Brian's Brain

Everyday voyeurs of Brian's Brian may recall that I'm a dual-platform dude. My mobile computer stable comprises a 1.25 GHz 15" Apple PowerBook and a 1.6 GHz Dell Inspiron 700m but, as I mentioned in my last post, of late I'm being slowly-but-steadily seduced by the Sirens' Song of dual-core CPUs. When Apple unveiled the Intel-powered 15" MacBook Pro back in January, I was tempted to upgrade my Mac gear, but I held out for the smaller-widescreen sibling I strongly suspected would sooner or later arrive. The lingering absence of Universal versions of key apps such as Adobe Photoshop and Microsoft Office, therefore the performance-sapping and memory-gobbling specter of Rosetta, was additional motivation to keep my wallet safely stowed.

When Apple rolled out Boot Camp early last month, I was again tempted; here was an opportunity to merge two parallel hardware paths into a unified Mac OS X-plus-Windows nexus. But I still didn't pull the trigger. Nor have I done so (at least yet....as skilled politicians do, I always reserve the right to 'revise my position') in response to the even more tantalizing MacBooks that Apple just released, whose 13.3" 16:9 aspect ratio screens address my compact widescreen desires (and whose lower prices as compared to the MacBook Pro are also more SAF-amenable).

What's the root cause of my reluctance? Neither system offers PCMCIA (aka PC Card, later enhanced by the higher-speed Cardbus proliferation) expansion capability. Suffice it to say that I was very excited when I woke up yesterday morning and saw that Apple had finally unveiled the MacBook. And very disappointed when I subsequently fired up the QTVR presentation on Apple's website and, repeatedly spinning the 3D system graphic around, searched in vain for a visible PC Card slot.

"What do you need PCMCIA support for?", you might ask in reply. It's a valid question; after all, Apple's new systems offer integrated:

• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth
• Gigabit Ethernet
• USB, and
• FireWire 400 (and 800, on the 17" MacBook Pro)

Via USB you can incorporate external analog modem support. Both USB and Firewire enable you to tether additional peripherals, such as external storage devices (including memory card readers). And MacBook Pros offer the followon to PCMCIA, the PCI Express-friendly ExpressCard interface. To date, to the best of my recollection, announced (but not necessarily shipping) ExpressCard peripherals include an EV-DO modem and eSATA, FireWire 800 and Gigabit Ethernet adapters. So what's my 'beef'?

EV-DO (or, for that matter, any other high speed cellular data protocol, or the under-development 802.11n Wi-Fi followon) is at the core of my particular concern; others will undoubtedly have other legacy or evolutionary issues. Right now, there's no USB EV-DO adapter that's been blessed by Sprint or Verizon, nor has either carrier approved the earlier-mentioned ExpressCard adapter (which, anyway, wouldn't be usable on the MacBook, or on my wife's ExpressCard-less laptop, or on any other device without an ExpressCard interface). I don't particularly feel like hauling an EV-DO router everywhere with me, nor would it be usable in all possible laptop usage scenarios. Neither the MacBook or MacBook Pro comes with built-in 3G cellular data support (as do the Lenova X60 and Dell Inspiron D820 I've previously tested) and, anyway, I don't consider integrated 3G a particularly palatable solution because I can't share the peripheral with my spouse (on the rare occasion when she's traveling and I'm not). Cellular providers most assuredly like such 'problems', but they aren't very end user-friendly.

In spite of vigorous Google-searching over the past few years, I have yet to encounter a feasible USB2-to-Cardbus or FireWire-to-Cardbus adapter; this product is the closest I've come (and, more than two years after I found it, the verbage still suggests a work-in-progress). Since Verizon now has taken the admirably enlightened stance of officially allowing tethered phones-as-modems (for an incremental per-month price), that'd be another path to 3G nirvana....if I was willing to switch cellular providers and buy new hardware. Bottom line, none of these workarounds are clean, and they could have all been avoided if Apple would have just retained a legacy PC Card slot (which I gotta believe there's room to squeeze in the form factors). Cost-conscious Apple accountants might have labeled such a move 'penny foolish', but by being able to continue using my Kyocera KPC650, I probably would have made the MacBook purchase plunge by now, making Apple 'pound wise'. As it is, the 'penny wise, pound foolish' mantra applies.

Making a technology leap is always a tricky endeavor; jump too soon (as I'd argue Apple did), with insufficient industry infrastructure around you for support, and you'll alienate potential customers with legacy gear they'd prefer to keep using. Jump too late, on the other hand, and your competition will outpace you. Apple's current situation is a lesson for those of you in similar straits. How will you apply it?

p.s....In the interests of full disclosure, I'll admit that I was a member of the embryonic team that developed Intel's EXCA (Exchangeable Card Architecture), which later became industry-standard PCMCIA. So my grumbling might be a bit nostalgia-fueled. But only a bit.