Portable Audio/midi Interfaces????, which one? Options

[lazytomc]

I'm about to get a 12" G4 powerbook and I need a reliable audio/midi interface (good audio I/Os are more important to me than MIDI at the moment though). I've been looking at the M-Audio Firewire 410 (which is at the top end of my budget), the Quattro, the Duo and the Tascam US-122.

I will be using Cubase SX and Reason 2- I do a fair amount of MIDI work and record the odd guitar/bassline and vocal... I also plan to play live using the laptop. I'm aware of the limitiations of USB and the benefits of Firewire, but is it worth the extra cash? Would it be better to go for the Quattro and buy a separate mic pre-amp (eg Audiobuddy)?

I know there are issues with the US-122 and OSX, but what about the M-Audio hardware? how does that perform?

And finally.... are there any other alternatives that I should consider?

any advice would be much appreciated!

[boze]

the thing i think is strange about the 410 is that it appears to only have two inputs! originally i thought there were four (2 xlr and 2 1/4") but now it looks like i was wrong.

i've done several laptop collabs (duo's and trio's) and i'm left thinking that 2 ins is too few and 10 outs is too many. it looks like a nicely cfg'd fairly priced unit apart from that, so it's a shame. and for a firewire device to only have 2 ins seems to almost defeat the purpose imo.

makes me want to consider ebaying a mk1 motu 828 for maybe $100 more if that. admittedly a bigger clunkier solution, but you know what i'm saying...