All in all, less tempting than I expected

I expected to want to squee or rant about Macworld today, but surprisingly, I don't feel like doing either. There's nothing to be ranting about, because his Steveness gave us the Intel powerbook. (I'm not even going into the name issue.) But. It looks exactly like the old powerbooks. There are some slight changes -- including no s-video out and a slower DVD burner that is only single layer instead of dual layer, which makes no sense to me at all -- but it's the same size, weight, cost, and design as before.

Not that the classic design of the powerbooks is bad. And hey, this way, there will probably be fewer problems with the initial version, because not very much actually changed. I'm excited about the new magnetic plug on the power cord, but isn't it a little sad when the only thing you're really excited about is the power supply cord?

What went away:

1. S-video out
2. FireWire 800
3. dial-up modem
4. dual-layer DVD burning. also now a 4x burner instead of an 8x burner.
5. pcmcia port

What's new:

1. Intel
2. iSight in the lid
3. magnetic power cord
4. Apple Remote/Front Row
5. Now a 60 watt lithium-polymer battery instead of a 50 watt lithium-ion battery, but apple doesn't seem to be touting this change at all, so I don't know what to make of it.
6. new ExpressCard/34 slot, whatever that is
7. hard drive is SATA instead of IDE, but I have no idea if that's better or worse
8. Display uses magnetics to close, so the physical clasp is gone

I think I'll love the magnetic power cord. But, I have THREE now, one each for home, work, and travel, and they're not exactly cheap. If I buy one of these machines, I think I'd up the hard drive to 120 gig. The news over the next few days/month will be interesting to watch unfold...