[X4U] FireWire and low end Macs

[Michael Winter]

On Feb 5, 2009, at 5:03 PM, Joe Sporleder wrote:

> How big of a deal is FireWire to the folks on this list?

I'll just toss my two cents in...

I have tons of Firewire devices. I have a few USB devices. The  
Firewire devices have been more reliable and given me better  
performance than the USB devices -which is why I choose them whenever  
I can. In fact, just two weeks ago I opted for a new white MacBook so  
I could have Firewire.

As others have mentioned, I wish Apple would make a "Consumer" mac so  
I could add an expansion card. Heck, just add an ExpressCard slot to  
the iMac! Then I could add eSATA or anything else I wanted.

Sadly, for the "consumer" market, price is a huge factor. When you're  
pushing the envelope in reducing size and maximizing performance of  
core components, adding something as simple as Firewire can add a lot  
to development and production costs. Most people I know would never  
notice the difference in performance between USB and Firewire because  
they rarely push the limits of either.

So, bottom line... Firewire is very important for me, but I understand  
there are a lot of people out there who couldn't care less about it.

-Mike