Comments on: Macworld Analysis: Apple’s Got Great News for Mac Music, Podcasts

By: admin

admin — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 14:24:46 +0000

The word is, because of new drivers that don’t require BIOS in Vista, you *will* be able to run Vista — just not XP. But I was joking. I think a serious audio user will want a dedicated PC. And I honestly don’t get why very many people would want to do this anyway. It would make sense if the Apple hardware were phenomenally better than the PC. It’s not.

Yes, FW800 hardware does work via an adapter in a FW400 port; I think we’re just unhappy about losing the additional speed. (and the opposite direction, to a single FW800 port, would have maintained that performance)

Also, I’m personally disappointed to learn that there’s no S-Video port. (Sorry, VJs!) Looks like it’s DVI only; I don’t see one of those universal video out thingies for use with a dongle.

Apple has consistently done this since the PowerBook G3 days; it’s like — look, more performance! And then suddenly a port is missing. None of them are deal breakers; it’s just a reality of dealing with a single vendor for hardware as opposed to the PC. I’m sure we’ll get over the griping. In the meantime, those of us who can’t afford the new machine can use them as rationalizations! :-)

By: kokorozashi

kokorozashi — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 08:01:05 +0000

Don’t get your hopes up about running Windows. Discussions I’m seeing elsewhere indicate the machine’s lack of BIOS screws that pooch. Maybe there’ll be a hack of some sort, but all Apple ever promised was that they would not go out of their way to prevent Windows from running.

As for FW800, I thought it was supposed to automagically scale back its performance when connected to a FW400 bus. I am not a FW geek, so confirm this elsewhere.

By: admin

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 23:10:54 +0000

Well, I’ve been proven completely wrong. When speculation arose months ago that Apple was dropping FireWire from their laptops, I (and others) suggested Apple would probably go FW800, which allows FW400 backwards-compatibility via an adapter. But you’re right: the PowerB— uh, MacBook Pro (worst Apple product name since Mac Classic, but I digress) has NO FireWire800 support.

If you have old FW800 drives you want to use, you do have one option: the PC Card slot. But this is an odd choice, since a FW800 port could have easily supported 400 peripherals via the adapter. I’m guessing it was a cost-cutting move, a decision to support the majority of products (FW400) over the minority (FW800, used primarily by . . .uh . . . Pros, actually, but still not that many people), and an admission that USB2 has become dominant.

Anyway, I’d get the PC card, get Logic Pro, etc., and enjoy the speed gains. Or, at least once we find out how fast code not optimized for Intel runs.

Thanks for the tip.

By: reflex

reflex — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 21:54:31 +0000

Peter, did you notice that the new iMac is limited to FireWire 400? FireWire 800 doesn’t seem to be available on the MacBook, either. That could have reprocussions for those of us who use external drives.

Transition: Apple has stated that their “Pro” apps will be ported by March. That will include Logic Pro (and hopefully Express).

By: rolandreinke

rolandreinke — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 21:19:03 +0000

Where did you find out that Logic will be ported as soon as March? Would like to know…
Congrats on your book. Did you get to use my loops at all?

Roland