By now you have probably read that the new consumer MacBooks do not include FireWire connectors. Why the big deal? Well, in an age of YouTubers this might be a mistake but on the other hand, perhaps Apple really doesn't want to support old video camcorders for these guys.
The newer camcorders all have USB2 support so the YouTube crowds that have a newer camcorder will have no problem connecting it to their new MacBooks. Of course, those of us that have some FireWire only external hard drives are out of luck. We either abandon what we have and buy new external hard drives or pony-up for a MacBook Pro, and even then some of us will need to still buy a FW800 to FW400 adapter. No, I saw this coming when Apple discontinued FireWire iPods a few years ago. Next up will be the MacBook Pro that will lose the FireWire port. I think that will happen after that port has been replaced by USB3 or FW3200.
But, more important that connecting older devices (face it, your FW HDD will die someday) is the use of Target Disk Mode. Apple needs to provide this functionality through another means if not via FireWire. At least we can perform a migration via ethernet, but what about plain old troubleshooting? Direct ethernet connections from one mac to another require a working OS on both ends. With TDM and a firewire cable only one Mac needs to have a working OS. This is handy for rescuing a down system, grabbing files quickly off the inoperable OS and moving them to a new system.
Target Disk Mode. Where are you now?
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