More On the New MacBook
Now that people are starting to understand why Apple has removed FireWire from the MacBook they are finding new reasons to whine. One gentleman from Australia commented on MacNN that most of his legacy equipment required FireWire which is forcing him to upgrade to the MacBook Pro. His argument is that the new MacBook Pro is too big and two heavy for him and his fellow co-workers.
I looked up the specs of the old MacBook (pre Oct 14th) and compaired that with the new MacBook Pro. In terms of weight the new MacBook Pro weighs .5 pounds (.22 kg) more than the old MacBook. In terms of size the new MacBook Pro is 61.2 cubic inches (155.5 cubic cm) larger than the old MacBook. Specifically the new MacBook Pros are 0.13 inches (0.34 cm) shorter, 1.6 inches (4.1 cm) wider, and 0.86 inches (2.2 cm) deeper than the old MacBook.
From a cost perspective a new MacBook (released Oct 14th) sells for $1,299 USD – $1,849 USD. A new USB video camera sells for $400 USD – $1,300 USD (Best Buy prices). If you are looking for an Apple solution to shoot and edit video that includes the new MacBook you are going to put out $1,699 – $3,149 USD. In contrast if you are looking to reuse your existing FireWire video equipment and want to update your Apple video editing solution to the latest hardware you are going to spend at a minimum $2,000.
My advice. If you don’t really need to update your equipment don’t. Use your existing stuff for as long as it makes sense. The first logical purchase should be the USB video camera. You will be able to use that with the exiting MacBook and MacBook Pro provided they have USB 2.0. The next logic purchase would be to replace your video editing platform. At that point it won’t matter if you go with the MacBook or the MacBook Pro because you will have already made the transition to the USB video camera.
