huh? have you looked at the specs of the new machines. the new 13" white model is identical to the base 13" alu 'pro' one, except for the firewire and SD card slot (and the pro costs $50 more for a 250gb drive)
Same processor, same LED screen, same drives, same graphic card, same memory, same size. you are just forced to pay $250 more for Firewire, that's it. shameful.
oh, and you get an alu shell, though I prefer the look of the white model. the alu housing is going to date very quickly just like all those stainless steel kitchens in 90's interiors.
the problem with Apple is just this - lack of choice. three machines that are what we tell you they are. that's it.
you want firewire - the bus we pushed hard at you 10 years ago? too bad. we've decided that you don't, or must pay hundreds $ extra to get it, and it alone.
its indefensible. let the customer choose.
Of course you are considering the current generation MacBook vs. the almost previous generation MacBook Pro, which most likely will be refreshed in the next few months. Traditionally this means the faster MacBook Pro moves down a notch with possibly a newer graphic card and a few other things (including a firewire port) - a couple of hundred dollars more than a MacBook and a substantial difference. For those needing to maximize their portable power you can upgrade to a faster MacBook Pro, and once the refresh comes along (January seems to be Apples favorite month to refresh some of the pro machines) rumors are it may include a quad core processor. If you don't wait, the current MacBook Pro still allows you to put in 8 gigs of RAM, has a faster model available if you want, and has a backlit keyboard which I personally hate to think of giving up.
I can't find the specs, but I also would need verification that they share the same "screen". While it might be true they are both LED backlit and the same size, and it seems logical they are the very same screen, it very well could be the actual panel uses different technologies.
As far as the firewire, the reality is only a miniscule number of users have a firewire device, or even a firewire cable. Firewire is rapidly moving into a niche market (of which we photographers are a part of). This machine is designed as a budget level entry machine for families and students. I believe the handwriting is on the wall for firewire ... even apple is aggressively working on next generation technology with Intel that would replace almost all of the connectors (USB, Firewire and display).
Light Peak I'm sure others are working on better technology as well ... Firewire is actually getting a little long in the tooth and really not that impressive by todays standards.
As far as the stainless steel kitchens, they didn't go out of style ... stainless steel just got too expensive so it went out for a while. A majority of high end homes use brushed stainless steel for appliances now and have for some time - Just go take a look at companies like Sub Zero. The Aluminum Mac Pro I believe is now the longest running housing design of any mac model, and I don't think it is anywhere close to running out of steam ... (that's just my opinion, which last time i checked was worth at best a 2 bits on a good day)
