“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.
Advertisements: The New iMac G5. Built-in camera and remote control. From $1299. Free shipping.
Apple USB Modem. Easily connect to the Internet using your dial-up service. $49.00.
The New iPod with Video. The ultimate music & video experience on the go. From $299. Free shipping.
Connect iPod to your television set with the iPod AV Cable. Just $19.00.
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.