Mac Mini --> Usb 2 Or Firewire 400? Options

[bcatcho]

When looking for an audio input card of any sort for a Mac Mini should i look for a USB 2 device or a Firewire device? Frankly i'm not sure if there is much of a difference or which is faster.

Thanks

[dfxx]

Quote shaneblyth ,Feb 11 2005, 00:19 >>>>>>>>>
" yes 800 is faster BUT 400 is alot faster too.. but if you read the article it is a no brainer...
if it was just midi it would make no difference but with anything like audio evn firewire 400 is way way faster "
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

>It's just plain wrong . Threre many cases when USB is way faster - there's no obvious answer. A simple hard drive can be faster on USB already.
Stop confusing people, please. "<

From all the tests I've seen, "480Mbits" USB 2 has a peak throughput of about 240-260Mbps (but can be under 200), whereas "400Mbits" FireWire has a max throughput of about 360-370Mbps (usually about 320-340). This is because FireWire was designed to handle continuous data (esp audio and video) and does so by itself with very little overhead, but USB relies on the computer's processor, which can often be caught up doing other things (such as processing all those audio streams). This means that for high-throughput, processor-intensive work (such as audio and video) FireWire is a much better choice.