This news has been everywhere today. It has implications for (the ongoing saga of) my next laptop choice. I reckon the Macbook Pro is now edging ahead again – especially w/ the educational discount – although I’d be much happier if it had Firewire 800 and 4xUSB 2 ports…
http://news.com.com/2100-1046_3-6059074.html?part=rss&tag=6059074&subj=news
Also, there’ll be card options soon enough for firewire 800, like what Lacie did for PCMCIA.
And have you heard about USB hubs, matey?
And apparently the Media center edition of XP does work with boot camp.
http://www.engadget.com/2006/04/06/boot-camp-the-day-after/
USB hubs are an inelegant solution. I’m sure they’re fine at home for printers, scanners, etc. but I don’t think I’d want to rely on one for gigs, where potentially I might have a mouse, a midi controller or two, soundcard, dongle and external hard drive all running simultaneously.
4x USB seems standard for high-end PC laptops these days, so I don’t know why the Macbook doesn’t have them.