You my friend are very ignorant. Besides the fact that moving to Intel was a move for the FUTURE (faster processors/more cores, less heat, more power), removing the Express Card slot is a step BACKWARDS. Just like removing firewire from the 13" MB.
I feel for the folks this has some impact on (at least for the 15" option), but no way this is like dropping firewire. There are many millions of devices out there that have firewire on them to hook to the 13" MB/MBP.
The spin from Apple pointed more so on all new devices than all of the devices actually deployed/owned by Mac owners. It was one of those "Well just buy all new stuff" solutions. In that respect I understand why folks find it similar.
Sure there may be 5,000 bands out there world wide on the road with major mac pro set ups. Sure there may be 5,000 folks out there shooting HD movies in 5.1 sound. Sure there may be 5,000 folks out driving non linear edits out in the field is a raid array attached to there laptop. And sure if put all 15K of them into a auditorium or small stadium you'd have a full house. If you asked that crowd was ExpressCard extremely important they'd all say "heck yeah".
However, if Apple sells 300,000 MBP 15" units then only amounts to 5% of the owners. I had a chance to see the rollout presentation at this point. Apple puts the number of people using ExpressCard at less than 1%.
Whether that means more MBP are sold or I was being very generous with the numbers I don't know. ( Apple may be undercounting but I'd be surprised given all the examples presented here so far if the number of users using managed to crack the double digits. )
Likewise in the presentation that did mention that there are some "high end" solutions that need the ExpressCard. So suspect Apple knows you folks are out there. It was mentioned that kept the ExpressCard on the 17" for that motivation.
With examples of equipment stacks like this:
Further evidence you have no idea what you are talking about:
http://www.duel-systemsadapters.com/?productid=DP-0001 - For using P2 cards. A professional solid-state video storage.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/528236-REG/Sony_SBP_16_SBP_16_16GB_SxS_PRO.html - For use in Sony's EX Series XDCAMs for professional video cameras
http://www.griffintechnology.com/products/esataexpresscard - For connecting hard drives with a fast enough connection speed to deal with your HD footage you just shot
http://www.matrox.com/video/en/products/mxo2/ - For viewing the footage you just shot and getting analog signals to and from the express card slot
http://www.aja.com/products/io/io-hd.php - I guess I could use this instead, oh wait... I only have one firewire port and no way to daisychain from this device (even if I did it wouldn't be a good idea)
In general, how is a 17" MBP going to break the bank? When it is "need to hook the cheapest MBP to hook to my $15K of equipment" that is going to get some raised eyebrow comments. All of this stuff is more a "portable" (deploy numerous elements and set up in the field) situations as opposed to laptop or normal office desk kind of set up. HD video on a 15" screen when you are looking for details? Similarly when folks are trying to deploy a MacPro setup in the field and trying to shrink the screen size.
Apple has a strict tier pricing model. In order to bring down the price on the 17" then needed to move the 15" down. So for the price 2 years ago for a mid/uppper range 15" MBP you can now get a 17". Furthermore, Apple is going to sell less 17" models than 15" models. So if that same 15K from my example above all drop onto the 17" they probably could break the double digit percentage. There is more sidepanel space on the 17" so should be much more easy to come out on top when the design trade-offs are being made with that more significant percentage. (e.g., battle off with the "need a second, independent power FW port" folks on the 17").
Hopefully Apple can continue slight move downs in 17" over time so that folks who need it aren't squeeze out but that is a slippery slope because the more they lower the price the more likely the percentage will sink back into the single digits again.
P.S. Just to avoid yet one more post ... very similar problem with the "no 9700 so can't be a pro" Unless SL changes things, in order to get the 9700 going you needed to reboot to get the speed increase. Again when a significant number of folks just need a bigger screen and would leave the 9700 turned off the vast majority of time (if trying to eek out most battery life this is exactly what you will do. The lower GHz processor will also help on this front. ) They haven't lost anything. If need the 9700 can get it at the same price you got it at before. What's the problem?
This one is a bit less disruptive because done inside of the same case format.
P.P.S. [again another slight tangent because probably through with this thread.]
Some of the audio problems seem to be because the devices are still stuck at FW400. If those devices all moved up would be more tractable to share half of the bus since it would still be 400-like througput. Apple is partially at fault here for not killing off the FW400 across the line sooner. It is boggling why it took this long. However, the external vendors are boxing in your solutions here as much as Apple is.
OK the stuff that has been out there is sunk cost/constraint to deal with. However, been hard pressed to see anything new at all that was up to FW800. Stuck in time forever? Long term that is going to cause problems
(unless everyone is waiting to jump ship to USB 3.0).
All that said I'm sure this will remain a bit controversial for the same reason that the lack of a mid-range mini-tower with PCI slots isn't going to go away either.
P.P.P.S. [ last one promise.. ]
For the band with laptops on stage, Why can't they be hidden behind props. Doesn't have to be as large as the Funkadelic Mothership, but something colorful ( or not; just black ) that the laptop sits down in then don't have to provide free logo advertising for Apple. Heck could sell logo space on the prop to someone else and that might pay for the laptop and the box. LOL.
Inside that box/prop the difference between 15 and 17 is much more easy to make disappear.
