2011 iMacs: Worth Waiting? Thunderbolt means no Firewire??

[Trep]

Hey guys,

Ready to grab a 27" i5 iMac Now.

Theres alot of speculation that the 2011 models will have the new Thunderbolt conectivity. If this is the case, Do you think they will get rid of Firewire? If so theres not much hope for me running my 003 off this system.

I'd hate to buy one now if they were gonna come out in the next month with lower price point, still with Firewire and Thunderbolt, and perhaps increased performance. Do you think this is Likely? It kinda Happened with the Recent Macbook Pro update.

Thanks!!

 

[JeffTD]

Why schlepping it for the i5? The i7 isn't that much more expensive, especially if you go refurbished!

I'd wait the month or two for the new release, though - at worst you can get the current model at a refurbished price once the new ones are released.

 

[Trep]

Definately True.

Well if i wait, ill definately hit up an i7.

Just realised too that the Macbook Pros still Have Firewire..... Hmmmmmm

 

[BLUElightCory]

Apple is offering adaptor cables to use USB/Firewire peripherals with the Thunderbolt port - given the Thunderbolt specs I'd think you'd be fine going that route.

 

[Trep]

Apple is offering adaptor cables to use USB/Firewire peripherals with the Thunderbolt port - given the Thunderbolt specs I'd think you'd be fine going that route.

Wow! Ok, well that decides that pretty much then haha

New iMac FTW.

 

[jipchen]

Even the MBP have USB+FW+Tunderbolt and there were more ports on the iMacs so I'd say they still have a normal FW plus a Thunderbolt with the possibility of making it another FW port.
That pretty much annihilates my only reason against getting an iMac. And they will Be faster than my 2010 Mac Pro. Fml.

 

[LydonB]

Apple won't get rid of FireWire just yet. I would wait though. The new Sandy Bridge processors that will go in there are going to smoke what is currently in those units. But if you are in a bind and need a computer ASAP, go with the i7. Totally worth it.

 

[hct]

Apple is offering adaptor cables to use USB/Firewire peripherals with the Thunderbolt port - given the Thunderbolt specs I'd think you'd be fine going that route.

Where?

 

[Sloan]

Here's a wiki article on "Thunderbolt".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)


I was looking to see if it actually had a 'real' name instead of the goofy thunderbolt marketing jank.

 

[BLUElightCory]

Where?

It says on Apple's Thunderbolt page:

Thunderbolt

 

[Trep]

From the Thunderbolt Page on the Apple Website

PCI Express is the technology that links all the high-performance components in a Mac. And it’s built into Thunderbolt. Which means you can connect external devices like RAID arrays and video capture solutions directly to MacBook Pro — and get PCI Express performance. That’s a first for notebooks. Thunderbolt also provides 10 watts of power to peripherals, so you can tackle workstation-class projects on the go. With PCI Express technology, you can use existing USB and FireWire peripherals — even connect to Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel networks — using simple adapters.

 

[hct]

Yes, I know what thunderbolt is etc, but my point was - where are these simple adapters? The fact is that there isn't any available yet although MacBook Pros available for some time already. Also I'm not so optimistic about this actually.

One of the strengths of USB/Firewire/etc is a standardization on quite high level - most of devices don't need any drivers to function etc. With Thunderbolt it's not the case - like with any PCI(x|e) device you'll need a driver for every one of them. So, every "simple" cable (OK, actually a chip, but I'm sure a lot of them will be used) will need a driver. And as with every other code pieces coming from hundreds of vendors - most of these code pieces are crap. So, there is a great chance that you will enter into drivers hell of Redmond with this.

 

[dani]

thunderbolt is a brand new technology, and whilst apple aren't ones for sticking to the old school for very long, they'd be utterly mad to drop firewire support any time soon.

thunderbolt is basically hybrid pcie and displayport, so we're talking heavy duty IO devices here. this puts limits on cable length, which in it's own right is important enough to warrant keeping the older ports there.

thanks,