FW800 on next MacPro?

[JesterJJZ]

Any guesses if Firewire will stick around for the next Pro? It's gone on the new MacBooks and iMacs, but still around on the Mini. I'd personally rather not sacrifice Thunderbolt ports to use FW devices on a dongle or need to get a hub. Also, who knows how many PCI slots we will get, don't wanna waste one on a card either.

 

[SteelBlueTJ]

I would still like to see at least one in case you would ever need it. I think having 4 FW800 on the current model is overkill. I actually wish the current model still had at least 1 FW400 port in case I would ever want to hook up my old MINIDV camera or my old FW400 drive. I know I can get an adapter, or PCIe card (which I did) but couldn't they spare one of those 4 FW800 ports for a FW400? I would hope the new model being it's a "Pro" machine, would be a good idea for Apple to leave at least one FW800 port on the back for those of us who still might use it.

 

[TRMC13]

If it's on the Mini, it'll be on the Pro.

 

[ender78]

I would still like to see at least one in case you would ever need it. I think having 4 FW800 on the current model is overkill. I actually wish the current model still had at least 1 FW400 port in case I would ever want to hook up my old MINIDV camera or my old FW400 drive. I know I can get an adapter, or PCIe card (which I did) but couldn't they spare one of those 4 FW800 ports for a FW400? I would hope the new model being it's a "Pro" machine, would be a good idea for Apple to leave at least one FW800 port on the back for those of us who still might use it.

You just need a Firewire 400 to 800 cable, approx $5 at monoprice.

 

[JesterJJZ]

If it's on the Mini, it'll be on the Pro.

Would make sense, but why is it not on the iMac then?

 

[TRMC13]

Would make sense, but why is it not on the iMac then?

iMac is their pet project on the desktop front. They realize the Mac Mini has been relegated to a server/node/cluster/theater computer, so they left it there. Nobody is stacking iMacs as cluster nodes as it is aimed as the definitive consumer desktop.

 

[ColdCase]

Would make sense, but why is it not on the iMac then?

Much of the mini market is for server farms, there is much current install hardware base is using FW for external drives in that application. So the mini server needs a FW port, and is carried over to the other models.

iMacs are the desktops, not much of an FW install base.

As far as the next mac pro upgrade, who knows. Thunderbolt is not making as much inroads as they hoped, so the next mac-pro, if there is one, will likely retain FW. If not, there would likely be plenty of FW hubs to TB.... IMHO. Your mileage may vary.

 

[deconstruct60]

Any guesses ... but still around on the Mini. I'd personally rather not sacrifice Thunderbolt ports to use FW devices on a dongle or need to get a hub.

If not using a half dozen other TB (Thunderbolt ) devices and not all dongle type devices then TB -> FW adapter just as easily plugs into the device(s) you have plugged into "TB port 2" as it does plugging into the computer itself. You don't "loose" ports with TB unless cap the chain.

My guess would be no. The fact the same guts that are inside the TB->FW dongles as on the Mac Pro motherboard and the price is reltaively high ($2500+) that they still would. Not as much as external HDDs ( likely a good number of eSATA rigs out there in Mac Pro land much more than Mac mini land), but for those who have legacy equipment that is FW based ( A/D data capture, video transfer , etc. )

At least this 2013-2014 iteration. 2015+ probably gone. The transition to USB 3 and other solutions will be extremely mature at that point.

Also, who knows how many PCI slots we will get, don't wanna waste one on a card either.

If Thunderbolt is a very high priority and isn't totally a dual E5 package system, then probably will loose at least one. Lost to the embedded GPU.