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fisherKing · Jun 8, 2009, 01:32 PM

in your face, doubters!!

the new 13" has firewire 800 (thus letting me get an apogee duet audio interface).
am definitely selling my current 13" aluminum for the new one.

a lot of people (me too, i guess) did not expect apple to do this, but firewire is back, a sign that either a) apple listened, or (more likely) b) they just felt like putting in FW800 (thus ensuring people like me would upgrade).

lpkmckenna · Jun 8, 2009, 01:46 PM

I might update too. I'm doing fine without FW, so I have to think long about it.

amazing · Jun 8, 2009, 03:31 PM

Don't you just love it when you're right and Apple's wrong?

At least Apple had the wherewithal to admit their mistake and restore firewire to all their laptops except the MBA.

Spheric Harlot · Jun 8, 2009, 03:41 PM

Three words:

THANK YOU APPLE

I'll be ordering this week.

fisherKing · Jun 8, 2009, 03:51 PM

i'm actually gonna wait until sept (snow leopard and all)... had adapted to no firewire, and am good for now.
but glad to see this, and looking forward to seeing FW800 audio interfaces...

Eug · Jun 8, 2009, 04:11 PM

I specifically bought a refurb white MacBook cuz I didn't want to pay the premium on an aluminum MacBook without the backlit keyboard or Firewire.

Now I can get both. Excellent.

amazing · Jun 8, 2009, 06:02 PM

I bought a matte 15" previous gen MBP on closeout because I couldn't do without matte and firewire. The backlit keyboard and larger screen were bonuses, but I really do miss smaller size and lightweight.

It would have been a much harder decision if this new 13" MBP had been around. However, I will still be waiting to see the new 13" display, to see about viewing angles and quality. Glossy is still going to be a huge drawback for me.

$29 for the new OS is truly awesome, can't wait!

molala · Jun 8, 2009, 06:29 PM

I'm glad there is a 13-inch "pro" notebook again. I bought a refurb blackbook last October because I couldn't compromise on firewire plus I don't like glass. Looking forward to reviews of the 13" MBP.

fisherKing · Jun 8, 2009, 06:32 PM

Originally Posted by molala

I'm glad there is a 13-inch "pro" notebook again. I bought a refurb blackbook last October because I couldn't compromise on firewire plus I don't like glass. Looking forward to reviews of the 13" MBP.

i moved to the 13" aluminum macbook from a 12" powerbook, and bitched a lot about the screen. but i have to say...this is my fave mac ever, and, with the changes in the new 13"...am really pleased. fw800 is a great addition (i don't get the point of the sd slot, really), and am looking forward to seeing the new screen.

plus longer battery life...nice. (and it says "macbook pro" under the screen...finally!)

CharlesS · Jun 8, 2009, 07:28 PM

This is definitely a nice development - the new 13" MacBook Pro looks like a true successor to the old 12" PowerBook.

Nice to see FireWire live on.

Northeastern292 · Jun 8, 2009, 07:46 PM

So who sees Low End Mac making the Unibody MacBook a Road Apple?

pyrite · Jun 8, 2009, 08:10 PM

thank the sweet lord!! definitely selling my whitebook for this...

Big Mac · Jun 8, 2009, 08:13 PM

I guess all of our carping eventually brought Apple back to its senses.

Kestral · Jun 9, 2009, 12:19 AM

When the unibody 13" MacBook without Firewire first came out, I was so disgusted I promptly ordered a refurb 2.4 ghz BlackBook.

Today's announcement of the 13" MacBook Pro with Firewire caused me to do something I haven't done in a long time. I've been buying refurbs for quite awhile now and for the first time in a long time, I bought a brand spanking new 13" MacBook Pro (ok, I paid education price).

I'm a muscian and I own an Apogee Duet audio interface which is Firewire. btw, I highly recommend this interface, even for people looking for great audio conversation for a great price and a beautiful package. I put my BlackBook on Craigslist this afternoon and it sold this evening. So I'm typing this on a Windows machine and not enjoying it, so hoping the 13" MBP ships tomorrow and gets here by Wednesday or Thursday of this week!

iREZ · Jun 9, 2009, 12:33 AM

if only i had the time to go back and find all those threads where i was called a troll when i argued the strengths of non glossy screens and firewire capabilities to the hoards and hoards of sheep here at the NN. one "feature" down, one to go...

amazing · Jun 9, 2009, 02:04 AM

It certainly is sweet knowing that our superior judgment in loyally supporting firewire has paid off!

I imagine that the expresscard slot didn't quite pay off the way Apple thought it might. I've got 2 eSATA cards I can't depend on, and barely use. Much better to have fw-800. I wonder if Steve's experience with eSATA expresscards didn't work out?

As for calling the 13" unibody MB a "Pro" model, well I'm gonna reserve judgment until I see one and until the reviews come out. Apple has pulled this sort of stuff before: I have a 12" Al PB that is more closely related to an iBook than to a Powerbook. The 12" display was definitely closer to the iBook standard.

mackandproud · Jun 9, 2009, 02:34 AM

See, Apple does listen.

P · Jun 9, 2009, 05:30 AM

Interesting. Will be interesting to see the first disassembly photos to see how they squeezed it in, but it may be the flexibility in having a non-replacable battery that did it.

Koralatov · Jun 9, 2009, 01:23 PM

Originally Posted by amazing

It would have been a much harder decision if this new 13" MBP had been around. However, I will still be waiting to see the new 13" display, to see about viewing angles and quality.

I’m hoping it’s a decent panel in there — if it’s some crap-ass Twisted Nemantic, then it pretty much nixes the appeal of the 13″ model for me. I just cannot stand crappy, washed out displays.

Originally Posted by Northeastern292

So who sees Low End Mac making the Unibody MacBook a Road Apple?

I thought that too, but overall, I don’t think it really warrants the label — it was/is a good laptop, and it remains a good laptop.

Whilst I personally disagreed with the decision to remove it, I think the whole lack of FW thing was a bit of a storm-in-a-teacup. It provoked an incredibly negative reaction from a very vocal subset of Mac users, but I suspect a lot of them didn’t really care either way, and expressed their indifference by not bothering to comment. As with everything, the noisiest group is not always the biggest.

Still, all that said, it’s good to have FW back.

CharlesS · Jun 9, 2009, 02:26 PM

Originally Posted by Koralatov

I’m hoping it’s a decent panel in there — if it’s some crap-ass Twisted Nemantic, then it pretty much nixes the appeal of the 13″ model for me. I just cannot stand crappy, washed out displays.

That 15" MacBook Pro in your signature has a TN panel. I don't think Apple has put a non-TN panel in any of their laptops. For a while, there was a ThinkPad with a non-TN panel, but I don't know if it's even being made anymore. It's exceedingly rare for manufacturers to even make panels in sizes suitable for laptops that aren't TN panels.

mduell · Jun 9, 2009, 02:37 PM

All Apple laptops use 6 bit (18 bit) TN panels, but there's still room for significant quality variation between different 6 bit TN panels.

I'd trade FW for eSATA in my ideal world, but the 13" is pretty appealing to me now (the display on the previous generation was unacceptable to me).

MallyMal · Jun 10, 2009, 08:17 AM

Originally Posted by MallyMal

They sure did. Perhaps Apple will include Firewire again on the second generation aluminum Macbook. They will tout it as a professional feature that yesterday you would have had to spend $700 more for.

I knew it!

amazing · Jun 10, 2009, 11:21 AM

Apple taketh firewire away, claiming nobody needs it!
Apple restoreth firewire thereafter, claiming it's now a Pro factor!

Just goes to show how many of us were Pro all along, without knowing it!

CharlesS · Jun 10, 2009, 11:38 AM

Yep, and now they taketh ExpressCard away, claiming no one needs that... in favor of an SD card slot.

I don't know what it is with Apple and their fixation on removing important functionality. They can't ever make something better in one way without crippling it in some other way.

5 bucks says after the backlash from this, though, that ExpressCard will be back in the next revision - just like FireWire on the unibody MacBook.

P · Jun 10, 2009, 06:12 PM

Originally Posted by CharlesS

5 bucks says after the backlash from this, though, that ExpressCard will be back in the next revision - just like FireWire on the unibody MacBook.

After the last launch, the cries for Firewire could be heard around the globe. The cries for the EC slot are much quieter.

And don't say that the SD slot is the reason the EC slot is gone. The redesign in general dedicated more space to the battery - I would think that that's why there's no room for an EC card anymore.

Big Mac · Jun 10, 2009, 06:18 PM

Yeah, lately it seems like Apple takes a step backward for every Mac hardware improvement. It's funny that now the only truly pro laptop is the 17", and Apple is fine with admitting that. I care more about Firewire than EC, but omitting a true expansion slot on a pro laptop is pretty unprecedented.

CharlesS · Jun 10, 2009, 07:09 PM

^ Heck, omitting a true expansion slot on any non-netbook laptop is pretty unprecedented outside of Apple-land. It was fairly ridiculous that you had to go for a $2000 MBP for that before, and it's even more obnoxious now that you have to go for a $2500 behemoth.

Spheric Harlot · Jun 11, 2009, 03:37 AM

Originally Posted by P

After the last launch, the cries for Firewire could be heard around the globe. The cries for the EC slot are much quieter.

That's solely due to the fact that those who need it are to ****ing BUSY to hang around places like this.

It's like with the glossy screens. The truly "pro" road warrior photographers I've met hardly ever come to the store for lack of time, and they've told me explicitly that all the bitchin' about glossy is a bunch of baloney, from their standpoint.

They calibrate it, and other than that, they're far too busy USING the damn things to bother complaining/raving about the trade-offs and advantages of glossy displays over the matte ones.

OreoCookie · Jun 11, 2009, 03:43 AM

I'm very happy and now very tempted to pick up a 13" MacBook Pro. It has everything I want, although I do not have sufficient reason (except for the want-one factor) to get one.

Simon · Jun 11, 2009, 03:50 AM

Since when is that not a sufficient reason in itself?

stoneage · Sep 3, 2009, 10:59 AM

This just caught me off guard. I am trying to transfer from a FW HD to a MacBook and realized there is no port. Is there a solution or a cable that fixes this? aaaaggghhh!!

Simon · Sep 3, 2009, 11:18 AM

Remove the HDD from its case and put it into a USB case or SATA/USB dock.

The other option is attaching the FW HD to another Mac that has FW and then use AFP to share the disk over a network connection. You'll want a wired connection though because wifi is going to be slow for large amounts of data.

fisherKing · Sep 3, 2009, 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by Simon

Remove the HDD from its case and put it into a USB case or SATA/USB dock.

The other option is attaching the FW HD to another Mac that has FW and then use AFP to share the disk over a network connection. You'll want a wired connection though because wifi is going to be slow for large amounts of data.

or move the data to a mac with firewire, then copy back to a usb drive, and to your macbook...

am gonna move from my 13" macbook (aluminum but no FW) to a new 13" next version (october? whenever!)

CharlesS · Sep 3, 2009, 03:33 PM

Originally Posted by stoneage

This just caught me off guard. I am trying to transfer from a FW HD to a MacBook and realized there is no port. Is there a solution or a cable that fixes this? aaaaggghhh!!

My suggestion? eBay the MacBook and get a 13" MBP.

Unless of course, your computer is a MBP, and you just don't have a 9-pin to 6-pin FireWire cable. In that case, you can get one here.

stoneage · Sep 18, 2009, 12:27 PM

I have an older white MacBook with Firewire and I have a Firewire HD that I can connect to. I want to transfer OSX from the remote HD to a newer MacBook that doesn't have any Firewire port. All it has is high speed USB port. Is there any way to get the software from the HD to the newer MacBook?

olePigeon · Sep 18, 2009, 02:53 PM

You could buy a new enclosure for your HDD that has USB, or connect an ethernet cable between the two and transfer the files via filesharing.