Macbook Pro Lacks S-Video???

Hey everyone,

This is my first post on these forums....any Mac forum actually, I have always been a linux/windows guy, mostly because I am a gamer at heart and love a nice looking operating system. I always loved Macs for their really nice operating system as well as the great style and quality of their machines.
I the only reason that I never purchased a Mac was b/c I was a gamer and couldn't play most of my games on a Mac. I was also going to school and they didn't use Macs and required software that could only run on windows PC's.

Anyways, now that Apple switched to Intel processors ( IMO the best move they could have made) I can now have all the great features and quality of a mac and still be able to run windows and all that comes with that.

I am in need of a laptop and have been looking at the 15.4" Macbook Pro but there are a few things that bother me and have me waiting to make my purchase. First of all the burner is only 4X, I want at least an 8X dvd burner if I am dishing out this much $$. Secondly I noticed that the Macbook Pro's lost their S-Video port compaired to the older Powerbooks. I am a little confused why apple would remove something like that when it would be a great feature to have, espically with front row.

What I am wondering is if anyone has heard anything about apple releasing a revision of the macbook to include these features. If they do I am whipping out the credit card and buy my Mac.

Thanks in advance and I look forward to contributing to the discussions on the board!

The MacBook Pros only have a DVI port; however, Apple sells a DVI-to-Video adapter that outputs to both S-video and Composite. I have one for my Intel Mini; costs about $20 and works just fine. My guess is that the design was too crowded to add any more features. The thing that gets me is that there are only 2 USB ports on the MacBook Pro. For $1800+ you should get at least 3 if not 4. So yes, you can run S-video, you just need the adapter.

Regarding the optical drive, Apple had to use the newer 9.5mm slimline drive format in order to meet their design goal of a 1" thickness. The older drives are 12.7mm. Currently, the fastest 9.5mm are only 4x. Major bummer. 8x is almost a requirement if you do DVDs. I'm sure they will come out with 8x models down the road. And Blu-ray. And HD-DVD. We can dream There's a photo of the size difference at the bottom of this page if you're interested in looking:

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/85.1.9.html

By the way, the MacBook Pro is a great gaming machine. I loaded up Half-Life 2 on my brother's MacBook pro with the 128mb x1600 and it ran smoothly at the native resolution of 1440x900. Looks gorgeous! If you can, pick up the 256mb x1600 for future-proofing. Also, I would recommend ordering it with the 7200rpm hard drive. It's a real pain to replace the hard drive. You can buy the ram aftermarket; I'd recommend G.Skill:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231069

Good luck in whatever you decide to get and welcome to the forums!

kaidomac said:

The MacBook Pros only have a DVI port; however, Apple sells a DVI-to-Video adapter that outputs to both S-video and Composite. I have one for my Intel Mini; costs about $20 and works just fine. My guess is that the design was too crowded to add any more features. The thing that gets me is that there are only 2 USB ports on the MacBook Pro. For $1800+ you should get at least 3 if not 4. So yes, you can run S-video, you just need the adapter.

Regarding the optical drive, Apple had to use the newer 9.5mm slimline drive format in order to meet their design goal of a 1" thickness. The older drives are 12.7mm. Currently, the fastest 9.5mm are only 4x. Major bummer. 8x is almost a requirement if you do DVDs. I'm sure they will come out with 8x models down the road. And Blu-ray. And HD-DVD. We can dream There's a photo of the size difference at the bottom of this page if you're interested in looking:

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/85.1.9.html

By the way, the MacBook Pro is a great gaming machine. I loaded up Half-Life 2 on my brother's MacBook pro with the 128mb x1600 and it ran smoothly at the native resolution of 1440x900. Looks gorgeous! If you can, pick up the 256mb x1600 for future-proofing. Also, I would recommend ordering it with the 7200rpm hard drive. It's a real pain to replace the hard drive. You can buy the ram aftermarket; I'd recommend G.Skill:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820231069

Good luck in whatever you decide to get and welcome to the forums!

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Thanks for the tips, it is great to know that I can at least get the adapter!
After you mentioned replacing the hard drive I remembered that was the other thing that I wanted to do with a 7200 RPM drive. in the end it is almost better to go with the 17" b/c it includes all that stuff standard including the faster DVD drive for about $200 more. I think that I will wait a bit( I have to save the $$ for the new laptop first) then hopefully Apple will release a new revision with the new burner etc...

you know i was thinking, s video is a much older technology...it was on my old powerbook G3, i'm not surprised any of the new computers don't have it

macAttack said:

you know i was thinking, s video is a much older technology...it was on my old powerbook G3, i'm not surprised any of the new computers don't have it

Click to expand...

Older technology simply implies a larger proliferation of it. Very few people I know have TV sets or projectors with DVI input; really only the newer HDTVs have that capability. On the other hand, just about everyone I know has a TV set with at least composite input, if not s-video. My 27" TV isn't leaving my possession for a long, looong time

btw, ebay sells some nice audio/video combos for laptops - converts the minijack audio and s-video output to stereo RCA audio and composite output, very easy to connect to a TV set.