So...Apple has decided to kill Firewire...

[Harry Locke IV]

I don't know if you guys have been following Apple lately, but they just released their new revisions on the Macbook and Macbook Pros this past week....and I've got to say as a video editor I'm horribly disappointed and pissed. Apple has decided to completely take out the Firewire 400 ports off the regular macbook line. This is absolutely insane! I thought Apple was supposed to be the great purveyor of arts to the masses. This is like a huge step backwards for them. I'm sure this is an issue that won't be highly criticized, because video/music editors are still considered only a niche in Apple's market share. However, the fact that we now have to purchase a laptop that starts at a whopping $2000.00 to access portable firewire capabilities is ridiculous. No thanks Apple, I'm going to stick with my 2-year old Macbook that still offers firewire capability...glad I didn't go for that upgrade so soon.

In case anyone is wondering why they would kill firewire off, the answer is simple. A. This method of video transfer is beginning to become obsolete with the advent of tapeless camcorders. But hey...how many of us have those nice hard-drive based camcorders right now...exactly. Sure firewire was eventually going to go out, but to force change this soon is ridiculous. B. Apple needed a way to divide the Macbook from the Macbook Pro level even more. What makes it worse however, is that they didn't even give the Macbook an express card slot so that you could add an external firewire port. Bad move Steve Jobs...

All in all, I'm still looking into ditching the whole laptop thing in general and going for a brand new iMac. However, this has definitely got me scared...if Apple butchered up the Macbook like this, there's no telling what they could possibly take out for the iMac. Here's to hoping they keep at least one firewire port on the basic 20" version, and don't force everyone to sell off limbs and first borns for a 24" behemoth.

Freakin Bullocks!

[inferno]

I knew it! Apple is cracking under the pressure of the aggressive new PC adds. That PC guy is "not alone."

[kuriboi2k6]

This was part of the reason I decided to just go with this HP I found a great deal on instead of getting a macbook pro.

I still want an imac though. Hopefully apple doesn't get any bright ideas and remove firewire from that before I can get it

[Harry Locke IV]

Nov 19, 2008 17:07:56 GMT -5 kuriboi2k6 said:

This was part of the reason I decided to just go with this HP I found a great deal on instead of getting a macbook pro.

I still want an imac though. Hopefully apple doesn't get any bright ideas and remove firewire from that before I can get it

Honestly, that was a fear I thought of just a few minutes after posting the original message. Actually, it's pretty funny how much can change over the period of a few weeks! Rather than buying an iMac, I am actually in the process of building my own editing workstation now. The specs on it demolish not only any iMac currently available, but also would give a mid-level Mac Pro a good run for its money, and get this...it's only costing me a cool grand for it all (including 24" monitor). It seems a lot of indie editors are going this route as well, especially with Apple jacking up prices while taking away options.

If you're pretty good with computers, I would definitely recommend going this route. There are several ways now to get OSX to run on home built computers, and it'll allow you to spend money elsewhere (like on better equipment or some hired talent!). Of course it has its pros and cons (as does everything else), but its worth looking into!

[kuriboi2k6]

Oh wow really? Only a grand???! Def hook me up with the info on that please!

[Harry Locke IV]

Nov 24, 2008 12:58:11 GMT -5 kuriboi2k6 said:

Oh wow really? Only a grand???! Def hook me up with the info on that please!

Well, as you probably have seen the forum announcement, the Mac I was using has killed over. So it looks like my construction of my "hackintosh" will start sooner than later. If you're interested in more info about it, you can definitely find a lot of info online. Check out (www.insanelymac.com) and they can help you get started.

Look for a detailed report about this new mammoth when I get the thing up and running over the next week or two. It is no doubtedly going to be more powerful than any store bought iMac I could get. Actually, it could easily rival one of the base level Mac Pro's.

Here are the current specs:

2.4 GHz Quad Core Processor (iMacs have yet to even go quad!)
8 GB RAM
640 GB HD (I have about 1 TB worth of external drives now, so this should be more than enough for everything!)
Geforce 7300GT 512mb Video Card (Not great for gaming, but good enough for video editing)
2 X 20" Dell Monitors (40" of canvas space!!!!!)
Firewire 400 and 800 ports for faster uploading!
Of course it's going to run off of Leopard OSX for OS.

So, if everything goes right, it should be mammoth! I'll let you know how it goes. In the meantime, you should keep saving up! If you can get enough money to buy a 28" iMac, that would translate to a SERIOUS Hackintosh machine. You can actually build one of these for about 1800-2000 dollars that would smoke even the top end Mac Pro. This is possible because Apple has not made a Mac that uses Intel's new super processors. But that's not stopping homemade computer builders from doing so!

Stay tuned, there will probably be a video of these results!