. I use it to pass things back and forth to my 24" iMac. It's a breeze. I think I'll consider having the dippy latch on the thing fixed and just use it instead of lusting after the new sexy models. I would love an Air, but they chopped too much off to save weight and they spend millions convincing me that they know best FOR ME! Oh well.
Doc said 3:25AM on 10-16-2008
Happy to see it go for the exact reason of the gap between consumer and pro. When I was heavy into video production I hated the jerks who would take on a job with a HI8 and iMovie and try to do good mid to high level video. I was so excited to iMovie go uber consumer.
I know its hars but you would not want to send your kid out to play NFL Football. Bad for him and bad for the sport.
If you want to play pro then you gotta pay pro.
eric f. said 11:48AM on 10-16-2008
The space between the High end MacBook and the low end MacBook Pro is only $400. That's how much more I spent since I need Firewire.
At least FW800-400 cables are cheap and reliable...
My new baby comes on Monday.
Nate said 9:25PM on 10-23-2008
I can almost guarantee that the move was a separator from the MacBook pro line. It only makes sense. With all the new changes to the regular Macbook, they had to do more to set the Pro line apart so people would keep paying big bucks to do their audio and video editing.
I don't particularly like Apple for doing this, but I can understand the reasoning. As for me, I'm going to stick with my 13" white one for now.
NirO Shan Man said 3:59PM on 10-15-2008
Exactly. This really sucks, I don't know why they had to do this. I already put my MacBook on craigslist to get ready for this, but now I don't even know. Why would they do this, there really is no point. They should have atleast put in another USB port. I use my main external hooked through Firewire and then the rest upto the usb ports, but now only two? Also for my DV camera i use firewire, what would i do? I might just buy a new MacBook Pro or an older version.
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Ed said 5:48AM on 10-16-2008
Steve Jobs presented the message of this very clearly so I don't know why people are so up in arms about it. Tim Cook's narrative also supported the notion behind it too.
The MacBook is a consumer product. To become a consumer product with pro-level features, Apple did what it could to add to the consumer experience that would offer a level professionalism, but it's clear that certain things had to take a backseat. There are very few feature differences between the two machines and FireWire is one of them. I'd wager they've done the right market research to show that a dwindling, small percentage of people still use FireWire at all, and of that small percentage, there are ever fewer looking to save the bucks and purchase a consumer product. Yes, it's great that MacBook have offered this in the past, but to please the vast majority of consumers, keeping FireWire at a cost to everyone is not something they needed to do. To please consumers, what they decided they needed to do was add real graphics, a professional enclosure, a backlit keyboard and other higher specifications. I'd support them fully in that.
anthony said 4:00PM on 10-15-2008
Or you could get a $15 FW400 - FW800 adapter as, I believe, Jony (no longer Jonathan) Ives mentioned.
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/fw_adapter.html
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Allen said 4:22PM on 10-15-2008
The point is that FireWire is now a Pro-only option, so in addition to that adapter, you get to shell out another grand. The adapter won't help if what you want is a MacBook (non-Pro).
Personally, I'm of mixed feelings on this - I've considered FW important for a long time (my pocketdrive and backups are on 400 and 800 respectively) but I wonder how much other people really use it on a regular basis (and all of my drives have USB options built in). But I intend to get a Pro model, so I'm doubly not impacted.
William Lane said 11:23PM on 10-15-2008
Nice adaptor, IF you have FireWire of any sort. The new MacBooks don't.
:(
anthony said 4:04PM on 10-15-2008
Oh, sorry, you were specifically referring to the MacBook, not Pro.
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Nick said 4:06PM on 10-15-2008
This sucks.
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N J A said 4:18PM on 10-15-2008
It's quite simple really, general mainstream consumers, ie those the MacBook is aimed at, rarely use firewire. In fact you need to go out of your way to get a FW external drive, versus the bog standard USB 2.0. USB 3.0 needs to hurry itself up.
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Morgan said 1:41AM on 10-16-2008
It's not JUST external drives that use firewire. Apple makes a big deal about how the average Joe can use iMovie to create professional-looking home movies. That's going to be a bit difficult for me to do since my Sony HD Camcorder requires firewire. I would hardly call myself a prosumer just because I want to be able to import some HD home movies. Should I have to spend $700 more just to have that capability? (Especially when I love the form factor of the smaller sized notebooks). Really disappointing. Luckily for me, my wife still has my old 12" PowerBook, which I can use to import my video and transfer to an external drive (USB of course... thanks!).
Kenjis9965 said 2:56AM on 10-16-2008
Sadly, I agree with you
The Macbook is targeted towards switchers and college students on a tight budget, and the majority of those people are probubly already scoffing at paying more for a laptop with a smaller screen and "less features" [I'm speaking in their mindset of course] than their pc...
The fact is that they're from a USB world, and to them, thats all they know and have, thus firewire is not important, and omitting it keeps costs down and leaves the side of the computer a bit less cluttered..
HOWEVER
I have used firewire for years, I for one was completely fumed when they ditched firewire on the ipod! I bought my original iPod Mini not only because of itunes, but because it had firewire [And I was a PC user then]
Firewire has proven time and again to be vastly superior to USB, 4/5 of my HDDs are Firewire 400/800 compatable, the one that isnt is a borrowed one
That said, I already am ashamed to admit i switched back to the PC camp because my desktop needs were not met with a Mac [I have a 24" monitor, wanted discrete graphics and have no need for a Mac Pro's power, I had a Powermac G5 Dual Core 2ghz that I bought brand new for $1800 and it served my needs superbly for years, the Mac Pro costs WAY too much for me to justify, and I tried a fairly loaded MBP and ended up returning it because i taxed it out and murdered it with the way i use a computer, plus i just couldnt use a laptop as a desktop replacement very effectively...at least not without spending more money..] Honestly, Vista has treated me well too, I was quite shocked! Its still no OS X however...but I deal because I just cant get a computer that works for -me-
I was planning to get a Mac notebook for the things i would use a notebook for..i never liked the normal Macbooks, the new ones look nice and they have a nice graphics chip [or at least better than the Intel one..] but now I dont know, I might just nab a used Powerbook at this rate, or an early MBP....
The new Macbook and Macbook Pros are nice, lovely to look at...but they're just demonstrating that Apple is alienating their original fans to gain acceptance and marketshare.....
Blake said 4:08PM on 10-15-2008
You had me at target disk mode. Seriously though, no FireWire = total deal-breaker. I'm a film editor. Mac's were basically invented for people like me. This is the biggest blow to their portable product line EVER.
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Christina Warren said 4:12PM on 10-15-2008
Exactly. I edit a lot of film too, and the thing is, a MacBook is more than adequate as a portable device. I don't really relish spending $700 more just so I can plug in my existing decks.
JJV said 4:36PM on 10-15-2008
In regards to using Disk Mode:
I have a question regarding transferring from one computer to another. I have a MacBook now and I plan to upgrade to the newer one, but i know that the old way of transferring all your data was via firewire disk mode.
But now that there is no firewire on the new MacBook, how will I be able to do this. and i really prefer not to transfer over the air as it is always slower and always less reliable...
tnkgrl said 8:43PM on 10-15-2008
@JJV, like with the MacBook Air, you'll be able to transfer everything from your old MacBook to your new (FW-less) MacBook over Ethernet (wired or wireless).
Like with the MacBook AIr it will be ultra slow over wireless (even using wireless n), so you'll have to use Gigabit Ethernet (preferably a direct connection, or via a Gigabit switch).
(As an aside, the MacBook Air's wired Ethernet adapter connect to the USB port and is only 100BaseT, which is still slow).
Ultimately, the lack of FW on the new MacBook is a real shame :/
hmlong said 9:17PM on 10-15-2008
The easiest way to move to a new machine these days is to use your Time Machine backup drive for computer A and use it to "restore" computer B.