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the Macbook keyboard takes some getting used to. it's a shame they moved away from the nicer keyboards on the old Macbook Pros. I use a bluetooth keyboard while

by weegee 18y ago

the Macbook keyboard takes some getting used to. it's a shame they moved away from the nicer keyboards on the old Macbook Pros. I use a bluetooth keyboard while at home with my Macbook as well as an external monitor, which makes it a lot nicer. Also leaving Firewire 400 off is interesting, as I prefer it to USB 2.0 for the higher speed. Looks like I'll not be buying another Macbook for a while.

unalone 18y ago
This is more like the Air keyboard, though. And I've used that, and it's been pretty excellent.
- weegee 18y ago
  good to know. I've yet to try that keyboard. The Air is a pretty nice looking notebook computer.
SwellJoe 18y ago
Also leaving Firewire 400 off is interesting, as I prefer it to USB 2.0 for the higher speed. If you mean "lower" when you say "higher", then your statement is true. USB 2.0 is 480 Mbps. Firewire 400 is...100, 200, or 400 Mbps. Firewire 800, on the other hand, tops out at 800 Mbps, but uses an incompatible cable type, thus making it even less common than Firewire 400, and practically useless except for folks doing high end video work (since those are the only devices I can think of that still ship with 1394 interfaces...maybe some audio devices do, too). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus#USB_2.0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus#USB_2.0 Popular standards are good. Embrace them. Particularly when they are clearly superior, as USB 2.0 is.
- dcurtis 18y ago
  Not entirely true. USB 2.0's "peak" speed is 480Mbps, but it actually performs worse for large transfers than firewire. From what I understand, it's designed for short bursts of data at very high speeds.
- Oompa 18y ago
  480 Mbps is theoretical speed. Most things don't reach that. In real life usage, Firewire 400 tends to be quicker than USB 2.0, or at least that's the case from my experience.
  - ken 18y ago
    I keep hearing "theoretical speed" applied to USB, as if there's some theory under which one would be able to get 480 Mb of data transferred in one second. No, 480M is the baud. (Download the USB 2.0 spec and check out the wire protocol.) The fastest you can transfer data is with a bulk transfer, which top out at 53248000 Bps = 406.25 Mbps. (That's what I would call the "theoretical speed".) Other transfer types are slower. Companies like advertising "480 Mbps" because it's a high number, but it's not physically possible to transfer data over USB2 that fast.
    - Oompa 18y ago
      Thanks for the correction, always nice to learn more :)
- modoc 18y ago
  Firewire 400 is pretty well known to generally be faster for high bandwidth data transfers than USB 2.0 despite USB's higher theoretical speed. http://www.usb-ware.com/firewire-vs-usb.htm http://www.usb-ware.com/firewire-vs-usb.htm http://www.barefeats.com/usb2.html http://www.barefeats.com/usb2.html
- weegee 18y ago
  the reason USB 2.0 is more common in the marketplace is that it's cheaper than firewire. Firewire, or IEEE1394, requires a license from Apple (this could be just if the company wants to use the term "Firewire"). Each firewire device has its own controller, which relieves the CPU from having to manage transfers, thus a real-world faster transfer time. I routinely do large transfers (4gb) from CF cards and having a firewire card reader is really great. I tried a USB 2.0 reader at a friends house and it was much slower. On-Paper standards are interesting. Real-world performance is more interesting.
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
herdrick 18y ago
They're all crap. On my MPB (mid-2008 model) there's no tactile feedback at the exact point of the key firing its signal. Sure there's a feedback point, but it's about a millimeter too high (early). You have to push a key firmly into its mushy base to get it to work. Combine that with the lack of audio feedback and you get a keyboard that I hate. There are some laptops out there with great keyboards. They don't run OS X though: http://herdrick.posterous.com/cant-i-have-tasteful-with-a-go http://herdrick.posterous.com/cant-i-have-tasteful-with-a-go
kylec 18y ago
If Firewire is gone, is there another mechanism to replace the target disk mode? If not, that's pretty disappointing.

by weegee 18y ago

unalone 18y ago

This is more like the Air keyboard, though. And I've used that, and it's been pretty excellent.

weegee 18y ago
good to know. I've yet to try that keyboard. The Air is a pretty nice looking notebook computer.

SwellJoe 18y ago

Also leaving Firewire 400 off is interesting, as I prefer it to USB 2.0 for the higher speed. If you mean "lower" when you say "higher", then your statement is true. USB 2.0 is 480 Mbps. Firewire 400 is...100, 200, or 400 Mbps. Firewire 800, on the other hand, tops out at 800 Mbps, but uses an incompatible cable type, thus making it even less common than Firewire 400, and practically useless except for folks doing high end video work (since those are the only devices I can think of that still ship with 1394 interfaces...maybe some audio devices do, too). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus#USB_2.0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus#USB_2.0 Popular standards are good. Embrace them. Particularly when they are clearly superior, as USB 2.0 is.

dcurtis 18y ago
Not entirely true. USB 2.0's "peak" speed is 480Mbps, but it actually performs worse for large transfers than firewire. From what I understand, it's designed for short bursts of data at very high speeds.
Oompa 18y ago
480 Mbps is theoretical speed. Most things don't reach that. In real life usage, Firewire 400 tends to be quicker than USB 2.0, or at least that's the case from my experience.
- ken 18y ago
  I keep hearing "theoretical speed" applied to USB, as if there's some theory under which one would be able to get 480 Mb of data transferred in one second. No, 480M is the baud. (Download the USB 2.0 spec and check out the wire protocol.) The fastest you can transfer data is with a bulk transfer, which top out at 53248000 Bps = 406.25 Mbps. (That's what I would call the "theoretical speed".) Other transfer types are slower. Companies like advertising "480 Mbps" because it's a high number, but it's not physically possible to transfer data over USB2 that fast.
  - Oompa 18y ago
    Thanks for the correction, always nice to learn more :)
modoc 18y ago
Firewire 400 is pretty well known to generally be faster for high bandwidth data transfers than USB 2.0 despite USB's higher theoretical speed. http://www.usb-ware.com/firewire-vs-usb.htm http://www.usb-ware.com/firewire-vs-usb.htm http://www.barefeats.com/usb2.html http://www.barefeats.com/usb2.html
weegee 18y ago
the reason USB 2.0 is more common in the marketplace is that it's cheaper than firewire. Firewire, or IEEE1394, requires a license from Apple (this could be just if the company wants to use the term "Firewire"). Each firewire device has its own controller, which relieves the CPU from having to manage transfers, thus a real-world faster transfer time. I routinely do large transfers (4gb) from CF cards and having a firewire card reader is really great. I tried a USB 2.0 reader at a friends house and it was much slower. On-Paper standards are interesting. Real-world performance is more interesting.

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]

herdrick 18y ago

They're all crap. On my MPB (mid-2008 model) there's no tactile feedback at the exact point of the key firing its signal. Sure there's a feedback point, but it's about a millimeter too high (early). You have to push a key firmly into its mushy base to get it to work. Combine that with the lack of audio feedback and you get a keyboard that I hate. There are some laptops out there with great keyboards. They don't run OS X though: http://herdrick.posterous.com/cant-i-have-tasteful-with-a-go http://herdrick.posterous.com/cant-i-have-tasteful-with-a-go

kylec 18y ago

If Firewire is gone, is there another mechanism to replace the target disk mode? If not, that's pretty disappointing.