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January 15th, 2008

MacBook Air cuts the wires (and ports)

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 4:14 pm

Categories: MacBook Air, Macworld Expo

Tags: MBA, Apple MacBook, Battery, Apple Inc., MacBook Air, Ethernet, FireWire, Notebooks, Engineering, Networking

In Focus » See more posts on: Macworld

In its quest to become the world’s thinnest notebook, MacBook Air had to give up a few things along the way (in addition to a battery door). The MBA is Apple’s first notebook in a long time to drop Ethernet and Firewire ports and the optical drive.

While there’s a solution for accessing optical discs (a US$99 USB SuperDrive and Apple’s super-neat cross platform “borrowing” software) and for getting Ethernet (Apple offers a US$29 USB-to-Ethernet adapter) there’s no solution (that I can tell) for Firewire.

Is the MacBook Air's lack of FireWire a deal breaker?

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Jason D. O'GradyJason D. O'Grady is the editor of PowerPage.org, which has been publishing daily mobile technology news since December 1995. For disclosures on Jason's industry affiliations, click here or to view Jason's full profile click here.

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  • Talkback
  • Most Recent of 66 Talkback(s)
Reality iSucks
n/t (Read the rest)
Posted by: HypnoToad72 Posted on: 01/20/08 You are currently: a Guest | | Terms of Use
Only one USB  d_nc | 01/15/08
ditto  5ri | 01/15/08
Why?  t_mohajir | 01/16/08
Why should that be, unless  arminw | 01/16/08
ummm.....you can still hook up to 250 devices...ever heard of a usb hub?  jjarman | 01/17/08
Sure, as long as they don't want too much power from the hub  tikigawd | 01/17/08
there are powered usb hubs remember...  jjarman | 01/18/08
Sounds like a lot of extra you have to buy...  hasta la Vista, bah-bie | 01/18/08
Reality iSucks  HypnoToad72 | 01/20/08
Only 1 USB port....  GSavage777 | 01/15/08
I have a Toshiba R200 which has...  ye | 01/16/08
But..  mnoga@... | 01/16/08
Even worse!  ye | 01/17/08
Sounds like  tikigawd | 01/17/08
maybe because its not a sacrifice...  doh123 | 01/18/08
That's because it's a fanboy appliance  hasta la Vista, bah-bie | 01/18/08
$...  jjarman | 01/17/08
well  doh123 | 01/18/08
neat  jjarman | 01/18/08
Not an issue  t_mohajir | 01/16/08
Re: Only 1 USB port....  james.faction | 01/16/08
Not to mention the fact that  tikigawd | 01/17/08
doubt it...  doh123 | 01/18/08
if....  doh123 | 01/18/08
YES, You missed my post...  GSavage777 | 01/18/08
Buy the iHub - for $40.  HypnoToad72 | 01/20/08
Top 10 things wrong with MacBook Air  D. T. Schmitz | 01/15/08
Some strange ones  Richard Flude | 01/15/08
WHAT GAP?  Aria Pictures | 01/16/08
So are the other 9 issues mentioned in the article legit? (NT)  hasta la Vista, bah-bie | 01/18/08
Dude, that was a retarded comparison  Kid Icarus-21097050858087920245213802267493 | 01/16/08
btm of page: Please note: pricing in the article is listed in AUD (nt)  tikigawd | 01/17/08
No Ehternet - Very Poor  neil.postlethwaite@... | 01/15/08
You are missing this:  GSavage777 | 01/16/08
Does it have wireless USB? That would be great to reduce the number of  DonnieBoy | 01/16/08
N wireless standard  Aria Pictures | 01/16/08
We are moving to a wireless world. I was just talking last week about the  DonnieBoy | 01/16/08
isn't 802.n faster then 100megabit ethernet? can't you get usb ethernet?  jjarman | 01/17/08
RE: MacBook Air cuts the wires (and ports)  BobF_z | 01/16/08
Battery  tikigawd | 01/17/08
There's a reason they call it "Air"  j.m.galvin | 01/16/08
True  PKRWUD | 01/16/08
RE: MacBook Air cuts the wires (and ports)  rhokin@... | 01/16/08
RE: MacBook Air cuts the wires (and ports)  vmaatta | 01/16/08
No firewire and no battery swap makes it really poor for many users  dbkelley@... | 01/16/08
Not for Audio/Video Editors  t_mohajir | 01/16/08
4200 RPM drives do support capture  MayAbandonWindows | 01/16/08
doesn't sound like the right laptop for you  jjarman | 01/17/08
Sacrifices have to be made+ most drives don't have firewire  aslam_nathoo | 01/16/08
No Video Capture??  MayAbandonWindows | 01/16/08
I can handle one USB port  merc2dogs` | 01/16/08
Thinnest notebook?  laura.b | 01/16/08
Did Apple...  msalzberg | 01/16/08
That is a good question  laura.b | 01/17/08
Pedion -- Magnesium case??  tikigawd | 01/17/08
lol  jjarman | 01/18/08
Ogrady. Are you still buying it?  Urkel | 01/16/08
RE: MacBook Air cuts the wires (and ports)  justinsail | 01/16/08
Putting money where the talk is  Buzzwriter | 01/17/08
Actually it does have  Paul Fletcher | 01/17/08
RE: MacBook Air cuts the wires (and ports)  simon_st@... | 01/17/08
RE: MacBook Air cuts the wires (and ports)  cruzdude | 01/17/08
MBA great MOBILE unit for desktop  cruzdude | 01/17/08
Great new offering, for some  tBuggR | 01/18/08
RE: MacBook Air cuts the wires (and ports)  lindseyp3 | 01/19/08
Because Apple continues to cut corners and not pass the savings along.  HypnoToad72 | 01/20/08

What do you think?

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