From: "rmegna54" <ralph@macastronomy.com>

Date: June 12, 2012 12:37:01 PM MDT

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: VT and USB 3

To clarify: 

First, basically the 17-inch MacBook Pro is dead. There was no refresh and Apple has made it clear that it does not intend to continue a model that represents 1% or less (real stats) of its laptop sales. Also, its chief value - being able to support HD video editing - has been supplanted by the new Retina MacBook Pro, which can display 1280P HD, pixel for pixel, with a huge amount of screen space to spare.

Second, the "standard" 13-inch and 15-inch MBPs were refreshed with USB 3 and newer processors; the rest of their specs are essentially the same as before - still have Firewire, still have optical drives.

Third, the Retina MBP doesn't have Firewire, but either of its two Thunderbolt ports will take a $30 adapter from Apple and give you FW800. Some may complain about the need/cost of the adapter, but honestly, if you have just paid at least $2200 for the new MBP, another $30 is pretty trivial.

And finally, the "reports" of the "death" of the Mac Pro appear to be greatly exaggerated. NY Times writer David Pogue - usually a VERY reliable source for Apple products - says this: "Many Apple observers also wonder if Apple thinks that desktop computers are dead, since not a word was said about the iMac and Mac Pro. An executive did assure me, however, that new models and new designs are under way, probably for release in 2013." In other words, the quiet Mac Pro refresh yesterday was just that - a refresh - to extend the life of the product until a new one can be introduced.

Ralph Megna

Riverside, CA

--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, Milton Aupperle <milton@...> wrote:

Hi Kurt;

Thanks for the info.

It makes little sense to me on the 17" model to dump FireWire,  

Ethernet (now offered as a "optional" Thunderbolt to Giga Ethernet  

adapter)  and the Express card slot - especially given he state of  

Thunderbolt peripherals and Expansion chassis. And why leave FireWire  

on the 13" and 15" models or add USB 3 and  Thunderbolt  to the Mac  

Book Airs? Very weird fragmentation going on here..

They also updated (well it's called an update) the DeskTop Mac Pro  

model too - although you'd never know it. The only change was a minor  

speed bump to the CPU's - no Thunderbolt, no USB3, no SSD, no New  

Graphic cards  at all - just the same 2010 model. Likely they will  

just discontinue them altogether as they did to the X-Serve with no  

warning.

TTYL..

Milton Aupperle

On 11-Jun-12, at 3:18 PM, mihalco wrote:

Well, looks like the new Macbook Pros do indeed support USB3.  They  

also introduced a nice model without an optical drive (and with a  

retina display, 2880 x 1800), but unfortunately for Firewire camera  

owners, it doesn't come with a FW port.  Instead 2 thunderbolt ports  

and 2 USB3 ports.  They did announce a thunderbolt to FW800 adapter  

(coming in July). They also upgraded the existing style Macbook 13 &  

15's (with optical drive) to support both USB3 (they keep FW800  

support).  See:

http://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/specs/

Kurt