“I was genuinely surprised when Apple dropped FireWire sync from the iPod nano. So much so that I almost returned mine when I first made the gruesome discovery. I thought for sure that FireWire would live forever in the bigger iPods and that it was just a casualty of the nano’s small size. Unfortunately, FireWire’s almost dead completely,” Jason D. O’Grady writes for ZDNet. “Now I’m hearing that FireWire is gone completely from the new Intel iBooks that are coming next month [and] a little birdy told me that the new Intel PowerBooks will lose FireWire 400 completely and retain only one FireWire 800 port as a concession to video professionals.”
Full article here.
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Related articles:
FireWire to Apple: why have you forsaken me? – September 09, 2005
Intel adds FireWire 400 and 800 to latest motherboard – May 18, 2005
Apple should include a combo FireWire and USB 2.0 cable in every iPod box – February 24, 2005
Apple disrespects its own Mac users with iPod’s FireWire fiasco – February 24, 2005
Griffin debuts Dock400 FireWire cable for Apple iPods – February 24, 2005
Petition to Apple for iPod FireWire support posted online – February 23, 2005
Apple knifing its own FireWire baby by pushing USB 2.0 as iPod’s primary connectivity option – February 23, 2005
WHY is apple doing this?
This is disturbing. FireWire is a selling point for people who want plug and play video editing. This will hurt “switcher” sales.
If thats true it would really suck, there are way to many people out there with external firewire peripherals and devices to just cut them off.
No! I need all the firewire I can get on my powerbooks! I am a editing professinal and I am only 12 years old. I still want my old ports on the intel…
I hope it’s not true.
When I use USB 2.0 peripherials sometimes my system drops the hardware.
I have never had a problem with firewire hardware connected to my mac.
I’m using OSX 3.9, does anyone else have this problem?
I don’t have USB 2.0 therefore I can’t buy new iPods that support it. (unless I die a slow death using 1.1)
Apple f***’s it’s loyal customers once again..
MDN word: FUTURE …I foresee no firewire in our future
This is going to kill those of us in the video world… in fact, fire wire is so much better than USB for most things that this is REALLY going to hurt… PLEASE DON’T DO THIS APPLE.
MDN magic word – Number
As in we need a larger number of firewire ports.
There should be an option to have it. Like a floppy drive, but no one uses those anymore.
Why would they stop with firewire? That’s one thing that camcorders need to hook up to a Mac.
Not a very big mistake, but it’s still a mistake.
It’s peanut butter jelly time. wayat, wayat.
this guy “heard” something. guys, use common sense. So many drives and cameras use FW400 and are not compatible with FW800. Of course Apple will have more than one FW port on its POWERbooks. Duh. It’s a pro machine. Yeah, yeah, cry about the iPod, but this is baseless.
The rumor’s not true. What do you do with your iSight? Video Camcorder? Without FireWire, you can’t have a complete iLife solution. Besides, this is Jason O’Grady – of Powerpage.org “fame”. I don’t recall him having an excellent rack record when it comes to rumors.
Not that common sense alone doesn’t tell you that Apple isn’t going to drop FireWire.
This WILL NOT happen,
If it does, how will Apple make any money on their CONSUMER (iBook) level product iMovie if no one can even plug in their camra? Seems REALLY dumb to me. If I had a firewire in my old iBook G3 and they dont make them into the new Intel PowerBooks something is very wronge in Cupertino.
Dont Do It Apple
I’ll believe it when I see it …ain’t gonna happen unless he is talking about a stripped down bottom end iBook
If Apple’s going to drop Firewire, they should at least figure out how to get decent speed out of USB 2.0 first. As a professional photographer shooting digital, I need a fast, reliable connection for shooting large digital images with a camera tethered to the laptop, and right now with the Nikon D2X, USB 2.0 ain’t it. It’s just too darn slow for high-paced work. My Canon 1Ds, on the other hand, has no speed issues over Firewire. I don’t know if the problem lies with USB, my Powerbook’s USB controller, OS X, or Nikon’s camera or software. But, I’ve heard and read reports that USB 2.0 is substantially slower on Macs than on PCs. This is inexcusable.
It is SHORT sighted to focus on pre-existing firewire peripherals. It behooves Apple to be able to purchase Intel motherboards and chipsets that are mass produced. If they require an add-on FireWire or custom board, it will drive up prices – and once the Intel switch is on, price comparison will be huge.
So they give up the FireWire battle. They have bigger fish to fry. USB 2.0 may be VHS quality when a Beta solution exists, but it isn’t horrible either. FireWire served Apple well for a long time and they got royalties from Sony and others every time they used the chipset in a product. Now it is time for the next chapter.
I find this difficult to believe. You can boot from an external disk or via Target Mode from another Mac with firewire. You can’t boot from an external USB drive.
Also, what about the millions of Firewire only camcorders? I don’t want to have to upgrade my camcorder AND Mac at the same time!
I don’t buy it.
“There should be an option to have it. Like a floppy drive, but no one uses those anymore.”
It shouldn’t be an option, it should be standard. You know, like it has been for the past five years or more (depending on which product you’re talking about – five years for iBooks, nearly seven years for Power Macs).
maybe these new laptops will come with a usb -> firewire adapter… not sure how easy that would be. the firewire 800 -> firewire 400 seems feasible though.
I hope you’re right macnut222.
Firewire is too good to go away.
Matt: I have an iBook and still need firewire. It’s not only for PowerBook users.
FW800 to FW400 gender adapters are only about $5 each. Maybe one will be included if this is truly Apple’s direction.
as people as said this is so baseless it’s not even funny! most companies make external HDs with FW400 & FW800, esp, my favorite HD I just bought from G-technology, G-drive. If apple does this how do they expect 3rd party companies to continue to support them if have their inventory is wiped out when there is no FW support. I for one would SERIOUSLY BOYCOTT new apple/intel “COMPUTERS”. I hope enough people seriously also consider it also
MG-fact, As in a it is a FACT that a Machintosh isn’t complete without FW
The guy has no clue about electronics is he’s surprised FireWire was ditched on the nano.
However, on Intel iBooks? That is a bummer. It isn’t all video professionals that use FireWire. If they are dropping it from iBook, then what about iSight? USB2 version?
egarc’s comment is a good one, too.
Well here’s hope.
According to an article on Mac Daily News in May 18,2005 : Intel WAS adding Firewire to its motherboard.
If its true and Intel is still following through with the plan I hope they include FW400.
To “me”
Seeing how Apple’s systems compare well with systems from the likes of Dell, I don’t think the move to Intel will hurt them in any noticable way. Apple is likely to use a custom logic board design for their notebooks anyway. They aren’t going to be limited with their designs for a measly logic board. Besides, I think Intel makes logic boards with FireWire built-in now (unless that’s only for desktops).
If anyone thinks Apple (especially with Steve running the ship) is going to let another company dictate what they are going to design or build, they are extremely delusional.
Apple’s really not thinking about this. Their new Aperture software can only create the Vault (backup drive) on either an internal hard drive or a Firewire drive. So USB isn’t acceptable.
So Apple isn’t dropping Firewire, they’re just being a cheap <insert expletive> by dropping it in the iPod. But since I live by Firewire, that means the Nano and iPod Video are a no-go.
Thankfully my iPod photo and 3G work just fine and I have no use for video on my iPod. So no new iPod revenue from me anytime soon.
Dropping FW on iPods is one thing, but to do that on iBooks, etc, is quite another. There are too many Mac users with FW hard drives, DVD burners, etc, that need FW capability on their Macs. Let’s hope they do the right thing and keep at least one FW400 port on all new Macs.
The sky is falling!
No firewire? I sometimes boot up from my firewire HD. Its faster than the built in HD on my iBook.
its bloody bullshit, theyre keeping it. when have you heard anything reliable or unbiased from ZDnet?
pack of windows chumps.
all macs will keep it.
There is a Firewire 800 to 400 adapter for people that still need to use 400 devices with their new Intell iBook/Powerbook if rumors are correct. Since Intell designed USB, that might have been a trade-off to get chips before other manufactures.
Example:
Intell says to Apple “We cannot give you chips before Dell or anyone else… unless….. you ONLY use USB on your machines.” Apple to Intell “We cannot do that, but we can cut Firewire off of the low end models and ONLY have Firewire 800 on the high end.” And a deal is made. So Apple will get the newest chips first, maintaining their “edge” in technology, Intell will see more manufacturers switching to USB maintaining there connectivity edge (by popularity). Apple will be able to tout that they are providing the fastest connections (in theoretical speeds) with USB 2 and Firewire 800 on their offerings.
It is pretty much a win-win situation, unless you want to buy an iBook without firewire and only have a Firewire DV cam so now you cannot connect it to the new machine. Apple cannot please everyone though… so some people will feel that Apple has left them out in the dark.
The Dude abides.
TO MDN: HOW LAM OF YOU TO REMOVE MY MESSAGE AND THEN TO POST A NEW HEADLINE AND PRETEND YOU’VE COME UP FIRST WITH THE NEWS. BUNCH OF PATHETIC FUCKS
MDN REMOVED MY POST WHICH INCLUDES A LINK FROM THE REGISTER.CO.UK – APPLE TO DROP FIREWIRE WAS POSTED AROUND
Intel PowerBooks next month? Dropping FW? OS X on Sparc? M$ iPod? Bush and Clinton to co-captain MENSA lip diddling team is more likely. So far the only worthwhile news today has been the release of the SJ Keynot Speech countdown widget…
Steve is giving up.
A liitle bird told me that the new MacTels will be running Direct X too.
What’s next Windows Vista?
Next horror rumor please…
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boing you are tha pathetic fuck
anyway, its all lies, 1394 is still strong and not going anywhere.
Computers and video cameras and iMovie do.
End of story.
Get over it–too few people with iPods NEED firewire. If you’re one who NEEDED it, I feel for you. It’s a music player.
A computer is a home movie station, and that NEEDS firewire.
Apple is KEEPING firewire except maybe on the cheapest of all Macs.
As many have pointed out, this would cause much trouble with video and iMovie. Every DV camera is based on firewire transfer.
Well Boeing727 perhaps you should use the little contact link in MDN’s upper right corner to submit a story.
Then you get a nice pat on the head via email if they haven’t already got the story already.
If you get a really good scoop they might even mention your nick on the site and you’ll be famous for a whole day.
Wouldn’t that be great. LOL
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Intel just put firewire support in it’s new chip sets. This simply cannot be true unless Apple and Intel together just made a USB 2.5 that is Firewire compatible.
Not true.
Move along. Nothing to see here.
If true, then Apple management (Steve Jobs) really are destined ruin the company again.
The main reason I haven’t bought a new iPod is that I have a “Luxo” iMac and a 1Ghz Powerbook, neither of which have USB2, and I don’t feel lke having to buy a new computer just so I can sync an iPod at a reasonable speed. I can understand not making it standard, but to not even offer an option (i.e. a Firewire dock)?
Also, I have a Firewire camcorder. So when it does come time for me to upgrade computers (would have considered a new flatscreen iMac), I would then have to replace my camcorder?
In the end, I wind up buying nothing from Apple, and using what I have until something actually dies.
I can’t believe that I’m the only person who has decided that this forced obselescence is unethical.
By the way, THIS S**T is the reason that Apple will NEVER succeed in enterprise sales. You CANNOT abandon interface standards that may affect the significant investments a company may have in peripherals. Apple has a rather solid history of doing exactly this.
How is this good for Apple sales?
This Intel iBook has been rumored to be “ultra-thin” do it is possible that it might use the same type of drive as the 5G iPods. If this is the case, Apple would leave FireWire out of the design because such a drive would not be fast enough to capture the DV stream from a MiniDV camera. A cheap, ultra-thin notebook would most likely be targeted to students and computer novices, not professionals and advanced users who need FireWire functionality like DV capture and Target Disk mode.
How dare you all question the wisdom our our Lord, Steve Jobs!
He maketh Firewire!
He taketh away!
Bow down and grovel at his marvelous wisdom. You who question the great one are destined to one day be PC owners!!!!
——————
Apple: It´s not just a computer, it´s a religion
FireWire’s NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s got headroom to grow up the ying yang.
USB = Non-crucial devices (iPods, etc.)
FireWire = Smokinn’ hot, throughput-essential beasts (vid cams, editing decks, Powerbooks, etc.)
Oh, and “me” (above) — buy a clue.
I totally agree that Apple moves too quickly to make much progress in the enterprise market but I stayed with apple because they were always moving quickly forward. This would be a big step backwards.
Quote “Apple is KEEPING firewire except maybe on the cheapest of all Macs.”
The point of apple’s cheapest of all macs, and the reason they were always more expensive than the cheapest of all PC is that they had everythig you needed to do anything a mac could do. It might not do it as fast or as easily but it was going to come with every necessary feature.
I hope the switch to intel isn’t part of an entire stretegy to change that “quality, even at the bottom” philosophy. Everyday I hear some news or some rumor leading me to believe Apple is ready to move out of their niche of making good computers and finally going into the business of making cheao computers that everyone wants, which requires abondoning useful quirks like firewire. I sincerely hope all these little things firewire, target disk mode, velocity engine.
For years there were those of us who were willing to forego the bleeding edge of intel’s technology to get those little things that made much more of a difference than speed gaps too small to measure. I hope Steve knows something I don’t because with my info I’d rather they go back to PPC.
Do you nee to be that competitive Boeing777? Perhaps you need to host your own website and come up with all the news first and take ALL the credit…
Firewire: it gets my vote to stay though my external 250 backup is USB 2, driven through a USB pcmcia card in my Titanium Powerbook – so much nicer than the Alu’ Powerbooks. I hope the next gen Powerbook is a bit less ultra-shiny, glossy and instead is more workmanlike…
A few seconds of commonsense thinking should reveal the absurdity of this rumor. No firewire, no iMovie (and pretty much no Final Cut Express), and then you have no use for iDVD. Can’t use one of the hot-selling firewire audio interfaces from M-Audio, Focusrite, Presonus, etc. in Garageband or Logic.
I just got a new Mac. The FIRST THING it asked me to do was to connect my old and new Macs together with Firewire to transfer files. No can do with USB2. (Unfortunately for me, no can do with my Yosemite G3, either–doesn’t do target disk mode.) The Migration Assistant is a huge advantage for the Mac.
If this rumor has any basis in reality, it must refer to an entirely new product or model of iBook–something super small and designed for very basic functionality.
One simple reason they wont do this: iMovie
Try finding a DV or HDV camera with USB video transfer support…
if this story is true, then what’s the big deal? all the FW400 device owners will simply need to invest in a 4pin to 9 pin cable, a 6pin to 9 pin cable, and an apple 30pin to 9pin cable for older ipods.
extra investment sucks but it would be pretty minimal and backwards compatibility would be a non issue.
Homer, pay attention and RTFA. There will be NO FIREWIRE on iBooks, according to the rumor. What would one do with the adapter cables?
O’Grady has never been accurate. His “little birdy’ was nothing else but a mirage induced by heavy drinking.
If Apple is to hold its lead in movie making for the mere mortals then FW cannt be dropped as it’s way superior (due to data streaming) over USB which sends data in packets.
i’d petition anything that states to apple that dropping firewire from anything is bad for business, cusomers, etc… fie
Anothter problem with lack of firewire is that USB is inherently inferior. In addition to being slower it is a less organized bus and the only thing that has ever made my mac crash. Connecting a USB flash card reader was the first thing that ever made my iMac crash. Crashes 2-10 were caused by a usb wireless keyboard that I eventually had to give up on. My iMac never crashed again. The one time my powerbook has crashed was another USB memory reader. I thin part of this problem is OS X’s support for USB, which Apple could fix if they abondon firewire, but I’ve heard that USB 2.0 isn’t trouble free on windows either. Something about the way it remembers what is connected to which port causes it to get confused if anything moves and thus causes computers to crash.
This just can’t be true, it makes no sense and it’s not steve’s character to let Intel dictate something like this. Unless the trade off is getting Intel processors for much cheaper than anyone else does. A high end Intel for dell is double the price of the top of the line ppc for Apple. Or the trade off is a free deal on ALL of intel’s cool technology that they haven’t been able to use because MS won’t support it. Still it seems to me that they should be able to have both.
macnut222 —
Forgive me, I am “extremely delusional”, I believe that none other an BILL himself did dictate Apple hardware support. By Bill getting device manufacturers to write USB drivers, he was able to strong arm USB to a peripheral standard. When faced with using FireWire for high speed data transfer versus USB 2.0 which would degrade to USB 1.0, it was a no brainer for hardware vendors and their driver developers.
Fast forward to the Nano and 5th gen iPod. Neither support Firewire sync (but will charge). Apple didn’t add the extra chipset with would have taken up space, weight, and cost battery life and money.
Bottom line, Apple knows it HAS to include USB support. Why add teh second chipset for FireWire? Particularly on non-pro iBooks where space, cost, weight, and battery life are all important?
But remember, I’m dilusional so my argument is moot.
People, please, settle down!
It is all part of a bigger strategy. FireWire 400 was as close to USB 2 as fu..ing is anyway.
They still have 800 and it will eventaully become the standard for transferring all those huge porn files from Mac to iPod in seconds!!!!
Apple have the next 5 years or so already planned for our enjoyment. Get over the small problem and immediate shortcomings and look to the big future.
Apple is going to AMAZE the world with their upcoming stuff over the next few years and further.
Life is good. Mac rules, where it counts, in your hands!
Leo
Jay says: “This just can’t be true, it makes no sense and it’s not steve’s character to let Intel dictate something like this. Unless the trade off is getting Intel processors for much cheaper than anyone else does… Or … a free deal on ALL of intel’s cool technology that they haven’t been able to use because MS won’t support it. Still it seems to me that they should be able to have both.”
Welcome to the wonderful world of iTMS video. Firewire is yet another casulty (the other being PPC in the first place) in Jobs’ quest to get video content on locked-down Intel machines. I have no trouble at all accepting that Intel didn’t want FW competing head-to-head with it’s best USB spec (and losing) and made it’s abolition inevitable. That’s why FW800 is still around – it’s not a direct competitor in performance. It may be even simpler; Intel is apparently making the chipsets for Apple in the future, so if they refuse to put FW400 on the board, well … sayanora.
There may be other issues at play, maybe even the media content providers had some sort of problem with it (‘it transfers stolen content too faaaast’), but at heart this is yet another superior technology being sacrificed for an average CPU (anything Intel makes), based on an average architecture (x86). Question is, is it worth it? How much is too much. Only a month or so before we find out I guess.
I second the boycott idea.
IF THERE IS NO FIREWIRE ON THE IBOOKS, WE SHOULD NOT BUY THEM AND ADVISE EVERYONE WE KNOW NOT TO BUY THEM.
We should put buttons on all our websites saying, “DON’T BUY THE FIREWIRE-LESS IBOOK — PASS IT ON”
If the movement spreads, we can have a material impact and ensure the next version of the iBook will have firewire.
I think for Target Disk Mode alone it is an absolutely necessary technology.
Heroin – You need to INCREASE your meds.
This report is idiotic. Apple is NOT going to drop FireWire.
The headline should be, “Apple to standardize entire line on FireWire 800.”
What, is Mr. O’Grady really suggesting that Apple is going to make it impossible for consumers to hook up their digital camcorders to their iBooks, so they can edit video in iMovie?
Think about it and you realize this is just panicked speculation motivated by whining about the loss of FireWire on the iPods, which is a totally different issue.
A single FireWire 800 port on the next-gen iBooks is a good thing. It’ll be better able to handle large HD video and is backwards compatible with FireWire 400 via a simple adapter. Like the kind of video adapters that ship with the PowerBook 12″.
This so-called report is a total waste of time.
I do not believe the rumors that Apple drops FireWire.
I did not believe the rumor that Apple would switch to Intel either…
“I was genuinely surprised when Apple dropped FireWire sync from the iPod nano”
really? are you that fucking stupid?? most people are PC users without firewire.. so for most people, the plug in there is not going to be used.. so when trimming profit margins, apple decided (smartly) to take our the firewire, so they can offer a competitive price.
PC users out there have no place to bitch. and mac users should be smarter than this.. you already know why it’s not in there
Not very happy about that! FireWire 400 is faster than USB 1.1 and 2.0!!
It’s bad enough to be switching to Intel, but we shouldn’t have to suffer with their CPU hogging USB interface!!!
My random thoughts on this:
1. Maybe the new iBooks will include a camera, so there’s no need for an external iSight.
2. Maybe the new iBooks will be so thin and small that Firewire ports are a luxury on this form factor.
3. USB 2 is probably fast enough for an iBook user if they need external HDDs. Powerbook is questionable (but FW800 is not that common, esp. on video cameras.)
4. PC laptops often have Firewire… PC desktops less so. Dropping them on an Apple notebook is a dumb move.
5. If true, I hope it’s not for $$ reasons.
6. Conspiracy theory – Intel required them to drop it (Intel already owe Apple anyway – USB was languishing until the first iMacs came out.)
7. Maybe this O’Grady guy is full of it and he’s simply wrong.
8. That website is crap (it’s zdnet so that explains it a bit). Unless I’m mistaken, you can’t read people’s comments w/o clicking on every single one of them.
9.
2005 – Year of High Definition.
2006 – Year of Crappy Inferior Hardware touted as “Great, Fantastic Hardware”.
How much does it really cost to add FW to a Intel motherboard.
I don’t think they will drop it because of iMovie, iDVD, and a host of other apps and peripherals.
I hope they won’t because FW 400, FW800 and USB 2.0 can co-exist.
That’s BS that Firewire was dropped to make the iPod a competetive price! It was dropped to increase an already large profit margin on a cash cowpod.
FireWire is the best thing since unsliced cheese. Loss of FireWire would show serious disrespect for long-time customers with backup drives, cameras, older computers. Must it be this way?
Apple should keep Fire Wire; the way i transfered my older Mac in to the new Mac was amazing fast and easy . When Apple thinks it needs to adapt to the cheap PC’ machines they are absolutly wrong, that is not the way/reason Apple consumers buy a Mac computer … ! iPod has usb 2.0 is acceptable for the same reason: cheap PC’s.users buy an iPod.
BTW, I can’t believe Apple adopting USB Target Disk Mode. *Barf*
Apple will drop Firewire? Never. That’s like saying Apple will move to Intel processors. Never.