Is there a difference between new() and “regular” allocation?

No. What they return is the same,

package main

import "fmt"
import "reflect"

type Vector struct {
    x   int
    y   int
}

func main() {
    v := &Vector{}
    x := new(Vector)
    fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(v))
    fmt.Println(reflect.TypeOf(x))
}

Result:

*main.Vector
*main.Vector

There is some contention on the mailing list that having both is confusing:

https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!topic/golang-nuts/GDXFDJgKKSs

One thing to note:

new() is the only way to get a pointer to an
unnamed integer or other basic type. You can write “p := new(int)” but
you can’t write “p := &int{0}”. Other than that, it’s a matter of
preference.

Source : https://groups.google.com/d/msg/golang-nuts/793ZF_yeqbk/-zyUAPT-e4IJ