you are quite correct, they do and did have an optical in/out. As to the new MacBooks (typing this on a MacBook Pro, this one bought in June) I have only seen them online so far and think they do look very nice. I am stunned and annoyed by the lack of a Firewire port on the MacBook. Not only do many camcorders use firewire it is a faster interface for my 8 external hard drives so I'm really disappointed by that design change. I'm not sure why there was a need to introduce yet another display connection, there was nothing wrong with the mini DVI, and now Mac is back to using a connection that nobody else is (at least for now) and every MacBook (& Pro) before the current versions cannot use that fantastic, if very expensive, new external monitor. New graphics horsepower sounds nice, but on the flip side there is that firewire port loss again and they didn't even give us a 3rd USB port as compensation. Like the new look, and the weight being .5lbs lighter is great of course but features wise I think its a bit of a mixed bag. Lastly, the MacBooks that were made out of plastic which my mother, sister, uncle and father use, had noticeably better wifi reception at longer distances than my MacBook Pro made out of aluminum so would like to hear if they've managed to update its reception in these new aluminum cased laptops.