Customer Reviews

USB/firewire Expresscard 34 2FIREWIRE+1 USB Ports

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The card installed and worked without problems on Windows XP, Vista Ultimate (32-bit) and Vista Home Premium (64-bit).

Best to plug your devices in before you insert the card in the computer, as plugging in the external devices when the card is plugged in can cause the card to eject.

One big caveat: the unit does not pass through bus power. So your USB devices that require a powered bus will not work! You either have to use a USB split cable where there is a second plug to get power or get a 12v external power adapter that fits this card. Sonnet offers one with an international plug set, but it costs two-thirds of what the card costs. Not a good value equation in my estimation. My Firewire devices don't need bus power, so the card fits my needs for the time being.

Jerry

I am using this card with a MacBook Pro. In that notebook, the card is very easily eject-able, which often results in it being ejected at the absolute worst time. I don't know where the blame falls for this though. I think that's how Apple designed the port. I'm not sure there's anything that Sonnet could have done to prevent it.

The other knock that reviewers have been giving it was the inability to power a portable drive. Again, I think this is actually a shortcoming of the port on any notebook. Because I knew this going in, I was prepared and this didn't affect my opinion of the product.

This card works perfectly, once you realize three things: 1. You need to plug your cables into the expresscard first, then push the expresscard into your computer's slot. 2. If you accidentally bump the expresscard, it disengages from your computer. 3. (At least on my 17-in. MacBook Pro) I have to push the expresscard into the computer two times (reason I give it only 4 stars). It never stays in on the first push. Go figure.

I bought this expresscard adaptor over the weekend and received it today (Wednesday) thanks to Amazon Prime. As another reviewer has noted, the cables for the devices you intend to use should probably be plugged in before you put the card in the slot. Because expresscard 34 is a push to eject device I already expected this, and the manual served to remind me of it.

While it certainly wont win any awards for it's beauty, the Sonnet card seems to do the trick. I ran it through some video capturing and had no problems what-so-ever.

My complaint? It feels a little bit cheap in your hands, but I also didn't pay a fortune for it, so there is the whole "you get what you pay for" bit.

So far I've been unable to get it working in 10.5.2. I read sonnet's website and googled and tried the various suggestions but connecting any of my hard drives to the firewire ports doesn't work (USB works with a mouse). Later I heard back from their support that you must plug a power adapter into it when using it with hard drives. However, since I wanted this for my laptop dragging around a second power adapter with it is not convenient so it makes it nearly useless.

Great for plugging in all your extra externals so you have access to them! Fits perfectly into a MacBook Pro!

Can't be easier to install!
I bought it because my firewire 800 on my macbook pro doesn't work properly. I need to plug in my ensemble or my duet. For the ensemble there isn't any power issue because the ensemble commes with a power cord. For the duet it's another game. It sucks... If I touch the power adaptor just a little it's gonna lose contact so the duet shut down and restart so it usually pop in the speakers if you're not quick enought to shut down the speakers. And the card comes out of the slot very easily if I push a cable out or in.
At least I can use my apogee interface but I really have to be careful.