Mac upgrade maker Sonnet Technologies today took the wraps off a ton of new products aimed at Power Mac, PowerBook, and other users.
Sonnet announced the Tempo HD, a line of 2.5 inch hard drives mated directly to an ATA/133 PCI controller card. It enables you to expand your Mac’s storage capacity without fussing with rails, drive mounting brackets or other gadgets. The card’s drive is bootable under Mac OS 8.5 or higher, including X. It also contains an ATA connector that supports up to two additional hard drives. An unpopulated version runs US$99.95, with 20, 30 and 40GB versions available in prices ranging from $219.95 to $319.95. The Tempo HD is available now (though the do-it-yourself version won’t be ready until August).
The Tempo HD announcement ties into Sonnet announcement of the new Tempo ATA1333 Macintosh PCI host adapter, which provides better speed and performance for hard drives, with the ability to hook up a total of four internal ATA/IDE devices. The adapter costs $99.95.
Sonnet also announced G4 800MHz and 1GHz upgrades for Graphite Power Mac G4 (Sawtooth) systems, equipped with 2MB DDR L3 backside cache. The Encore/ST supports systems with AGP graphics, including the G4 Cube, though that needs the Cube installation kit and professional installation, according to Sonnet. The Encore/ST 800MHz costs $499.95 and the 1GHz version costs $699.95 — the Cube dealer install kit runs another $29.95. Look for them in August.
Sonnet introduced its Crescendo/WS G4 500, a PowerPC G4 upgrade running at 500MHz aimed at “Wallstreet”-era PowerBook G3s. It supports RAM capacities up to 512MB and accommodates from 32MB to 256MB SO-DIMMs. It supports Mac OS X without any additional software required, is available now, and costs $399.95.
Have an old Power Mac 7200 you’re hoping to get some life out of yet? Sonnet has a new Crescendo/7200 G3 upgrade running at 500MHz. It features three on-board DIMM sockets so you can add more RAM to your machine and costs $269.95 — available immediately. (It only works with Mac OS versions up to 9.1, however.)
The Crescendo/PCI G4 800MHz upgrade enables PCI-based Power Macs to upgrade to an 800MHz PowerPC G4 chip. The upgrade includes 1MB of L3 backside cache. It even works with Mac OS X, if you use Sonnet’s PCI X Installer. Designed to support Power Mac 7300 through 9600 models, the card also works with some clones based on the same motherboard designs. Look for it in August for $399.95.
Last but not least, there’s the Tempo Trio, a PCI card that features ATA/133 with FireWire and USB 2.0 ports. It’s compatible with both Mac OS 9.x and Mac OS X, and provides fast USB 2.0 access for Mac OS X machines (it’ll work at the slower USB 1.1 speed under 9). Available now, the Tempo Trio costs $179.95.