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MacBook NO FIREWIRE

mkrtu9

mkrtu9

Mar 2, 2006
2,138
61
USA
#1
I ordered a new MacBook yesterday and found that it has no firewire port. NONE! not a 400, not a 800 only 2 usb.

I record with a Presonus Firepod with firewire. I was using an adapter from firewire to a PCI card for a PC. I was craving to try Apple software so I purchased a MacBook.

Is it possible to use a firewire to usb adapter without effecting the quality of recording?

Thanks in advance.

Matt
 
#8
If you just ordered it yesterday, it's not too late to cancel the order and change to a more complete model. Their customer service is great—just explain to the CSR that you missed the FireWire thing at first glance. This one that you've ordered is really geared toward college students and casual users who don't need the expandability, It's wasn't meant for professionals or the technically-hip
 
#11
TimWilson said:
If you just ordered it yesterday, it's not too late to cancel the order and change to a more complete model. Their customer service is great—just explain to the CSR that you missed the FireWire thing at first glance. This one that you've ordered is really geared toward college students and casual users who don't need the expandability, It's wasn't meant for professionals or the technically-hip
Click to expand...

Can't, it will be here tomorrow so they said I would have to return it. I will have to wait for the return to process then get a different one.
 
#12
scottice said:
:eyebrow::eek::ninja:
Click to expand...

Well what? It WASN'T! Apple makes Macs for all levels of users—I own a bunch of 'em, and have owned many, many more—and this one was simply not built for professionals. It was built for the many, many users who have no need for expansion and peripherals and don't want to pay for them.

To make it easier for buyers to differentiate, they cleverly added that 'Pro" to the end of the model name.

Of course, even the simplest, most student-oriented Mac crushes the best PCs :p
 
#15
scottice said:
That sucks for you. Apple is moving away
from Firewire because USB2 is faster.
Click to expand...

USB2 is definitely not faster. The Firewire in MacBook Pros will run at
800 Mbps. USB2 is 480 Mbps peak but in reality the sustained data rates
are much, much slower because of the nature of the interface.

It does, however, appear that Apple is moving away from Firewire. This
is because it doesn't really make sense to support two different types of
serial interfaces. The more prevalent standard is taking over. Just like
VHS versus Beta, the lower performance standard won the war.
 
#16
Firewire and USB are very different protocols, and I don't think you can get a cable that converts between them. Even if there was such a beast, FW is significantly faster than USB in practice, and I'd expect it to be pretty laggy.

(I know the USB 2.0 spec says 480Mb/s and FW is only 400Mb/s, but the way USB is actually implemented, sustained transfer rates are half the max, worse if there are more devices on that particular USB chain, or if the CPU is busy doing other work, like recording. FW maintains a consistent throuput near the max.)
 
#17
This was VERY heavily covered when the released the new MB and MBP last month. The good news is that you can get a refurb MBP, top of the line, for under $1500, and split the difference between the new MB and new MBP price. You can also still buy the previous model white MB starting ay $999, and find new, demo, and refurb black MB's either through Applestore or good retailers like Smalldog.com.

Sorry you didn't catch the lack of a FW port before you ordered, but it isn't like it was a big secret!
 
#19
ColdSteelRain said:
Firewire and USB are very different protocols, and I don't think you can get a cable that converts between them. Even if there was such a beast, FW is significantly faster than USB in practice, and I'd expect it to be pretty laggy.

(I know the USB 2.0 spec says 480Mb/s and FW is only 400Mb/s, but the way USB is actually implemented, sustained transfer rates are half the max, worse if there are more devices on that particular USB chain, or if the CPU is busy doing other work, like recording. FW maintains a consistent throuput near the max.)
Click to expand...

here as the adapter

http://cgi.ebay.com/Adapter-USB-A-Male-to-1394-Firewire-Male-6-Pin_W0QQitemZ270295228244QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Cables_Adapters?hash=item270295228244&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318


But I didn't know if it would have latancy and would work very slow. I'm aware they make usb recording interfaces, but I've never owned or tried one of those. Didn't know if that would compare.

Thanks for your response
 
#20
That's why the day the new Mac laptops came out I bought a refurb of the previous model. I saved a boatload of money and have lots of ports. I think they are still selling the old white MB with FW. But check the refurb's you could probably get a MBP for what you paid for new MB.
 

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