No FW! Can use USB instead?

Question

While Pro owners still have one last measly remaining FireWire port, MacBook owners are out of luck. In order to safely recover from failures, transfer files and the like, will Apple finally certify the USB port for use of the computer in Target Disk Mode?
I know, I know, you would need a special cable to plug one Mac to another, but at least you could place a clone of the system on an extenal USB HDD, and hopefully be able to boot from it if the need arose,

Answer 1

Keith Owen wrote:
I'm actually getting sick of the whinging about this online. It's not that big a deal unless you have multiple Macs and need to sync them frequently. If you need to migrate from an old Mac to a new unibody MacBook, all you need to do is put your old Mac's hard drive into a cheapo external USB enclosure and use Migration Assistant to transfer your files.
I've been doing this for years. It's just about the same speed as firewire, and you can have Migration Assistant treat it as "another drive on this Mac" or "another Mac" -- It doesn't matter. It will work.
So the big adjustment you have to make is pulling your old Mac's hard drive out and putting it into an enclosure. Seriously... It's not brain surgery.
Yes, provided you have such a drive case available to you. If you don't and, say, you are upgrading from a G4 series of computers which use a different interface, then you are left with a USB case that may be somewhat of a waste to have. A Firewire cable is quite a bit cheaper than a USB case.
Now, that being said, I do see the value in firewire for people with older video equipment or firewire-only backup solutions. I see the value for people who rely on TDM to syn their multiple Macs every day. If you're that user, then you can grab the new White MacBook, or pick up a MacBook Pro. There are plenty of refurb MBPs available from Apple for close to the price of the unibody MacBook.
I think that you are maybe forgetting about those of us who would like the small sized and lighter weight of the current Aluminum MacBooks and want to use them with audio interfaces that are predominately Firewire. If you add these people to those who want the speed and dependability of firewire for back-ups to their existing hard disks, video editing with their current cameras and the situation that you mentioned where you need to synch multiple computers of various ages (G4, G5 and Intel based machines) this lack of firewire is a much bigger problem.
As a consumer-level laptop, most people whom the MacBook is aimed at won't need firewire. If you're prosumer, and need firewire, it exists in other options.
But those options are not available (readily) to me.