iMacs boost FireWire

Apple's introduction of new iMacs with 1394b technology this week demonstrates that the FireWire 800 standard is gaining "significant momentum", the 1394 Trade Association has claimed.

The two new members of the iMac line include two 1394 ports, one using 1394a (FireWire 400) and the other 1394b. Apple CEO Steve Jobs highlighted the presence of FireWire 800, indicating that 1394b is now on all iMacs. The new models each run on Intel Core 2 Duo processors with clock speeds of 2GHz and 2.4GHz, faster than earlier models. The system bus is also faster than in previous iMacs – 800MHz compared to 667MHz.

Apple holds about 21 per cent of the retail PC market in the US and analysts expect that figure to increase significantly this year and into 2009. In fact, Jobs indicated that Mac growth for the last four quarters is three times over all PC industry growth.

"Apple's decision to incorporate 1394b into all its iMacs is another indication of increasing momentum for the 'b' version of FireWire," said James Snider, executive director of the 1394 Trade Association.

"The storage product designers set the pace by adopting FireWire 800 for hard disk drives, and now, with this announcement from Apple, 1394b is in the mainstream."

1394b delivers 800Mbps bandwidth and can move audio and video up to 10 meters, while delivering the quality of service provided by the 1394 standard. It has been adopted firms including Seagate, Western Digital and La Cie.