new mac laptops

[marty lester]

what the hell Apple?

the new Macbooks have no firewire
port at all. the Macbook pro has
firewire 800 only.

i want to buy one of these new babies, but...
can i use something like this:

http://www.synchrotech.com/product-1...ectors_01.html

it's the one at the bottom of the page...and
use FW400 stuff in a FW800 port? makes
me mad they took away FW of any speed on
the Macbook.

thanks,
marty.

[Sean Russell]

Yes, it sucks that Apple decided to kill the FW400 port on it's lowest end entry notebooks - I myself am still a bit stunned. But there has to be more of distinction between MacBook and MacBook Pro. Kind of reminds you of another company having to making distinctions, no? (ADC, trim automation, zero latency, massive bus and track counts, etc).

Guess it wouldn't matter to me much now anyway - you can't run a TDM system on a MacBook!

[25ghosts]

Originally Posted by marty lester

what the hell Apple?

the new Macbooks have no firewire
port at all. the Macbook pro has
firewire 800 only.

i want to buy one of these new babies, but...
can i use something like this:

http://www.synchrotech.com/product-1...ectors_01.html

it's the one at the bottom of the page...and
use FW400 stuff in a FW800 port? makes
me mad they took away FW of any speed on
the Macbook.

thanks,
marty.

You are missing something. Apples NEW "Books" all have Gigabit ethernet. Now, the new protocol allows for Firewire over ethernet. That means that if you would want to use OLD firewire technology all you need is an adapter which I am sure will be avail. soon.

[JFreak]

It sucks even more that they decided to drop DVI-port in favor of this new DisplayPort connector. Sure, the low-end 'bokos already had a mini-DVI which required an adapter so another kind of an adapter makes no difference. But the Pro book had a full-sized DVI connector which was great! I'm gonna miss that feature if I have to buy a new model soon.

[thin ice]

Apple always try to keep ahead of things as I recall. Remember the first iMac coming out and people couldn't believe there was not floppy drive. You have to move on some time. I have a stack of firewire drives as well, but they won't last forever.

[Fidelis]

Originally Posted by 25ghosts

You are missing something. Apples NEW "Books" all have Gigabit ethernet. Now, the new protocol allows for Firewire over ethernet. That means that if you would want to use OLD firewire technology all you need is an adapter which I am sure will be avail. soon.

Is this really true? Does it work like you say? What about Target mode startup? I use it all the time!

[JC925602]

Originally Posted by 25ghosts

You are missing something. Apples NEW "Books" all have Gigabit ethernet. Now, the new protocol allows for Firewire over ethernet. That means that if you would want to use OLD firewire technology all you need is an adapter which I am sure will be avail. soon.

From wikipedia

A new port specification which provides 800 Mbit/s over the same RJ45 connectors with Category 5e cable which is specified in IEEE 802.3 clause 40 (gigabit Ethernet over copper twisted pair)
An automatic negotiation that allows the same port to connect to either IEEE Std 1394 or IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) devices.
Various minor updates to IEEE 1394b
Though the potential for a combined Ethernet and FireWire RJ45 port is intriguing, as of December 2007, there are no products or chipsets which include this capability.

And from the 1394 Trade Associassion

Enabling 800 MBit/s on CAT5e

But only 800 MBit/s, no other speeds
Distance up to 100 m
Coexistence with 802.3 (Ethernet)
Leveraging Gigabit Ethernet technology
Two logical networks on one physical cable
No bridging between 1394 and 802.3`

As far as I know there is no such thing as "FireWire over ethernet". Only FireWire and ethernet on the same cable, No existing chipset = no possibility to have it on the new MacBook.

JC

[the dude]

without even an express card slot you are SOL

so the entry level Laptop for a Compatible LE or Portable Laptop rig is now limited to the MBP models ( unless you install a 500gig internal and use that for sessions )
which have the FW800 as well as an express card slot so you can gain additional eSATA, FW ports , or a Chassis

And forget about USB drives

[EvilElfBoy]

I recently purchased one of the new macbooks and I didn't think that they would pull the 400 port, so i did try a test. On another older white macbook, i tried running a 32 track audio session off a 500gig usb 2.0 drive, and I had no hiccups at all. Al beit I had no plug-ins running. But hell I was really shocked! The only other option I have is running it off the internal. I really don't see the point of spending another 500 bucks for a bigger monitor and a freaking port.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by the dude

unless you install a 500gig internal and use that for sessions

...which is unsupported configuration