[trv]

So what is up with NO firewire 800 and what about the pcmci card slot?
what is the Express Card/34
I just have this Feeling the MAC is turning into a windows machine.
Isn't fw800 a great thing?

[Cadaver]

Timeline in 3... 2... 1...

[trv]

Timeline 3...2...1
Sorry I'm not sure what that means, I'm pretty new to this.

[uicandrew]

i'm guessing that maybe there is a member named "timeline" who has very strong opinions about this.

all of this has been discussed and debated to death in the "official" macbook pro thread in this forum started the day it was released. I've personally read every post in the first 11 pages or so.

i'm sure if you glance through that mega-thread, you'll find every single possible point of view and/or pros and cons of your points in there.

to me, it would be like beating a dead horse. just my 2 cents.

[mac-at-kearsarge]

OK, you're new here, and I'm feeling in a friendly mood, so allow me to assist you getting up to spped.

1st. When ever someone replies asking for a timeline, this is hint that maybe you should have searched the forums prior to posting. ie: the topid has already been discussed (usually to death). The 'timeline' is any number of pictures comically showing two historical events and an arrow indicating yoursomewhere behind the times.

2nd. Despite it's great potential, FW800 is kind of a hit and miss senario. This is due to the fact that many of the other components (cameras, Hard Disks, ect) can not currently operate at speeds that make FW800 of any benefit, except for a extremely tiny sliver of few. Hopefully Apple will keep FW800 around so when things due catch up, they'll be ready.

3rd. It still has FW400

4th. Even on the PC side, PCMCIA is dying. Apple, being on the cutting edge, is adopting a new mobile notebook expansion slot, which even PCs are going to be using. I'm willing to bet that is Apple waiting until everyone else adopted it, you'd complain of how they're behind the times (Becareful, people have lost their lives at this place for stating such foolishness)

5th Apple moving to the x86 architure was forced upon them, and if the fact that the MBP was speed bumped before it even shipped is any indication, it was great that it happend.

So don't worry my friend. Just remember to look before you post (or you'll be toast), Apple is doing fantastic, and everything is going to be OK.

[mduell]

FW800 is good for what, single disk enclosures? eSATA is better for that, for everything else FW400 is fine...

Maybe some music products can take advantage of FW800, but you're getting into some really rare stuff and those 4 people can buy a FW800 EC/34.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by mduell

FW800 is good for what, single disk enclosures? eSATA is better for that, for everything else FW400 is fine...

Maybe some music products can take advantage of FW800, but you're getting into some really rare stuff and those 4 people can buy a FW800 EC/34.

"Rare", eh?

ANYBODY who works with MORE THAN ONE DEVICE simultaneously will see the benefits of FW 800.

It won't matter to most, but importing a movie from a DV cam to an external drive is gonna work a lot more consistently via FW 800, even for popa's dirty home videos and vacation flics.

And there are a hell of a lot of people out there who buy their $2000 laptops for actual work, not recreation.

That said, while there are as yet NO FW 800 ExpressCard/34 units out there, SIIG just put out a dual-FW400 card, and a FW800 is sure to be available very soon, which should solve most people's problems.

[mduell]

Originally Posted by analogika

"Rare", eh?

ANYBODY who works with MORE THAN ONE DEVICE simultaneously will see the benefits of FW 800.

It won't matter to most, but importing a movie from a DV cam to an external drive is gonna work a lot more consistently via FW 800, even for popa's dirty home videos and vacation flics.

And there are a hell of a lot of people out there who buy their $2000 laptops for actual work, not recreation.

Yes, rare.

Let's use your example of importing from a DV cam to an external drive. For most consumer grade cameras that's 25Mbps in and 25Mbps out; with 393Mbps available, FW400 is hardly being strained. Even for a professional using DVCPROHD, that's 100Mbps and 100Mbps out; oh, wow, we're barely using more than half of the available bandwidth. If you'd like to make a point about pros importing multiple streams simulaneously, they should be using eSATA (cheaper and faster) or network storage (on the company network).

Buying a $2000 laptop is great. Now buy a $50 card (when they're available) if you want a niche feature.

[tooki]

The horse is already dead, no need to beat it more.

tooki