Moving to Europe...need help with brand new setup

[manilarice]

Wats up everybody?

Been awhile since I've posted here, but I read often. Anyways I am selling my desktop equipment for a more portable solution. I need your help, input, and experiences to make this possible.

DILEMMA:
In a few months, I'll be moving to Europe for 2 years for school. I will mostly use it in my dorm, but I will be switching universities every semester, so I need an extremely portable option.

I used to use PT for mixing, but now my focus is on Hip-Hop, House, Dubstep, and R&B production. So I will mostly use Propellerhead's Reason 5 and maybe even Record. However, I still need PT to access my previous projects that I've been doing the last 4 years, and also because I am used to the mixing and plugins.

Anyways, I am thinking about these 2 options:

*New 15" MacBook Pro
*MBox 2 Factory
*FW400 HD
-Daisy chain the Mbox2 and HD
*Behringer U-Control UMX25 MIDI Controller

OR

*New 17" MacBook Pro (for the expresscard slot)
*MBox 2 Pro Factory
*FW800 External Bus-Powered Drive
*FW400 ExpressCard fpr MBox2 Pro connection
*Behringer U-Control UMX25 MIDI Controller

From reading this forum and others, it seems that there is a problem with the MB2 and the new MBPs. It seems that everyone has to use the USB port closest to them. So, would it be wiser to invest more for the upgrade to a 17" and MB2 Pro to mitigate these potential problems?

And, has anyone used the Behringer U-Control? Anyone know how it is?

-manilarice