From: Bob Piatek <bobtek@mac.com>

Date: June 12, 2012 2:57:35 PM MDT

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Re: VT and USB 3

Change is good.   I gladly embraced Firewire when introduced many years ago.  There once was a company that had an RS-232 serial port interfaced hard disk drive for the original Mac years ago (really).  As you can expect, today's Firewire drives are infinitely more useable.  And now we have the progression to Thunderbolt drives.

I don't want to go back to the days where floppies, CRT's and command-line interfaces were the norm.  I like big LCD displays, GByte USB flash drives, and WiFi connectivity.  

BTW... I'm currently at Apple's WWDC and the Retina MBP is awesome.   So are the other amazing software technologies being developed in Apple labs these days!!!!  

Bob

fishcamp engineering

105 W. Clark Ave.

Orcutt, CA  93455

http://www.fishcamp.com

TEL: 805-937-6365

FAX: 805-937-6252

On Jun 12, 2012, at 11:37 AM, rmegna54 wrote:

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

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