Filed under: Audio, Hardware, MacBook
New unibody MacBook loses two ports
The new polycarbonate MacBook released today has gained some tantalizing new features, but in the process of redesigning the case to accept the new integrated battery, it's also lost two ports. Just like the unibody aluminum MacBooks released last year, the latest version of the plastic MacBook has no Firewire port. This also means that the last Firewire 400 port in the Mac lineup has vanished – all new Macs, save the Firewire-free new MacBook, now have Firewire 800 only. Farewell, Firewire 400, we hardly knew ye.
But that's not all that's been lost: in a more puzzling omission, the MacBook has also lost its dedicated audio out port. Now one port does the job of both audio output and input.
I don't imagine the loss of Firewire will go down well with many people (it certainly didn't the last time this happened), but the audio port seems like less of an issue. If you're going to do any serious audio work, you're generally going to want to use a USB peripheral anyway, and having one port do everything makes it impossible to plug your headphones into the wrong port and unintentionally blast your potentially embarrassing iTunes playlist to passersby. Not that that's ever happened to me...
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
Scott McLeod said 5:10PM on 10-20-2009
The combined audio in/out port is kinda neat actually. It just sucks when it comes down to recording with a mic and wanting to monitor it...
Like you said though, anyone doing anything serious with the audio port will just buy a USB/FW external device.
Reply
Seth said 5:53PM on 10-20-2009
"If you're going to do any serious audio work, you're generally going to want to use a USB peripheral anyway"
Actually, if you are doing serious audio work, you want a FIREWIRE port.
grumble
simonhowes said 6:03PM on 10-20-2009
If you are really serious about audio, you'll need a ExpressCard/34 slot. *ducks and dives*
Most audio cards use Firewire, so again we're stuck.
Juaquin said 10:09PM on 10-20-2009
If you NEED a Firewire port, you probably also NEED a MacBook Pro.
Is the lack of Firewire inconvenient? Yes. Is it actually going to affect more than 5% of Apple users? No.
Ned Scott said 10:34PM on 10-20-2009
The audio port is the exact same as the audio out port on all other macbooks. The "input" comes from the 4th connection on a minijack cable for mic input. It still works as an optical audio out port as well. So what we've lost is stereo analog input and optical input, but we have mono input.
brombl said 11:00PM on 10-20-2009
Not really. Can't tell you how much work I've been paid for that I did using a combination of Creative Suite, (Final Cut) Production Suite and/or Avid Xpress Pro, and Logic on my first-gen Macbook. They're powerful enough to do it - but without Firewire, it's gonna be a hell of a fight.
Dan said 12:35AM on 10-21-2009
@Juaquin
"Is the lack of Firewire inconvenient? Yes. Is it actually going to affect more than 5% of Apple users? No."
Actually, the lack of Firewire truly sucks, and it will affect more than 5% of users (weather they know it or not).
I only own firewire/usb external drives. The firewire port for general use, and USB for when the computer I connect it to does not have firewire. As you might expect that the USB is only used when connecting to Windows.
Firewire 400 transfers files 2-3 times as fast as USB 2.0, that is real world timing, regardless of what the USB 2.0 specs say.
Another place I really notice this is when transferring an iTunes library to a USB iPod as compared to a Firewire 400 iPod. The USB iPod takes several minutes to transfer 4GB of tunes where the Firewire iPod can transfer 40GB of tunes in the same time.
To put it simple USB should have stayed with Keyboards, Mice, & Printers like it was originally intended. Maybe you could add USB microphones and speakers as they are not much different, that is low bandwidth interface devices.
Juaquin said 1:56AM on 10-21-2009
@brombl
If you're doing enough of that kind of work you should probably be investing in the Pro, most likely the 15". Sure, the MacBook will do it, but so would a netbook if you really had to. The point is you get what you pay for.
@Dan
Then if you need the extra file transfer speed, buy the Pro. It's only $200 more (less at some colleges, if you're a student), and if you need the speed that badly you probably could use the other features of the Pro (SD card, etc).
Face it, guys. You ARE the 5% of people I'm talking about. Most MacBook users don't have a single FireWire device, or wouldn't mind using a similar USB device. I could understand all the whining if there wasn't the 13" Pro, but there is, so I don't get it. An extra couple bills for Aluminum Body, backlit keyboard, SD slot, FireWire etc seems worth it to me if you're in that situation.
John Federico said 5:11PM on 10-20-2009
I'll bet that audio in/out port works with the iPhone 3GS headphones. I'll bet. Yes, I will... ;)
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SireB said 9:10PM on 10-23-2009
It does work. This is also a feature on the new MacBook Pros.
ketsugi said 5:50AM on 10-22-2009
This is what I most wanted to know. Hopefully this can be confirmed soon; it'll be great being able to use the 3GS earphones with this new port for combined I/O.
Greg said 5:12PM on 10-20-2009
And let's remind everyone that the iPhone mic/earphones WILL work in the new audio port for Skype, etc. calling.
PS. first!
Reply
Greg said 5:13PM on 10-20-2009
double DUH
Mike Eliss said 5:15PM on 10-20-2009
This reality is brought to you by competitors.
Low-end laptops rarely have FireWire, optical audio, or even bluetooth. The fact that this MB has two of those three things is always lost in "competitive comparisons".
So for me, it's a moot point: I don't have any FireWIre devices, at home or at work.
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Rob said 5:36PM on 10-20-2009
I don't consider the white Macbook to be a LOW end laptop. It is nearly twice the price of low end PC laptops running Windows.
Considering we are in a world wide recession, Apple should have introduced a TRUE low end laptop with a low end price. This is not it.
SSteve said 6:05PM on 10-20-2009
"Considering we are in a world wide recession, Apple should have introduced a TRUE low end laptop with a low end price. This is not it."
Yeah. Considering we're in a world-wide recession and Apple sold more Macs this quarter than any previous quarter in history they must really be doing something wrong. What a bunch of morons they are.
oakie said 6:06PM on 10-20-2009
personally i dont think apple should join that race to the bottom, where $500 crapbooks reign supreme. keep the quality high across the line or you may see bottom-end shortcuts creep upward into the higher-end lineup. dell is a fine example of "bottom up creep" and are trying to stamp that out with their adamo lineup.
it's easier to maintain the image of a desired brand than to rebuild it. once you lose it, you lose credibility when trying to rebuild your profit margin. besides, their latest revenue report shows they're doing just fine despite a global recession... no need to get desperate by jumping into a profitless sector of the market.
as for the missing firewire port, it wont be as missed compared to the late '08 fiasco since the line has been drawn: firewire is a "pro" feature for macbooks. plus, you can get a similar form factor plus the firewire port by going with a 13" macbook pro, along with other desired features, for $200 more. the problem with oct '08 was due to the cheapest firewire "pro" macbook was $2000 at the time and people werent willing to give up the unibody construction for a firewire port (i.e. get the polycarbonate macbook if u want firewire)
my apologies if i rambled... i'm quite tired. :(
Kevin said 8:38PM on 10-20-2009
I have many firewire devices, so this really sucks.
Well, actually it doesn't. I'm not buying one of these anyway. When the time comes to replace my MacBook Pro, I'll probably get another one of those.
So it's a moot point for me, too.
nikster said 9:30PM on 10-20-2009
I want to second Rob. Apple needs more netbooks. Like Dell. Apple could buy all outstanding Dell shares using only their cash in hand and then... oh, wait ;)
In seriousness, Apple could probably build a $799 MacBook but maybe they feel like they don't have to. For one they still are a premium brand. And on the other hand, they have not been hurt by their higher prices at all so far.
I think it has to do with the competition: Most PC manufacturers can't for the life of it produce a notebook that's not ugly. There are very few exceptions. And Microsoft can't for the life of it produce a version of Windows that's not crappy. Whatever the reasons may be...
TVGenius said 9:39PM on 10-20-2009
And Apple laptops are specifically sought after for video editing, which for 95% of the world, requires a FireWire port. It's going to get a lot more expensive to edit real soon if Apple keeps this up. When you start talking about adding another $300-500 to the cost of a system for 3rd party video I/O, that gets expensive for schools and the 'prosumers' out there.