Re:Drat you Steve! (Score 1)

An external adapter would still require somewhere to plug into. The MacBook doesn't have an ExpressCard slot like the MBPro does.

The only ports available are 2xUSB2 and Gigabit Ethernet. USB2 can't keep up with FW400 (even though the theoretical max is slightly higher) and doesn't transfer in the realtime mode needed by DV cams. There is talk of Firewire over Ethernet, but there is no known compatible adapter.

If the Ethernet adapter in the MacBook supports this (but possibly not until Snow Leopard is released, then come out and say so now. That would likely shut a number of people up.

I was planning on switching to a MacBook because the video card in the old one wouldn't work properly with Blender (Apple's OpenGL problems, as the same card works with Win/Linux and Blender) ... but the lack of a FW400 port means I can't hook in my DV camera, and using iMovie/iDVD was one of the reasons to want to switch to a Mac to begin with.

Having to capture on another computer and then move the video to the Mac means having to have a system around specifically for when I want to capture. Not very elegant at all. Now, I'm thinking I'll probably get a ThinkPad.

FireWire over ethernet (if it should ever materialize) sounds cute. (rolling my eyes) But, does this mean people will have to dismount themselves from off of their network/internet just to hook up a FireWire device to the ethernet port (if no WiFi is available)? That too is very un-elegant! Gotta tell you, a MacBook without FireWire where one has to use the ethernet port for FireWire sounds like one of those cheesy $400 PC notebook computers to me. To top it all off, they are selling the base model of the re-designed MacBook (without FireWire) for the price of the old base model - and selling the old base model (with FireWire AND FASTER PROCESSOR for under $1000). How does ANY of that make sense? Is this how Apple intends on undercutting the competition... by undercutting the consumer? Apple is plain absurd!