MacBook is Speedy, but no FireWire 800, Modem Ports

Lam1969 writes "Yuval Kossovsky has a hands-on review of the new 15" MacBook Pro. Besides the speed improvement with the dual-core 1.83-GHz Intel processor, he likes the built-in iSight camera, "MagSafe" power connector, and better WiFi antenna placement, among other features. But he laments the loss of the modem port and FireWire 800 connectors: '[Apple] has taken away by getting rid of the FireWire 800 connector slot and the modem. FireWire 800 was left off the motherboard of the new laptop largely because it has not achieved much a following among users. ... The loss of the modem jack may be a sign of things to come. I was told that Apple had found that 90% of PowerBook owners used the 802.11g AirPort wireless card, gigabit ethernet or a Bluetooth connection to a cell modem to get network access. So for cost and package size reasons, the modem was left out.'" Update: 01/26 17:25 GMT by P : Story and headline updated to clarify that only FireWire 800 was not included on the machine; FireWire 400 is present.

Will the PC card slot go too?

[lpangelrob]

For that matter, I've also never used the slot for PC cards in my PowerBook. Is the use of these slots common with other owners?

Still could be a "prototype"

[ianscot]

A couple of days back we were speculating that maybe the MacBook at Jobs's keynote was more of a prototype, a little more rough around the edges than it should have been. No battery life numbers, and so on.

Now we get this "hands-on" review, but I'm not convinced anything has changed. He subjectively says the performance "cooks" -- but that's likely just the intel-happy finder. All he has is Apple's oddly vague words to go on about battery performance. The rest of it could have come from the press release about the keynote announcement.

Book's still out?

Re:Will the PC card slot go too?

[rjstanford]

For that matter, I've also never used the slot for PC cards in my PowerBook. Is the use of these slots common with other owners?

No - and that's why its gone too, replaced with an ExpressCard/34 slot that can theoretically take in a wider variety of expansion opportunities, as they get developed.

The main use for an addon card in this or the previous generation of laptops would have been for one of the permanent mobile phone network cards. I'm sure that ExpressCard versions will be forthcoming, as will ExpressCard FireWire 800 ports for those few people who need them.

Moving the modem external to the main system, and making it optional, just makes sense. Most people I know who travel with their laptops never use them, preferring to drive to a Starbucks (or local equiv.) rather than try to send massive emails over a dialup network.

They had a part to play...

[oneiros27]

They could've added their own chip, driving up costs, weight and heat, while decreasing battery lifetime.

It probably would have also increased the time to market.

So, they had a part to play, and in this case, they might've made the right decision -- the older laptops w/ FW800 are still on the market, and I would assume that Apple's going to push for support in the future.

Personally, I don't like FW800, as it uses a completely different connection and cable than FW400, unlike the various USB specs, and the various ethernet specs using RJ45 plugs ... and with a laptop, I don't want to go carrying around even more cables. I would like to see FW800 on the iMac mini, though, so I can get better disk performance than the internal.

Re:MacBook pro review

[Pendersempai]

Obviously he is using "exponentially" to mean "vastly." Yes, you're very smart for knowing the mathematical definition, but you lose some points for feeling the need to prove it.

Tiny USB modem

[kherr]

Apple's USB modem [apple.com] is tiny, smaller than an iPod shuffle. I'm sure you'll also be able to get an ExpressCard modem (so it can be "in" the machine and not an extra part to carry). Sure people still need modems, but the number of those using them is shrinking. And since there's a reasonable external solution why continue to build it into the machine?

While many modem users may be shocked by the lack of a built-in modem, this move is probably less radical than it seems, just like ditching the floppy drive. Everyone couldn't imagine a machine without a floppy, but it didn't hurt Apple at all. I think replacing the PC Card slot with an ExpressCard slot is much more extreme, since that obsoletes hardware people have.

The modem is like insurance

[AlanAudio]

Having a modem is like having insurance, you hope not to need it, but when you find that you do need it, you're very glad of it.

Now I'm the first to admit that I rarely use the modem in my PowerBook, but nearly every time that I have used it has been when I expected some sort of broad band service to have been available. If all else fails, you can get a dial-up connection almost anywhere and you can borrow a lead to connect from the local telephone point to a modem too.

My PowerBook has to be squeezed into space with other important stuff. It's simply not practical to take all my accessories with me. The chances are that if I needed a USB modem, it wouldn't be with me, but a built-in modem is always there when you need it.

I like the PCMCIA slots. I've always kept a compact flash reader in mine. If I take a photograph and want to see it on a larger screen, it's easy to pop the card straight onto the PowerBook, you don't need to find that strange USB adaptor lead that came with the camera. As the card reader lives entirely within the slot, you'd hardly know it was there - until you unexpectedly want it.

An ExpressCard slot would be equally acceptable for me, a card reader would almost certainly live in there. But it wouldn't be suitable for a modem as the slot is only 5mm high and if you need to use the modem unexpectedly, the card is unlikely to have a standard phone socket, so you'll still need a special lead, which you probably won't have with you.

I think that the lack of a modem is something that has come from people who move from home to office and on to smart hotels, with WiFi in Starbucks and GPRS for other places. They assume that users spend all their time in the city and never travel to rural areas, or even ( dare I say it ? ) travel abroad !

For some of us who live in the real world, the lack of a modem is a very serious omission.

Re:Indeed

[gobbo]

You seem to have forgotten Apple's utter dominance in the video editing arena. Even if this is but a small fraction of Apple's total userbase, FireWire will remain on various Apple hardware as an integrated item for quite some time even for those people alone.

There's a pretty big halo effect to the pro video applications of the Mac, combined with OS X and reliable hardware.

I and many of my fellow videographers/filmmakers got pretty hooked on FinalCut and the other DV apps for the Mac, especially at the time that running Firewire on a PC in Premiere was extremely flakey. The result? we made more money, lost less hair, insisted on the gear we needed, and infected those around us with similar software addictions. Eventually many of us completely converted our shops over. Bye bye NT etc. and super quirky device drivers! Bye bye forgetting to turn off the virus scanner and dropping frames! There was a MHz lag, the Macs were slower, but less down-time and futzing around more than made up for it, especially when Jaguar came out and we could move to OS X.

Then I inadvertently demonstrated target disk mode to one of the IT guys: "what the hell are you doing?" "Oh, just needed to synch home folders." "Wow, cool. Woah, fast!" There were quite a few Mac orders next budget cycle. Apple relies on the "creative types" for more than just sales.

Firewire was the key to all that.