Try switching from Aero to Classic UI.

Not a joke, it seems W7's graphics chip drivers get in the way of FW800.

You can also try Unibrain's UbCore free FW800 drivers to replace the stock MS drivers (MS never understood FW800).

And if you are editing HD with multiple tracks, etc., get an eSATA card for your MBP, such as FirmTek card and enclosures available from OWC and many other resellers. Great products and performance that blows FW800 out of the water.

eSATA vs Firewire 800 was one of the main reasons I opted for a Windows notebook computer instead of a MacBook Pro with dual boot this last time around. eSATA is just way, way faster than Firewire 800.

It is a pity that only the 17" MBP has an ExpressCard slot for eSATA etc., but it rocks for performance, and the 1920x1200 screen is better than on any Windows notebook I've seen.

"but it rocks for performance, and the 1920x1200 screen is better than on any Windows notebook I've seen."

Yes... and we all stop and listen carefully when you speak about mac because we all know just exactly how objective you are on the issue.... which is FW by the way.

Rob,

Laurence stated the main reason he didn't buy an MBP was the lack of eSATA.

Since you state eSATA was not the issue (FW was), I guess you're saying Laurence shouldn't have mentioned it?


As for Macs, I have no commercial or other interest in them other than as a user of them (and HP Windows workstations which I also like).

It's a free country, each person can get whatever computer they want.

Just like with cars, there are pros and cons with each, and the different manufacturers have different personalities.

For some reason (lack of market maturity perhaps), many people feel as strongly about their computer brands as about their local sports teams.

Bumper sticker sold by The Onion:
"The sports team from my area is better than the sports team from your area."

I guess that about summarizes people's depth on the matter.

The automobile market moved on from "Ford vs. Chevy" to whatever car owners wanted to drive.

Let's hope computer users will get to this next stage of human development soon.

Laurence's statement was esata vs FIREWIRE 800 while yours went out on a complete and total tangent in an effort to bolster the sagging reputation of the MBP in this thread (please don't try and tell me different)

This thread is about FW800 in MBP... keep it on topic.... and your mac salesmanship out of it.

Fausseplanete has a 17" MBP.

If Windows won't run FW800 reliably, he has the option to use an eSATA enclosure (I do and it rocks).

I'm not selling Macs, and I don't think my single note about how the large screen on a 17" 1920x1080 notebook is some compensation for having to spend the extra money qualifies it in that category.

You're perpetuating a simple side comment.

In the pro world a notch up, working people can't be so choosy. They may be trained in FCP but only be able to get a job at an Avid shop or vice versa. I've seen both situations, and nobody can afford to argue about how to bring in their pay check nowadays. Same thing with hardware platforms.

It's the story telling and professional skills that matter, not which brushes you use.

" And what exactly are you doing in all of this because the last time I checked... it took at least TWO to argue.

"I'm not selling Macs"
Yes... you are.

Thanks for all the points, hopefully useful to others also. Macs present both opportunities and challenges, for sure. Like everything!

CourseDesign's point was valid and useful to my question. I wondered whether eSATA would work on my model - I was concerned whether an ExpressCard will work OK under BC-W7. As far as I can tell, it depends which model of card. In that case that's probably the way I'll go, since the GRAID Mini does have that interface.

It is especially good to hear of successful experiences having heard of some people's difficulties and apparent care needed in choice of ExpressCard-eSATA card (e.g. http://discussions.info.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11287313.

Back to the FW800, I have previously tried UniBrain FW800 driver but it would not install on my system at that time. Since then, as advised by my MBP supplier, I have removed and reinstalled and re-updated the BootCamp (3.1) for MBP and have done a Restore Permissions. It is good to hear others have had success with UniBrain's FW800 driver, so I will give this another go.

Getting a drive working at all is one thing, the next will be how well is it performing. I'll not distract the thread too much with this (will post to a separate thread later on) but here I provide some feedback to put the FW800 and eSATA (and USB and SATA internal drive) in context. Basically the eSATA looks even more attractive than expected.

I did some storage (disk) read/write speed tests, using SpeedTools [url[www.SpeedTools.com[/url] because it runs on both Mac and Windows. I ran its large-file (100MB) test in 5 cycles. Interestingly the result for the MBP internal system drive (85MB/s) is as good as the FW800 GRAID (from Mac OS X, since I haven't yet got it working with W7) and definitely faster than the GRAID via USB (35MB/s). The internal is apparently a SATA drive with "3 Gigabit" link speed and "1.5 Gigabit" negotiated link speed (?!). In that case maybe it's sensible to dispense with the traditional advice not to use the system disk for media storage? Currently for BC-W7 it sounds like my best option.

It seems eSATA is vital in order to let the GRAID mini show its true advantage. From the comments at the forum in the earlier link, a speed-up factor of 3 is not unheard-of. I had expected a smaller factor.

It's good to have a storage-speed-test utility like this to get a feel for what's normal as well as whether a storage item is performing as well as expected. Much less hassle and presumably more repeatable than copying large files manually, which would in any case tend to be from one hard drive to another, necessarily invoking both drives' bottlenecks. I am assuming here of course that the utility generates data on the fly, so it comes from RAM etc. not disk, and likewise does not store its read-data to disk.

>>>1920x1200 screen is better than on any Windows notebook I've seen

hey Course... have you seen the HP Envy screen, by any chance? I'm so close to buying one, but I haven't heard much feedback on the screen, which is very important to me, Gizmodo says it's better than the MBP but I haven't heard this from anyone else. I've been vacillating between a Dell Studio XPS and the HP, HP is really getting great press from their high end screens, and I own one of their 24" LCD's, which I love, but I'd sure love to hear some feedback from anyone who's seen them all. Thanks.

hey Course... have you seen the HP Envy screen, by any chance?

I haven't seen the new Envy, but it seems very good overall from this review:

PC Magazine review of HP Envy

The 17" can be had with either a 1600x900 screen or a 1920x1080 at additional cost.

One thing to check is if the screen is glossy or matte, to make sure it fits your preference.

Some people prefer glossy (which provides darker blacks), but the "shaving mirror" reflections drive me batty.

I like HP's notebooks, have their first 64-bit model, and I have been very impressed with their support. Best is to go to their web site and use the chat so you can work while they figure out the answer you need, without having to hang on the phone.

HP's staff at the other end are really good, they pulled some very deep CPU chipset mfr. internal info that solved my problem in a jiffy.

I tried Classic instead of Aero but no difference.

Did a Windows Repair from the Windows 7 install-disk (just to remove the system from suspicion). No difference.

Installed UniBrain driver for IEEE1394 (had to disable Kapersky Security first else UniBrain wouldn't install - "1628: Failed to complete installation"). Following the successful installation I did a test but there was no improvement - in fact it made it worse - now BootCamp-Windows only recognizes the FW drive if it is connected during boot-up. Also a write-test now freezes the whole machine and have to power-off (since there is no shutdown response). With the original MS driver it did shut-down OK following test freeze. Tested it first with Kapersky disabled, then again (following a reboot) with it enabled - no difference.

CourseDesign - is it the case that you have an identical system to mine but yours works? I have a MacBook Pro "5,2" 17 inch, Intel Core 2 Duo. Is it something about my particular machine? But the same FW works OK under Mac OS. Something about BootCamp?

Will in any case look into an eSATA next.

Web-searched for any new facts/ideas. The following was a seam if inot a mine of information:
e.g. http://www.rme-audio.de/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1475...%3f

A maybe-tryable workaround: interpose another device having two FW800 connections, as a go-betweener.

Older Mac stuff (including MacBooks) used a TI chipset for FW, later ones used the cheaper Agere chipset "with known issues" (of incompatibility with certain FW devices!).

The Agere chipset is used in (amongother models) the "All new Macbook Pros" (Intel 965 Chipset, GeForce 8600M GT Graphics) since October ´07. So I guess that includes mine then.

But the chipset cannot be incompatible with my drive since it works OK from Mac OS...