I too am wondering why Seagate is making Mac and PC specific drives again. Doesn't make sense unless it's just a ploy to get more money per GB out of Mac users.
@soulfinger: This makes sense to refer to as a Mac-centric drive, since all of the latest Mac laptops have FW800, and since those laptops sell well, these can potentially sell well too. I'd rather go for an OWC Mercury myself.
Ignoring design, is it really only for the Mac, or are we saying that because most PC's do not have a Firewire 800 port? Sorry, I think it is my duty to ask stupid questions like that since I suspect their marketing group would admit this is no more limited to the Mac than a standard USB mouse would be. That said - I look forward to hearing what sort of a speed increase this brings to the party, and the power situation.
@Monty: I'm sure that this would work on a PC with FW800, but show me one. I've never even heard of one, especially a notebook.
eSATA has totally replaced FW800 for most people, since it is faster and works on almost all computers. As a PC owner, I would never buy something like this, so whether a PC owner could get a FW800 card and use it is moot.
@AreWeThereYeti: I actually have a Dell Workstation at the office that shipped with a Firewire 800 from a couple years back - but you are absolutely accurate in your assessment that you have to look pretty hard to find them.
@discounteggroll: Agreed. I make sure all the PCs I build for myself and my parents/sisters have onboard Firewire. Firewire rocks, kicks USB 2.0 in the arse for transfer speeds. The two newest PCs have eSATA but haven't had a chance to actually buy an eSATA drive. Still got an old WD or two kicking with Firewire. The USB ports on them are pretty lonely.
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eSATA has totally replaced FW800 for most people, since it is faster and works on almost all computers. As a PC owner, I would never buy something like this, so whether a PC owner could get a FW800 card and use it is moot.
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