On the Loss of FireWire from the MacBook

(I'm writing this in early March of 2009, many months after the introduction of the "aluminum" MacBook. I'm sure many have written on the subject, but as I was writing this to Apple's Feedback form for the MacBook, the document grew in length, so I decided to post it here.) 

With the introduction of the "aluminum" or "unibody" MacBook to their product line in October of 2008, and the MacBook air in January of that same year, Apple, Inc. has produced the first Macs in a decade without FireWire connectivity.

I must comment upon this disappearance of FireWire connectivity from Macintosh products - specifically the MacBook. I appreciate that, as in the past, Apple strives to forge ahead with new paradigms and protocols (i.e., the personal computer, the mouse, WYSIWYG, 3.5" floppy disk, ADB, FireWire). I also appreciate the practicalities and economics of manufacturing. However, I feel this single change in the product line had been a damaging one to Apple's loyal users.

Increasingly, personal computer users find the need to own a laptop computer. Most users seek to strike a balance between need and cost, so there is always a market for lower-cost alternatives. The MacBook's price point is far lower than the entry-level MacBook Pro ($1,000 vs. $2,0000 as of March 2009) - enough that a MacBook Pro is not a viable alternative to many prospective buyers.

Apple won an Emmy Award for FireWire's contribution to television. More importantly, the ubiquitousness of FireWire in digital video camcorders has provided a fantastic infrastructure for consumer video for nearly a decade, providing not only an easy way to transfer footage from camcorder to personal computer, but a way to losslessly move high-quality footage back and forth to tape. This infrastructure still works, and though most newer high-definition camcorders may eschew tape as a recording medium - and therefore the need for FireWire's unique suitability for ingesting realtime video streams - many consumers will continue to shoot their home videos on existing FireWire-based camcorders.

I have been a video professional for nearly 30 years, and naturally find myself discussing home-video production issues with family and friends. My wife is a college professor who teaches digital video production, and I've acted as the Mac consultant for her school's video production labs since 1995. Though we see many of her students purchasing HD camcorders which do NOT require FireWire, many still acquire FireWire-based cameras. This does NOT mean that they have the budget to spend an extra thousand dollars to purchase a MacBook Pro over a MacBook. Yes, video professionals who happen to be generating income (which is by no means the bulk of "video professionals") may consider it a business expense to spend money on whatever equipment is necessary, but a large population of prospective professionals must still be cautious with their budget.

Likewise, of all the friends and family we know with video cameras, we know NONE but ourselves who own an HD camcorder - and the HDV camcorder we own requires FireWire to ingest footage from tape. For that matter, of the few consumers we know with HDTVs, many don't even have HD content provided into their televisions. If a prospective consumer is unlikely to spend the extra $1,000 on a laptop, they are also unlikely to "upgrade" their camcorder for $600+ to a non-FireWire HD model because their new MacBook doesn't support it. Non-FireWire RAM-based camcorders may be the future, but the transition from tape-based DV camcorders will still take several years. Any notion that excluding FireWire from personal computers will "stimulate" sales of these new camcorders still excludes a large population of Mac-buying users.

Many Mac users who work or play with applications that generate large amounts of data have established collections of FireWire hard drives. These are fantastic repositories for media files, providing easy transportable storage. We have a large collection of drives, and their usefulness is proven every day. My wife's school owns hundreds of FireWire external drives, providing a durable and convenient method for students to store their own video editing projects, and work on them wherever an available Macintosh is located.

Thanks to Apple's "Target Disk Mode" (another endangered concept), my Macintosh I.T. work is made far simpler, allowing me to clone, backup, and copy entire Mac volumes quickly and reliably - using bootable FireWire hard drives. USB hard drive bootability only works on Intel Macs, and is a dicey proposition at best.

By coincidence, my family purchased the previous generation of MacBook only a few months before the non-FireWire MacBook released. We continue to say that we "dodged that bullet." My writing this was inspired by a friend who has currently reached an impasse, unwilling to buy a new MacBook because it has no FireWire, and even more unwilling to spend the extra money for a MacBook Pro.

Yes, progressive thinking and progressive business often means "moving on" and abandoning the past. Apple has done this heroically at many points over the years - sometimes successfully (OS X is the shining example), and sometimes not.

FireWire will undoubtedly pass into the mists of time, eventually. But now is not the time.

P.S. As of 3/10/2009, Apple still sells the "White 13-inch MacBook" in the Apple Store for $999, which does have FireWire, and is mostly identical to the 2008 MacBook. Here are details of the model at Everymac.com.