MacBook is Speedy, but no FireWire 800, Modem Ports

Lam1969 writes "Yuval Kossovsky has a hands-on review of the new 15" MacBook Pro. Besides the speed improvement with the dual-core 1.83-GHz Intel processor, he likes the built-in iSight camera, "MagSafe" power connector, and better WiFi antenna placement, among other features. But he laments the loss of the modem port and FireWire 800 connectors: '[Apple] has taken away by getting rid of the FireWire 800 connector slot and the modem. FireWire 800 was left off the motherboard of the new laptop largely because it has not achieved much a following among users. ... The loss of the modem jack may be a sign of things to come. I was told that Apple had found that 90% of PowerBook owners used the 802.11g AirPort wireless card, gigabit ethernet or a Bluetooth connection to a cell modem to get network access. So for cost and package size reasons, the modem was left out.'" Update: 01/26 17:25 GMT by P : Story and headline updated to clarify that only FireWire 800 was not included on the machine; FireWire 400 is present.

Comments

Apple's customers

[DogDude]

Apple continues to narrow the segment of customers that they're catering to. Now, apparently, they're only catering to customers that live in modern, urban or massively suburban areas that have wireless everywhere. I know that I would never consider a laptop (especially a grossly overpriced laptop) that doesn't have a built in modem. It's not because of snobbery, but because I often have to use a modem to connect to the Net.

But really, this is nothing new... Apple has really always been bleeding edge, and has always catered to the very wealthy.

Gotta have the firewire

[sauge]

I got a bunch of firewire 800 disk drives. If they want me to buy another Apple, they are gonna have to put the FW800 back in.

Otherwise I will be writing a "Why I gave up on Apple" article in my blog. :(