From: Milton Aupperle <milton@outcastsoft.com>

Date: October 17, 2008 3:26:07 PM MDT

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Re: Say NO to the new No FireWire MacBooks.


Hi Ralph;


On 17-Oct-08, at 2:55 PM, Ralph Megna wrote:

Hi all,


This subject is getting a lot of airing in all kinds of Mac forums.  I sent my complaint to 

the Apple feedback page this morning.


Thanks.


In my view, the problem is three-fold: First, many of us have Firewire peripherals that are 

unusable with the new MacBook (which just happens to be the best selling Mac product of 

all time).  Second, many people (including me) strongly prefer to connect to stuff with 

Firewire because of its speed and intelligence, two characteristics never associated with 

USB of any flavor.  Third, with the loss of FIrewire, so goes target disk mode.


The good news is that every other shipping Mac except the Air (where its absence is at 

least defensible) still has Firewire.  For how long?  Who knows.


Actually, no. The New Aluminum Mac Books do not have FireWire or a PC34 expansion slot. So 50% of the Laptops Apple ships today don't have FireWire and have no possibility of ever adding that functionality.


Also Apple has to support the PC34 card for FireWire and since Mac Intels were introduced in 10.4.x, all of my previously (10.0 to 10.3.9) functional Power Mac PC Card bus slots for FireWire are dead on my G4 laptop Re-Boot into anything up to 10.3.9 (or even OS 9) and they work perfectly, after that dead. Apple's FireWire group won't respond to this and filed bug report sit forever and never get any response.


One small correction to something said here: There is one exception to the "once it is 

removed it never comes back rule" - Firewire 800 was deleted from the first MacBook Pros 

(because Apple used Intel's basic laptop chip set which isn't Firewire-friendly), but later 

was restored, alongside the FW400 port.  The new MBPs have only an FW800 port, but that 

is backwards compatible with 400 with little more than an adapter cable.


Actually I said that. However in that instance, it still Had FireWire and you can run FireWire 800 peripherals with FireWire 400 adapters or cables (I list where you can get those on the Astro IIDC website in the FAQ section) so it wasn't without FireWire. Also Apple still uses Intel's motherboards, just like every other "PC" manufacturer does. 


However NO FireWire means NO possibility of using FireWire peripherals and no more Astro IIDC.


A suggestion to those needing a new Mac laptop but unable/unwilling to spend $2K+ for a 

new MBP: Get a refurb MBP.  Fully loaded refurb MBPs start at $1349 - just $50 more than 

the new MacBook, and it is a much, much more capable computer with both FW400 and 

FW800 ports!


And if those are all gone, then you can buy the "Mac Book White" polycarbonate Laptop that still has FW400. But after they kill those off - then it's pretty well over unless people stop buying the FireWire Less Aluminum models to send "Steve" and his marketing engine a message.


TTYL..


Milton J. Aupperle