Multiple kinects overlapping FOV, single computer

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1. I personally tried only 2 kinects on one pc, but the driver should support more. You should make sure though to use different usb-buses to not limit the data rate. (Not only different ports, but internally different buses)

2. No, you cant turn off the IR-Laser and still get range-data out of the kinect. The projected IR-pattern is like the right eye of the stereo system. So depth only works if each kinect projects its own pattern.

3. Depends. :) A very fast pc (>= quad 3ghz or something) may be able to support 2-4 kinects at full framerates, but you can reduce the resolution and/or framerates through the driver (dynamic reconfigure).

4. You should really try pointing more then one active kinect in the same direction/on the same object and see for yourself, how the results look like. It isnt neccessary to connect them all to the same pc, but all should have their IR turned on. I personally was surprised how well the two kinects performed, but you definitely see degradations in quality. And playing around with their relative alignment, to reduce the interference you already mentioned, might help.

Edit: Ivan was faster. (And he is right too!) :) The amount of interference you might expect depends a lot on the angle of the kinects. And you should keep in mind, that the kinect does not support any kind of (hardware) synchronization. So the images you get from those might be slightly off in time. (but should be something < 100ms)