‘Book Mystique Review - Miglia Alchemy FW 800 PC Card
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
by Charles W. Moore
Bummed because your older PowerBook or 1st revision 15” MacBook Pro doesn’t support FireWire 800? A solution is a the subject of this review - the Miglia Alchemy FW 800 PC Card. While Standard FireWire 400 does a pretty decent job, and I still prefer it to the more ascendent USB 2. For example, FireWire is bootable and USB 2 isn’t, and notwithstanding USB 2’s faster nominal throughput spec., I find FireWire 400 faster in real world use, And of course, FireWire 800 blows them both into the weeds. For a true front-line production machine you want FireWire 800, and happily, the Miglia Alchemy FW 800 PC Card supports both FireWire 400 and 800 devices, enabling fast 800 Mbit/s hard drives to reach transfer speeds of up to 50 MB/sec, while its dual connectivity allows easy connection of old and new FireWire peripherals.
FireWire 800 is an Apple-developed technology based on the IEEE 1394b standard that enables a 800 Mbps transfer rate allowing data transfers up to the aforenoted 50 MB per second. FireWire 800 uses a 9-pin connector and is backwards compatible with original 1394 FireWire devices with 6-pin or 4-pin connectors. The 9-pin FireWire 800 port is capable of operating at 100, 200, 400, and 800 Mbps, depending on the device to which it is connected. The FireWire 800 port is bilingual in that it supports both IEEE 1394a and 1394b. The Alchemy FW 800 PC-Card uses the latest Texas Instruments (TI) chipset.
With appropriate cabling, the 9-pin port works seamlessly with legacy FireWire devices. Cables are available to go from both 6-pin and 4-pin connectors to a 9-pin, and 9-pin to 9-pin. However, using a cable with 9-pin connectors at both ends is required for 800 Mbps throughput.
The Miglia card will work with any PowerBook that has a CardBus enabled PC Card slot and which supports OS 10.2.5 or better, which is to say that the WallStreet is the minimum supported machine. The card can also be used in any of the 15 and 17 -inch metal PowerBooks (Titanium or Aluminum) and the 15” and 17” MacBook Pros, although all the Aluminum notebooks except the first revision 15” MacBook Pros come standard with FireWire 800 built-in.
The Lombard and WallStreet G3 PowerBooks don’t come with built-in FireWire, so the Miglia Alchemy FW 800 PC Card is a way to add both basic FireWire 400 support as well as FireWire 800 with these machines. Unfortunately, the MacBook, iBooks and the 12-inch PowerBook don’t support PC Card expansion, so won’t work with this card.
One other advantage of the Miglia Alchemy FW 800 PC Card for Pismo and early revision Titanium PowerBook users is that these machines were hobbles with a kind of sluggish FireWire bus. My G3 iBook and G4 PowerBook have a lot better transfer performance than my Pismos do. However, while I haven’t done any scientific comparisons, FireWire 400 throughput with the Miglia Alchemy FW 800 PC Card feels livelier than through the built-in FireWire bus, possibly due to a more direct connection to the motherboard.
Installation is dirt-simple; just slide the card into the CardBus bay, click it home, and it shows up as a menulet in the OS X menu bar.
The card necessarily protrudes from the PC Card bay when in use, and for road warrioring in transit you will probably want to pop it out and store it in a pocket in your computer case or backpack, which only takes a few seconds. The black finish of the outer module harmonizes nicely with black PowerBooks and looks fine with the metal ones.
The product appears to be solidly constructed of high-quality materials, and there are no external wire dongles to get damaged or lost.
The Miglia Alchemy FW 800 PC Card is equipped with two 9-pin bilingual FireWire 800 ports, plus a single “old style” 6-pin FireWire 400 port, so it can be used with your older FireWire peripherals without the hassle of adapters - an especially convenient wrinkle if you’re upgrading a WallStreet or Lombard that doesn’t have native FireWire connectivity.
The Alchemy FW 800 CB supports 100/200/400/800 Mbps FireWire devices, like DV cameras, external hard drives, external CD burners, scanners, etc.
Also included is a 12 volt power adapter jack which can be used with an optional external AC power adapter to support bus-powered FireWire devices like external hard drives. An external power supply for the Alchemy FW 800 CB available from Miglia as an option, or you can just use a universal device. I didn’t test this feature. My own external FireWire hard drive has its own AC power adapter for use where bus power isn’t supported.
• PC-Card (Cardbus)
• Two 800 Mbps IEEE 1394b ports, with support for 100/200/400/800 Mbps devices
• One 400 Mbps IEEE 1394a port with support for 100/200/400 Mbps devices
• Port connectivity standards: 2 x 9 pin, 1 x 6 pin
• Two years limited warranty
Mac Compatibility
• PowerBook G3 (except G3/250)
• PowerBook G4 (Except 12” PowerBook)
• Mac OS 10.2.5 and higher
Windows Compatibility
• Windows PC Laptop with free PC-Card slot
• Windows XP (IEEE 1394b speeds available pending Windows update)
• Windows 98SE, ME, 2000 (400 Mbps speeds only)
sells for: €79, $89, GBP £59
The Optional external Power supply is: €29, $29, £19
For more information, visit:
http://www.miglia.com/products/expansion/alchemy_fw800cb/
US Miglia Resellers:
http://www.miglia.com/buy/usa.html
More resellers:
http://shopping.yahoo.com/s:Networking:4168-Brand=Miglia%20Technology
I should also note in conclusion that Miglia is under new management, and while the Alchemy FW 800 CB page is still posed on their Website, hitting the “Buy” link didn’t turn up a selection for this card from the Miglia Online Store. La Cie, which marketed a very similar (identical save for branding?) FireWire 800 PC Card adapter has apparently discontinued it. You should be able to find both brands available from online or brick & mortar resellers, but future availability is a question mark.
Happily, EZQuest still offers a similar FireWire 800/400 PCMCIA Card that supports both Mac and PC Laptops - the $69.99 EZQuest FireWire 800/400 PCMCIA Card, which like the Miglia and La Cie products features two fast 9-pin FireWire 800 ports for newer devices, and one old-style 6-pin FireWire 400 port for legacy devices.
For more information, click here:
http://ezq.com/product_info.php?products_id=42&osCsid=d5d08bb8b6eb9b14eb517990f3c5fcb1
The EZQuest FireWire 800/400 PCMCIA Card is also available form Other World Computing:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/EZ%20Quest/A59900/
PCMall:
http://www.pcmall.com/pcmall/shop/detail~dpno~700535.asp
And other resellers.
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