Originally Posted by Quicksilver

USB 2.0 may be fast but there are other considerations.

The removed feature is an annoyance to consumers who have FireWire devices — like external hard drives or camcorders — that they'd like to connect to their MacBooks. But the port's absence is a grave concern to some IT professionals who say corrupt MacBooks will be difficult to troubleshoot without it.

Specifically, the problem is that the new MacBooks are unable to start up in FireWire Target Disk Mode, which enables users to connect to the computer from another Mac, turning the target computer into an external drive. That's especially useful for diagnosing problems when the targeted computer won't even run. Without Target Disk Mode, the only alternative for troubleshooting a corrupt MacBook is to physically remove the drive, which increases the risk of losing information. It's also more time and trouble.