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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.

4 of 199 comments (clear)

  1. why didn't they try to install windows? by mu22le · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    AFAIK no reviewer that had a macbook in his hands has tried to get windows running on it, yet.

    What's up? Do they have some kind of deal with apple to hide us the fact that we can't run xp (and xp games) before we all buy it and it's too late?

    1. Re:why didn't they try to install windows? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      This is getting tiresome. Apple never advertised these machines as capable of booting Windows. They are not being sold as XP gaming boxes. These are Macs, intended to run Mac software. There is no dark conspiracy to prevent you from running XP games on a Mac. It's simply not the intended use. Period. Apple doesn't support it and has no desire to support it.

      That said, an XP (or x86 Linux, or any x86 OS) VM would be an incredibly useful thing, and I'm sure one will be available before long. But this obsession with booting Windows is a white whale for geeks, not a missing checkpoint on the Mac features list.

  2. Re:How did this get modded Redundant? by damsa · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I think there is some guy out there with mod points that is marking everything redundant. This post will be marked redundant.

  3. MOD PARENT UP by GekkePrutser · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    He's asking a legitimate question so I don't see why he should be modded down as Troll. A second mouse button would be really useful for anyone wanting to run Windows on their MacBook.

    Imagine calling tech support, and them saying: 'Please right-click on my computer' :-) Whoops!

    Unfortunately, from the pictures I've seen it seems they still have only one button so there'll have to be a software solution for right-clicking or something.