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MacBook is Speedy, but no FireWire 800, Modem Ports

Posted by Hemos on from the change-in-it dept.

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.

12 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. Missing Tidbit by creepynut · · Score: 5, Informative

    What the article summary fails to mention is that there is still a Firewire 400 port on the Macbook. They just removed what they feel people aren't using, and that has been Apple's way for as long as I can remember.

    The modem can be taken care of by an optional dongle for the system, and Firewire 800 can be added with an Express Card. If anyone needs either, they're still available.

  2. Not such a big deal by AKAImBatman · · Score: 4, Informative

    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.

    The loss of the modem isn't such a big deal. I've only ever used mine once (when I was moving) and it wasn't a pleasant experience. If I'd had a Wifi card, I probably would have gone to a local hotspot instead of bothering with the modem.

    The nice part about the modem being left out, however, is that the Wifi card is included in the base system rather than as an add-on card. IMHO, that's a fair trade. If you really want a modem, Apple has a USB modem as an available option when you order your unit. So I'd say it's a win/win for all involved.

    Unfortunately, I can't speak to the Firewire as I've never used it. Of course, that may be saying more than enough...

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  3. No Firewire *800*, not "No Firewire" by squiggleslash · · Score: 3, Informative
    The headline is wrong. The MacBook Pro has Firewire, it just doesn't have FW800.

    It's clear Apple is downplaying Firewire, quite possibly planning to drop it as a standard feature some time in the next few years, but they haven't gone the whole way yet.

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  4. Use the PC card slot to add a FireWire 800 port by dmoen · · Score: 2, Informative

    One potential use for the MacBook's PC card slot is to add a FireWire 800 port, or a modem port. I've personally never had the use for either on my laptop. The MacBook does have a FireWire 400 port, contrary to the title of the Slashdot article.

    Doug Moen

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  5. Indeed by daveschroeder · · Score: 4, Informative

    And FireWire is going to be around for quite some time.

    As long as all DV and HDV cameras and decks use FireWire for DV transport, FireWire isn't going anywhere on Macs, including "consumer" Macs, since half of iLife (iMovie, iDVD), and the continuing major selling point for the SuperDrive, rest on the ability to get DV into the machine.

    And no, USB isn't a substitute on DV cameras. USB is only included to transfer things from the internal memory card, usually still images and crappy digital-still-camera-like video. To transfer DV, you must use FireWire. (Now, could the industry eventually agree upon a collective standard mechanism for DV video transfer via USB? Will something eventually replace FireWire? Sure. But that's not going to happen for a long time.)

    And indeed, ExpressCard/34 FireWire 800 cards are on the way, for people who really need FireWire 800:

    MacBook Pro #4: FireWire 800 cards for ExpressCard/34 slot on the way

    We previously reported that Apple has opted to omit the FireWire 800 port from its new MacBook Pro line. We also noted that various firms already offer ExpressCard FireWire 800 adapters, but there's a catch -- so far the cards are only available in the 54 mm ExpressCard standard, not the 34 mm standard Apple uses.

    We've now received anonymous word from a major peripheral manufacturer indicating that FireWire 800 cards for the ExpressCard/34 slot are on the way.

    The firm told MacFixIt:

    "We do not have an estimated release date, but we are currently working on a couple of ExpressCard solutions (1394b being one of them). We, like other companies have an ExpressCard/54 cards and all we need to do is down-size them into the ExpressCard/34 form factor

    "We expect to begin testing our cards within the next 2-3 weeks, and if all goes well, we could see production not long afterwards."

    1. Re:Indeed by daveschroeder · · Score: 2, Informative

      # FireWire usage across the industry is increasing, not decreasing

      Not as a percentage of market it isn't. There's no evidence that its growth is outpacing that of alternatives in the same market, which is a critical factor in the market.

      "Alternatives"? What alternatives? And all I said was that FireWire usage is increasing. It is. I don't have any figures on percentages. You also must have missed that fact that the High-Definition Audio-Video Network Alliance (HANA) has picked IEEE-1394b as its primary standard to clean up the home HD networking mess. This means more and more equipment that interact with HD equipment from both a video and audio perspective will feature FireWire.

      # FireWire is featured on all currently shipping Intel-based Macs

      Of the two PowerPC Mac models replaced by Intel versions, Firewire has been significantly downgraded in one of them from what it was in the PowerPC equivalent. The other is unchanged and was an older, seven year old, standard anyway.

      Yes. And this was a tradeoff because:

      1. One is a portable machine.

      2. One is a consumer machine.

      And if you call going from 1 FireWire 800 port and 1 FireWire 400 port to 1 FireWire 400 port a "significant downgrade", when we have a representative sample of 2 machines at that, we probably have a different definition of "significant downgrade".

      This was also a tradeoff because none of Intel's chipsets have FireWire 800 support, and Apple is trying to stay as vanilla as possible in terms of usage of Intel processors and support chipsets. Yes, it could have added its own chipset for FireWire 800 support, at the sacrifice of price, heat, space, design cost, and other factors. And for what? The extremely small penetration that FireWire 800 has? FireWire is still there. That's what is important.

      # FireWire is increasingly used as the interface of choice on modern digital video and audio equipment

      False. In the consumer market, modern digital video is moving to HDMI and was rarely, if ever, found in Firewire form. Modern digital audio has pretty much completely changed over to SPDIF. Firewire is pretty much only used for transfering video between DV cameras and computers outside of the commercial sector.

      Nope. And I also should probably say "high end" in there, too. But again, you missed HANA. And since HANA's founding members include Charter Communications, Mitsubishi, NBC Universal, Samsung, Sun, ARM, Freescale, and Pulse-LINK, they'll definitely be a force in the industry.

      And you also have forgotten that ALL HD set top boxes distributed to customers after July 1, 2005, MUST include a functional FireWire port, per FCC rulemaking. That's more and more FireWire out there every day, and FireWire is a transport that makes sense for simply handling data transport and control between many devices.

      # FireWire is the transport mechanism used by all digital video (DV) and high definition digitial video (HDV) cameras and decks

      The fact you said this means that you clearly didn't mean DV camera usage was to be included in the previous "fact". How many DVD players, video cassette recorders, high definition TVs, and TV receivers, available at regular chains like Best Buy, Circuit City, or even Radio Shack, have Firewire inputs or outputs again? This is the one fact that appears to be largely correct.

      And DV/HDV cameras/decks is a fairly, um, huge marketplace, wouldn't you say?

      And let's just pause here for a second - that so many people have settled for HDMI and S/PDIF is really unfortunate. I don't know if HANA will ultimately succeed, but they certainly have a lot of weight to throw behind fixing the current mess.

      Even so, it ignores the move towards USB by many companies. Sony already treats Firewire as an option, not a standard feature

    2. Re:Indeed by Captain+Perspicuous · · Score: 2, Informative

      You said:
      And FireWire is going to be around for quite some time

      Dave, isn't it kind of wrong if show proof of your theories by linking to a site that you have written yourself? I just have a strange feeling that something is not quite right there.

  6. Re:why didn't they try to install windows? by ZombieRoboNinja · · Score: 2, Informative

    I'd have to disagree here. There are probably a HUGE amount of people out there who would switch from PC to Mac only if there was a simple way to maintain backward-compatibility with all their Windows games and programs. Right now, when you buy a Mac as your sole computer, you're basically giving up PC gaming completely (except for World of Warcraft, that is). Not to mention all the proprietary VB stuff that many companies use.

    A VM sounds nice, but I can't see how it would be any easier to make a VM for OSX than it is for x86-Linux, and the existing x86-Linux emulators (or translation layers or whatever) are far from perfect. I don't want WINE for Mac, I want Windows!

    It may have little to do with Apple's "plans" for the system, but dual-booting to Windows would be a HUGE selling point among the gamer and geek crowds. If this is a white whale, it's got some darn valuable blubber.

  7. Re:They had a part to play... by Ster · · Score: 1, Informative

    It's not an Intel motherboard, it's an Intel *chipset*.

    It's not hard to have on-board devices that are not part of the chipset. For example, one of the embedded systems I use at work is based on the Intel Plumas chipset, and it also has gigabit ethernet via a Broadcom NIC that's on the board. Intel had no part in that. *We* came up with the specifications for the board, and *we* had it built with what we wanted. I have no doubt whatsoever that Apple could do the same.

    The reason FW800 is not on-board is what has already been said: adoption was low on laptops, so why spend the money designing it in when so few people use it?

  8. Re:FireWire 800 is missing because... by ImaNihilist · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's not quite that simple. They could have thrown in a third party TI chipset, which is what Intel uses for their FW400 solution IIRC.

    The problem is that, currently, all FireWire controllers are on the PCI bus, even the FW800 controllers. Why is that a problem? Because the FW800 controller can almost completely saturate the entire PCI bus by itself.

    It makes more sense to put it on the PCIe bus, but since no chipset currently exists, why not just leave it out so you can get an ExpressCard 34 that will have FW800 and be on the PCIe bus.

  9. Re:They had a part to play... by cygnus · · Score: 2, Informative
    It's not an Intel motherboard, it's an Intel *chipset*.
    everything i see on the web suggests that that's not the case:
    http://www.macnn.com/articles/05/12/28/intel.power .mac.design/
    http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/hardware/stories/13 2142.html
    http://www.google.com/search?q=apple%20intel%20mot herboard&sourceid=mozilla2&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

    unless you have some other datapoint, i think it's pretty clear it's an Intel motherboard.

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  10. If you want the modem, just buy it by vitaflo · · Score: 2, Informative

    Apple does sell a USB modem. If you need one, you can always buy it with your MacBook.