New Powerbooks

[Dimitri Simos <dim@lissys.demon.co.uk>]

I have been looking at the new Powerbook models,
specifically the 540c. I would have bought one
immediately but for the lack of an FPU.

I know that an FPU shortens battery life, but a lot of us
always have a plug nearby and battery life is basically
irrelevant. We DO however need to do fast floating point
arithmetic with MCL, and to be mobile.

Question 1:
Do Apple intend to release a 68040+FPU Powerbook?
Coming after the MCL policy Fiasco and the floating-point
anaemia displayed by the PowerPC emulation, they are
reinforcing the signal that they don't give a hoot about
their engineering / scientific MCL users. 

Question 2:
Does anyone know how the 540c would compare to a 180c
(i.e. 68LC040 versus 68030+FPU) running a floating-point
intesive MCL-based application?
Benchmarks are welcome.
Thanks.

Dimitri Simos, Lissys, Tel.& Fax UK (+44) 509 235620