USB 2.0 is faster on MacBook Pro (Late 2008)

In his Storage Interface Shootout (USB 2.0 vs FireWire 400 vs FireWire 800 vs Serial ATA on the 'Late 2008' MacBook Pro) Rob-ART Morgan at BareFeats documents the improvement in USB 2.0 speed on the "Late 2008" MBP:

Up until now, every time we tested a USB 2.0 storage device on a Mac, the transfer rate was about half that of FireWire 400 even though it had a higher theoretical speed rating (480Mbit/s). Though it's still not quite as fast as FireWire 400, it's close enough to explain why Apple did away with the FW400 port on all new MacBooks and MacBook Pros.