Jobs justifies loss of Firewire in MacBook

The Fire(wire) Storm has begun with many of the Mac Faithful angrily speaking out against Apple's decision to drop Firewire from the MacBook. One user claims to have an actual response from Steve Jobs, justifying the decision. Personally, I find it less than satisfying.

Rant: I want Firewire in MacBooks

I am sure you'll read a lot about this in the next few weeks from Mac Fanboys, but let me go on record as saying, "I want the Firewire port back in the MacBooks!" If you caught yesterday's rollout of the new MacBooks and Macbook Pros, you may or may not have noticed that Firewire is now ONLY offered in the Pro version of the notebook. This is the first time that the low end notebook has been without Firewire since the transition from SCSI as Apple's preferred external hard drive interface.

I'll make this quick and simple. I am the perfect MacBook user - the kind Apple wants buying them. 99% of my computing needs do not require Pro power. I write, I surf the web, I watch iTMS movies, and I do some digital photo editing. This does not require the top-of-the-line MacBook Pro. But among these things, I do occasionally edit video, which is MUCH more practical on Firewire and I have invested a not-insignificant amount in firewire hard drives because they are so much faster than USB 2.0, in my experience. If I now upgrade, I need to either shell out the extra $$$ for the Pro, or switch over to 100% USB backups and external storage. To reflect this back to Apple's bottom line, I had planned to upgrade this winter - despite the economic downturn. Now, I am likely to wait until the next revision and/or a major windfall to upgrade.

I understand why Apple made the choice. Fewer port means less cost and more space for other things. But this is one move I wish they had given us a little warning on, or delayed until 2009.