USB 3.0

according to http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html it states "Four USB 2.0 Ports"

So, nope unfortunately.

Best info on USB 3 I found in wikipedia in "USB" - it explained all about USB 1, 2 and 3 and also said why it does not transfer at the published speed. It explained how the 'speed' is determined and if I understood it right, USB 3 is designed to use the USB 2 female port and the change/speed is because of the hierarchy used by USB - also saw a blurb that USB 3 will not work with Macs until 2011. So I called Apple and they said they had absolutely no info about anything to do with USB 3. Go figure...

USB 3 for all intents and purposes is future technology. Firewire 800 and gigabit ethernet are here now.

True, but it is available now for other O.S.s - I thought Mac IS future tech, and have you priced external HDs with firewire 800 lately and I don't know of any with ethernet connectivity - I found a 2TB external hard drive with USB 3 for $100.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB

Says that Intel won't support it until 2011 (at the earliest). See footnote 85.
Since Intel was the chosen CPU for Apple's machines, it is hard to say how early before Apple would be able to adopt it after Intel's adoption. A lot has to do with their ability to test a logicboard that can handle the extra throughput without overheating in various models, and decisions of whether or not to adopt it through the entire lineup at once or not. Since we are all end users here, we can't really speculate as to when it might arrive.

A bit confused. I've been considering an external (LaCie Rugged, 500GB, 7200), but now am thinking about their 1TB USB 3.0 7200. Even with the Express card (read "their" express card, since it evidently will only work with LaCie drives), am I to understand that it still will not function up to speed with [my new] MBP17"?

Whether a device can support USB 1.1, 2.0 or 3.0 is determined by its hardware. All Macs since about 2004 have embedded _USB 2.0 controllers,_ therefore even if you plug in a USB 3.0 external drive to the USB ports on your Mac, you are going to be limited to USB 2.0 speeds.

However, a +USB 3.0 ExpressCard/34 has its own USB controller+ that is independent of the USB 2.0 controller embedded in the Mac ... the ExpressCard/34 connects directly to the internal I/O bus so, if you connect a USB 3.0 drive to a USB 3.0 ExpressCard you will get USB 3.0 speeds.

Thanks, MartinR. Now I know.