Ye Macce Threade

[Hopstretch]

That HP out is still optical, too, right? Right?

I think you can take that to the bank.

[grawk]

Yup, still optical, and no fw on the macbook beginner. I'd say stick with the macbook pro

[Sherwood]

no FW is a deal breaker.

[Voltron]

Pro only, Dinny, and 13" is the way to go size-wise. In this case, moar is too much.

[EdipisReks]

the new iMac sure is pretty, but i like my old 20" C2D machine just fine. that new mouse, on the other hand, will be mine as soon as i see good reviews.

[The Monkey]

no FW is a deal breaker.

Pro only, Dinny, and 13" is the way to go size-wise. In this case, moar is too much.

the new iMac sure is pretty, but i like my old 20" C2D machine just fine. that new mouse, on the other hand, will be mine as soon as i see good reviews.

You all are wise.

[HeadphoneAddict]

no FW is a deal breaker.

Yeah - dropping FW on some mac models was a mistake. That's why when I was looking at getting the 13" macbook with lighted keyboard in January I felt that I had to spring for the extra $400 to get the 15" Macbook Pro with firewire. But I hate that if I forget to bring a FW 800 > 400 cable with me or I can't use it.

I also hate that they dropped expresscard from the 15" Macbook Pro. Mine was the last version to have the card slot, and I was always hoping that someone like Apogee would make a nice 24/96 or 24/192 DAC amp for the card slot. But now that only the 17" Macbook Pro have it I wonder if express card will be dead for mac soon.

[grawk]

express card is a mishmash of a standard anyway, cards are rarely universally compatible, they're flakey, and few people support them.

[grawk]

In looking more closely at the new macbook, it appears it's also lost the optical input. There's now 1 port, a combined optical out, headphone out, analog in. It's possible you can also do digital in, but they don't talk about that on the specs page.

[Dusty Chalk]

Digital in -- what would you use that for, that most of us wouldn't upgrade to an external a/d? Well, unless it's already digitized.

[grawk]

the digital in is specifically useful if you have an A/D...or want to dump data from an external digital recorder without a computer interface. It's probably sufficiently weird most people wouldn't need one tho.

[The Monkey]

Apple seems slow to understand its potential in the music server market.

[grawk]

Well, I was discussing the macbook, not the mini. The mini is still a rockin' music server.

[blessingx]

If you've ever visited an Apple store you may find this interesting...

[Voltron]

If you've ever visited an Apple store you may find this interesting...

BTW, is that Stretch?

[blessingx]

Well, you have to give them credit for the innovative "Guru Bar" concept.

[TheSloth]

aluminum is spiffier than plastic

They are both aluminium - that's my guess anyway. There's no way they can do the unibody process with polycarbonate. They are just coating it with shiny whiteness.

[grawk]

Right but they hide the spiffy aluminum in cheesey white plastic

[EdipisReks]

There's no way they can do the unibody process with polycarbonate.

sure you can. besides, Unibody is a design precept, not a particular set of materials. mold it as a single piece and, voila, unibody.

[HeadphoneAddict]

That sunburn looks painful...