You have a Time Capsule and back up wirelessly with Time Machine, and that same Time Capsule is a server grade networked hard drive, so why do YOU need an external hard drive with firewire connectivity? The trend is "wireless", and with USB 2.0 the speed differences between USB/firewire are negligible for the majority of users.

EDIT: Did you get an Airport Extreme and not Time Capsule? Maybe you did? You can plug your external hard drive into the back of that Airport Extreme and use as a networked hard drive.

I'm not an IT professional but i have helped many people who have Mac's so we do know a thing or two around here.

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"What you hear in a great jazz band is the sound of democracy. “The jazz band works best when participation is shaped by intelligent communication.”
Harmony happens whenever different parts get to form a whole by means of congruity, concord, symetry, consistency, conformity, correspondence, agreement, accord, unity, consonance…….

I have an external 500G running off my 1T TimeCapsule

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An unwavering defender of those I see worth protecting.

"promote the general welfare, not provide the general welfare"

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

As i mentioned earlier Using Audio programs (protools ect) often require firewire 400 and the internal drive CANNOT be use to record to. Only specific hi speed firewire drives can be used for this purpose and time capsule dosen't make the grade for this purpose.

__________________
"What you hear in a great jazz band is the sound of democracy. “The jazz band works best when participation is shaped by intelligent communication.”
Harmony happens whenever different parts get to form a whole by means of congruity, concord, symetry, consistency, conformity, correspondence, agreement, accord, unity, consonance…….

funny discussion because...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FireWire

__________________

An unwavering defender of those I see worth protecting.

"promote the general welfare, not provide the general welfare"

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Thanks....I am well aware of that. But the Macbook can be used under circumstances with some audio programs but without a firewire interface that flexibility is gone.

__________________
"What you hear in a great jazz band is the sound of democracy. “The jazz band works best when participation is shaped by intelligent communication.”
Harmony happens whenever different parts get to form a whole by means of congruity, concord, symetry, consistency, conformity, correspondence, agreement, accord, unity, consonance…….

My understanding is USB is a "dumb" port compared to FW. USB maybe fast but is does not have the same technical abilities the FW does. For example USB is not capable of allowing a mac to enter target mode.

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- 335i E92 2007 [Sapphire Black/Coral Red]
- X5 E70 2013 [Sparkling Bronze/Cinnamon]
"Living the dream" 1981 Delorean #6489

Anyway I'll end my comments regarding this issue by echoing the comments of another user.

I think it's a serious mistake to shed the FW ports on consumer machines. I understand that Apple tries to lead the market in technology trends, and firewire is becoming diminished in the consumer market, but there is simply too much audio and video gear that relies on it, and simply saying that those users should purchase pro machines goes against Apple's long standing support of amateur and student artists- embodied by products like iLife, Final Cut Express and Logic Express.

__________________
"What you hear in a great jazz band is the sound of democracy. “The jazz band works best when participation is shaped by intelligent communication.”
Harmony happens whenever different parts get to form a whole by means of congruity, concord, symetry, consistency, conformity, correspondence, agreement, accord, unity, consonance…….

Then maybe the $999 MacBook is for you since it has FW 400. They dropped the price $100 + gave you a super drive in lieu of the previous combo drive . Is everyone forgetting about this model?