[P1] iBook questions

[George Slusher]

>about printers....I saw in a pc connection magazine that some higher up 
>lazer 
>printers use firewire thank you very much!

That's a long way from what you initially claimed, i.e.:

>IEEE (firewire) is almost 100% nessacary these days....cameras, printers , 
>scanners, ect.......most of the new and best stuff are IEEE It is definatley 
>woth it.\

It's not remotely close to "almost 100% necessary," especially for 
"cameras, printers, scanners."

I checked PC Connection, since you mentioned that seller. I looked at a 
lot of laser (not lazer) printers--70+ under $1000, in fact, and not one 
mentioned FireWire. Most were USB or USB & Parallel; some had Ethernet; a 
few had wireless connections. I then did a search using PC Connection's 
"feature search" at

http://www.pcconnection.com/scripts/features.asp?MarketID=169

In the interface popup menu, they don't mention FireWire: It has Mac DIN 
8 (Mac serial), USB, Parallel, Ethernet, wireless, infrared, and Serial. 
No FireWire. That doesn't mean that there are NO FireWire-capable 
printers, but it would lead one to think that there are not very many. 
There's little reason for a printer to be FireWire: the interface speed 
is seldom the limiting factor on printers. OTOH, a similar search turned 
up 63 USB-capable laser printers.

Inkjet printers: also NO FireWire printers, but 46 USB printers. 

Scanners: The search turned up 14 FireWire-capable scanners, but only 3 
were under $1000. Two of those, by Microtek ($380 & $700), also have USB 
connections. OTOH, a search found 52 USB-capable scanners. Only 8 were 
over $1000; several were under $100. 

Scanners would benefit more from a fast interface than printers would, as 
they transmit a lot more data than is sent to a printer. A scanner may be 
higher-resolution than a laser printer and transmits 24-40 bits per dot, 
rather than 1 bit/dot (or a LOT less if it uses PostScript) for 
monochrome laser printers and 4-7 bits/dot for color inkjet printers. 

Digital cameras: a similar search in PC Connections found only 3 digital 
cameras that use FireWire--at $3600, $4000, & $8000.  (The last two are 
the Canon EOS-1D and EOS-1Ds. The EOS-1Ds is a digital photographer's 
dream, with *11 megapixels* in a superb Canon SLR body.) OTOH, I found 57 
USB-capable digital cameras. 

One can also get USB HDs and USB CD-RW drives, though these would work 
more slowly on USB 1.1 than with FireWire 400.

So, if I can easily (i.e., at one vendor/seller) find 63 USB vs 0 
FireWire laser printers; 46 USB vs 0 FireWire inkjet printers; 52 USB vs 
14 FireWire scanners, and 57 USB vs 3 FireWire digital cameras, it's hard 
to think that FireWire is "almost 100% necessary." In actual fact, many 
PCs do NOT have FireWire at all and, yet, they get along just fine.



George Slusher/Eugene, OR
gslusher at rio.com