New macbook pro's and P2

[thedamon]

has anyone noticed that apple decided it'd be a good idea to take away the express cards on their new mbp 15inchers? they replaced it with an sd card slot. wtf?! now the only one that has it is the 17" other than keeping the old mac book pro's what type of work around do we have now? any ideas? i'm actually pretty outraged about this.

im referring the using the duelle adapter and dumping while shooting. can we expect an sd->p2 adapter now?

[weixiang623]

I believe "Sonnet" is releasing a better P2 Reader very soon that will be connected via FireWire and/or USB 2.0

[dbwolfe]

nope, the Sonnet Qio you speak of is ExpressCard or PCIe only.
http://i1.creativecow.net/u/118640/qiosheet.jpg

[thedamon]

the sonnet looks great but that brings us back to square one again. any other options guys? carrying around a 17" macbook pro really isn't cutting it for me.

[David Saraceno]

There are plenty of previous generation MBP with EC/34 slots available now.

If you need one, buy one.

[Barry_Green]

the sonnet looks great but that brings us back to square one again. any other options guys? carrying around a 17" macbook pro really isn't cutting it for me.
You can use the camera as an offload station. Or the QIO, or the PCD20.

Other than that, Apple has left you no options. So if you want inexpensive, quick, easy offloading, you'd have to look into a prior-generation MBP or PB, or look at a Windows laptop from Fujitsu, Lenovo, or Panasonic.

[Cassius]

I find this extremely surprising every time I read it. Most of their users don't need to use P2 cards, but what about the decade of expansion cards made for that slot? There are a ton/tonne of things that can be used for, and things are made for, more so than what they stick on now.

[mojoprofilms]

What about a Firewire 400 -> 800 converter - can you still dump through the camera to the new MBP that way?

[wgzn]

can you still dump through the camera to the new MBP that way?

all you will need is a 400to800 cable. but for me thats just not an option. bringing your camera down for 10-15min at a time DURING PRODUCTION to offload a card just isnt acceptable.

this recent move by apple to further "DE-PRO" their "PRO" machines is VERY disappointing.

first it was the stupid-ass glossy screen, and now THIS?!?!?!?
its going to drive up the price of used models. many last gen and prior MBPs on craigslist are now going for about the price of a new model...

[LuckyStudio 13]

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showpost.php?p=1660206&postcount=32

[alexdias]

Apple dropped the ball on real PRO users and apparently nobody have picked up so far.
But I'm sure that something will come up pretty soon, there're too many "users" out there and that's a good market.

[David Saraceno]

Apple dropped the ball on real PRO users and apparently nobody have picked up so far.
But I'm sure that something will come up pretty soon, there're too many "users" out there and that's a good market.

What are you suggesting a third party can do?

[alexdias]

Yep!

Panasonic, Sony, Sonnet, etc...

There will be instant market. Maybe not huge, but substantial.
The Dual Adapter, not a stelar gear by all means, sold quite well as far as posts in these boards suggest and I've been using mine in a very satisfying way.

[thedamon]

we'll have to buy an old laptop that runs windows and add that to our list of gear. the solution "just buy an older one" is totally unacceptable. just like using the camera as dump station. someone could make a pcmcia reader that connects through fw800 would be nice i suppose. i've gone through 2 dual adapters myself, but it was a perfect work flow. inexpensive pc laptops dont have fw on them either, let alone fw800. post a better workflow if you got it. ..

[wgzn]

inexpensive pc laptops dont have fw on them either, let alone fw800.
true. but almost every one of them has PCMCIA which is what we want anyway.

but i agree with your main point. im a mac user. up till now macs have always worked alone for my workflow. i have ZERO interest in introducing some wonky-ass cheap windows machine and all that FAT32 silliness into my production chain.

so ,im off to buy a last years model macbook pro. that should last me until apple prys their heads from their hineys...

APPLE - ARE YOU LISTENING? you are alienating the people who made you what you are!

[Barry_Green]

someone could make a pcmcia reader that connects through fw800 would be nice i suppose.
They already have -- Panasonic PCD20.


inexpensive pc laptops dont have fw on them either, let alone fw800. post a better workflow if you got it. ..
Many of them do; every Windows laptop I've ever bought has FW400 on it. But no, you'll never find FW800 on a Windows laptop... at least I've never seen it.

[SantaCruzMichael]

I can commisserate with all the frustration above.
I can't fathom relying on increasingly outdated laptops for a critical part of a professional workflow.

At $2000, the PCD20 is just not a feasible option for many of us.

Thanks for the Apple feedback link above. I used it to send a tactful but forceful email to Apple regarding this issue. The MacbookPro is not an Air and shouldn't be configured as suck. I meant to type "such," but suck seems appropriate.

I am sitting in my office down the street from Apple's "Infinite Loot" headquarters. If I go over there with a picket sign at lunch, will that help to calm the tempers on this board?
Hee hee......

I've already done some undercover work there for Gawker.com...
http://gawker.com/5253016/parking+lot-typo-roils-apple-campus

_Michael

[wgzn]

i hate to progress the whining about p2 transfer headache, but i cant for the life of me figure out why a windows laptop. with ram, a monitor, soundcard, keyboard, various i/o AND a pcmcia slot can be had for under $400 but a device that simply connects a pcmcia slot to a small hard drive is $2000.

i know there are underlying business issues like return on r&d cost and market size that dictates pricing on panasonics efforts. but the duel adapter folks cant be the ONLY less overhead-burdened brainiacs out there with the goods to make something happen - can they?

[David Saraceno]

Eliminate three or four of the drives in the PCD20 and keep the Firewire connection or USB2 connection.

Make it smaller and eliminate any unnecessary electronics.

Price it at $500.00.

I also have a rough time understanding why Panasonic cannot make it.

If we can go to the moon, Panasonic can do this.

[AdamT]

All I want is a small reader, not much larger than a P2 card, with a damn firewire cord on the other end. Either FW 400 or 800, I don't care which. How hard can this be?

[pkendall]

You can use the camera as an offload station

yeah? what do I tell the talent do for 2.2 hrs while they wait for me to offload my 64gb card?

[Richard J. Johnson]

[quote=thedamon;1664989]we'll have to buy an old laptop that runs windows and add that to our list of gear. the solution "just buy an older one" is totally unacceptable. [quote]

Why is it unacceptable? I have a $150.00 used Gateway that performs just fine. You will have to have a laptop on set anyway.

[goatty432]

The new 17 inch models do have an express card slot...just not the 13 or 15 inchers. I just ordered a new one last friday, and was about to get the 15 inch, but very very glad I saw this topic before purchasing...I would've been one pissed off fella.

[youngindiefilms]

the sonnet looks great but that brings us back to square one again. any other options guys? carrying around a 17" macbook pro really isn't cutting it for me.

There is an option, I bought a Macbook Pro this February (15inch), was the last generation with express card slot. You can still get this in shops who carry Apple computers, ebay etc. and since the new Macbooks are out I bet you can get them at a really good price soon.

I've got a 15inch Macbook Pro 2.8Ghz, 4GB RAM... that's really good enough for any editing purposes, post work etc. It does all I need. And if you need more power for say CGI or need faster rendering from FCP the new Macbooks with "only" 3Ghz won't make a big difference anyway!

btw...
when is that Sonnet Qio shipping? I didn't find it in the Sonnet online store!

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Best regards,
Marc