Storage peripheral maker LaCie announced Tuesday that it will begin shipping this month a FireWire 800 card compatible with PCMCIA expansion slots on PowerBook and PC laptops. The new FireWire 800 PCMCIA card offers two FireWire 800 ports and one FireWire 400 port.
FireWire 800 is the high-speed peripheral interface that Apple first introduced with the 17-inch PowerBook in January. Since then it’s made its way to other Mac models.
FireWire 800 is downwardly compatible with the slower FireWire 400 interface — standard on Macs since the introduction of the blue and white G3 — but this card allows users of 32-bit PC Card slot-equipped PowerBooks looking for faster transfer to get it. 32-bit Cardbus interfaces are standard on PowerBooks since the “WallStreet” PowerBook G3 model, excluding 12-inch PowerBook models.
The card supports bus power of up to 18W per port with an included power adapter. It requires Mac OS X v10.2.4 or higher to support FireWire 800, although the FireWire 400 port will also function on Mac OS 9, according to LaCie.
LaCie expects the FireWire 800 PCMCIA Card to hit authorized resellers and mail order companies in December, with a suggested retail price of US$79. That price includes the power adapter, card and a user manual.