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Steve Jobs on Lack of Firewire in MacBooks

Friday October 17, 2008 8:13 am PDT by Arnold Kim
In the latest email response from Steve Jobs, the Apple CEO responds to one customer's complaint that the new MacBook won't support HD camcorders:

Actually, all of the new HD camcorders of the past few years use USB 2.

Whether or not you agree with Apple's decision to remove Firewire from its low end laptops, it's clear that Apple is abandoning the feature in their consumer-targeted machines.

Apple helped to develop Firewire in the 1990s and still offers Firewire support in the rest of their Macs at this time, with the notable exception of the new MacBooks.
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parapup
43 months ago
So he thinks it is OK to expect people to throw away their perfectly fine FireWire camcorders and spend money on a USB 2 one for no advantage of theirs, in this economy?

I call that being out of touch. Not a good sign at all.
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Shasterball
43 months ago
What angering BS. I mean really, so now I can't use my slightly older camera? Please.

Also, what about HDD's that I am using a Firewire connection for because I've tied up my USB ports?

Face it Apple, you botched a lot things with this upgrade. That's 2 piss poor releases in a row: iPhone 3G and this.
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swingerofbirch
43 months ago
I guess my major question is: is what Steve says true?

I have a mini-DV cam from the late 90s that only has firewire, so I honestly don't know....
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SomeTechGuy
43 months ago
I wonder if it really is him answering. He does seem to answer certain customer complaints that are emailed to him.

I'm curious to see if we'll get another response from him on the Matte option. (Sorry to bring it up again)
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Peace
43 months ago
I have a mini DV camcorder that has USB but I can't seem to get it to transfer to my Macbook without using a windows app. Leopard/iMovie/QT doesn't recgonize it.
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Bubba Scruggs
43 months ago
Even if Steve is right, it doesn't help me and my MiniDV camera that is firewire. I can't consider a new macbook unless I did get a new camera.
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mathcolo
43 months ago
It's useless now... No more FireWire:mad:
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gkarris
43 months ago

I have a mini DV camcorder that has USB but I can't seem to get it to transfer to my Macbook without using a windows app. Leopard/iMovie/QT doesn't recgonize it.


USB means MPEG-2. I don't think the old iMovie works with MPEG-2, or any of the other formats, yet.

If Apple continues the Mini, the Mini is next.
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rulesaremyenemy
43 months ago
I am much more upset about the loss of Target Disk mode then I am over losing the connection to a DV cam.
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Peace
43 months ago

USB means MPEG-2. I don't think the old iMovie works with MPEG-2, or any of the other formats, yet.

If Apple continues the Mini, the Mini is next.


Actually I read the manual and it's .AVI
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