Still waiting on Newer's FireWire Card? It seems the Japanese firm RATOC Systems has beaten its competitor to market. At first, availability of the CBFW2 in the U.S. was not known. However, PowerBook product dealer MCE has the product in stock now for $279. At this point, MCE seems to be the exclusive North American dealer for this product.

Sharp readers will notice that RATOC lists the card at a suggested retail price of $248 dollars, 1 dollar cheaper than Newer's SRP, though MCE's page says the RATOC SRP is $299. The reason that the card costs $21 dollars more at MCE than RATOC suggests is not known, but we suspect it has to do with the international nature of the card's production.

The card includes a 4 and 6 pin FireWire connector, rather than the 6 pin connector alone that Newer provides. However, 4 to 6 pin adapter cables are readily available. For more information and more technical specs, visit RATOC's page or send an email to their international office in California.

Written/Edited/Published by Doug B. Landry
Logo by Jon Iverson
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©1998 Doug B. Landry. All rights reserved. All or part may not be reproduced or distributed without prior consent.
Coded on a Apple Macintosh Powerbook G3 Series from Baton Rouge, LA