[JohnR]

I just noticed that the MacBook Pro Retina has no Firewire port. No Ethernet either... it's basically a big fat overgrown Air. You'll need to get a (so far non-existent) adapter to hook up Firewire.

Any thoughts on how long the mini will continue to have a Firewire port?

[yamaha626]

not much longer....the IEEE1394 connection is being replaced by Thunderbolt

[JohnR]

Hrm. I was just getting attached (hah) to Firewire!

[Crimson]

I'd still give it a few more years. Yes it will be replaced, but it's still prevalent in the pro audio and video world, and Thunderbolt is still in it's infancy (as regards peripherals).

[skunark]

There will be thunderbolt to FW800 adapter from Apple and others, so I wouldn't be too concerned.  There are even a few thunderbolt docks that have FW included.  There's a thunderbolt to ethernet adapter available now.   

A small price to pay when the thickness of the laptop pushes those connectors off feature list.

[nathanm]

Sure, it's really slick to have these streamlined, miniature  devices which are all minimalist and cool…and then you realize you still need a bunch of clunky external boxes, hubs and adapters to plug all the stuff you still wanna plug in.  I like Apple's designs, but getting rid of jacks we actually need is annoying.  My Mini is anchored to an umbilical cord of cables.  And hey cool, no CD drive, it's thinner  yay!  Oh wait, CDs and\or my need to use them didn't stop existing the moment the new model was released…oh crap.  Time for an external, minimalist, super cool CD drive! Yay!  Erm, with no drive hole manual eject…so your flaky disc is stuck in there indefinitely, until one plugs it into another computer. *sigh*

[JohnR]

I agree that not having a CD in the mini is kinda dumb. For a laptop you can understand, if the goal is to reduce size and weight. But a desktop machine?

Anyway, I suppose in an odd way the Thunderbolt adapters are a good thing, as then you can use Firewire peripherals with an Air. So no need for a bigger laptop then. But it's another potential source of incompatibility/driver issues - I've read some of the audio interfaces having problems with the Apple USB3 ports.

Everything seems a bit up in the air at the moment, perhaps it might be a good idea to sit it out for a while.

[skunark]

I had the cd-rom drives under warranty replaced on both of the past mac minis (one of them twice).  Perhaps my luck was unusually bad, but I'm glad to see them go external.   I know there was a design flaw/feature about applied force on the top of the mac mini that could damage them..

Other than ripping CDs, the drives rarely get used, so I'm perfectly fine using another computer to rip or even attach a USB optical drive when needed.  I totally agree it's a little more awkward, and with the trend of digital downloads for software and media, we are in the minority.    You don't have to buy the apple superdrive either, you can buy other external usb drives that might have a better reliability rating for ripping audio, or at least know the brand that you are buying.  So maybe the awkwardness has some benefits

If the next version of the mac mini had two thunderbolt ports, 3+ USB3.0, HDMI, Gigabit and SDXC this would really become a nice collection of ports, and with the FW800 adapters, I don't feel I'm missing out on anything.   Perhaps those with FW dacs and video gear will feel differently.

[JohnR]

Perhaps those with FW dacs and video gear will feel differently.

Or, to my point/concern, those contemplating the purchase of Firewire DACs/audio interfaces might want to rethink things a bit...

Or, just sit it out, which is kinda where I've arrived at now.... The manufacturers of audio interfaces are really only just now coming out with rock-solid USB2 interfaces, as far as I can tell - how long to get to the same status with Thunderbolt? Not that Thunderbolt isn't great and all, but in the end it's only as great as what you can do with it. Storage seems like it will get there pretty fast, but audio?

It would help if Apple published some kind of roadmap, then you could plan ahead. But Apple don't do that (do they?).

[yamaha626]

I'd bet $'s that within 2 years (maximum), Apple will have dumped the IEEE1394 standard. They've already confirmed that their next iphone will have a new 19 pin docking connection...so it is not unreasonable to expect that they're going to selling many 30 pin to 19 pin adapters very soon. I see no reason why they wouldn't follow the same plan with the FW to Thunderbolt migration. Helps the bottom line.

[JohnR]

I plugged a USB3 drive into a USB2 port the other day. You know what happened? It just worked!

Yeah.