It was bad enough when they dropped FW from iPods... I remember, before getting a new mac, loading a 5th gen iPod via USB 1.0 because my main computer at that time had FW and USB 1.0... excruciating compared to my daughter's older iPod w/ FW...
USB 2.0 has been better, but still notice a big difference between FW vs. USB of any version...
There are simply some things that FW is much, much better for (thinking multimedia file transfers in particular)...
And, my backup scheme involves rotating 3 large capacity/portable FW drives (OK, they have USB also, but I never use it because of performance issues) around 2 desktop and 2 laptop macs... don't get me started on how many times I've replaced scanners because first, various flavors of SCSI came and went... now add in digital cameras and video recorders...
I'm sure someone will create a dongle, or probably already has, but that is kludgie and diminishes the simplicity/design/experience of using a portable mac in the first place...
And lastly, it was one of the last vestiges of features that were standard on even the lowliest mac portable, but not on others... seems like as time goes by, mac hardware becomes more like the others and at some point, one might begin to ask, why buy a mac if it merely offers the same stuff one can get elsewhere? At some point, the answer: OS X, might not be enough.
All FWIW... haven't really studied the new models in detail yet as it will be next year at the earliest before I'm in the market for a new computer...
Jim
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