Sonnet FW400A IEEE 1394 FireWire Serial Network Adapter Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is indeed the newer Allegro FW400A, and it is working perfectly in a new Dual 2.7 G5 Power Mac. I purchased this card to pamper a Firewire audio interface, which it does well, leaving my native Firewire ports for other things like hard drives, iPods, etc.

Installation was zero effort. Just open up the computer and pop it into an empty PCI slot. Mac OS X 10.4.1 requires no drivers. The ports simply show up as standard Firewire, not even some stepchild class sub-set, just Firewire. Can't ask for more.

But you do get a little more. My audio interface has many power options: Firewire bus power, portable battery power, or AC adapter. Since I was switching to a PCI solution, I thought I'd need to start using the AC adapter. But the Allegro FW400A supplies sufficient bus power to run a MOTU Traveler! I didn't even realize this until after I'd spent a day working with it, then noticed the AC adapter was still sitting in the box. I hadn't expected this since the card has no option to connect hard drive style power leads inside the computer. Apparently, this is not necessary, at least for certain devices. The audio interface seems perfectly happy. It continues to run without a single hitch at low latency (64 samples).

Highly recommended, especially when a good Firewire hub costs nearly twice as much, but your devices would still be sharing one bus.

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Product Description:

Is all that's stopping you from buying that DV camcorder or fast, external drive the lack of FireWire connectivity on your computer? Bring your system up to speed with Sonnet's Allegro FW400 adapter card! This low-cost solution installs easily into any available PCI slot in your computer, and instantly adds the connections you need to connect digital peripherals ranging from digital camcorders to high capacity MP3 players like the iPod. Expand your computer and your possibilities at the same time!


Main Features
Manufacturer: Sonnet Technologies, Inc
Manufacturer Part Number: FW400A
Manufacturer Website Address: www.sonnettech.com
Product Type: FireWire Adapter
Host Interface: PCI
Data Transfer Rate: Up to 400Mbps FireWire 400
Ports: 3 x 6-pin FireWire IEEE 1394a - FireWire External
Form Factor: PCI Plug-in Card
Standard Warranty: 3 Year(s) Limited

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