Mac USB & FireWire

USB Cards for PCI Macs

This page was first posted in 1999. It is outdated and will no longer be updated. It is here for historical purposes only, as it predates USB 2.0 by some time. USB PCI 2.0 cards you may want to consider are the Sonnet Allegro USB 2.0, XLR8 USB 1.1 DualPort ($5.00!), and the 5 port ADS USBX-2000 and DLX-180, which has 2 USB 2.0 ports and two FireWire 400 ports. These should all support Macs as far back as the Blue & White Power Mac G3 (and possibly older Macs as well) and Mac OS versions as far back as 8.6. They only provide USB 1.1 speed under Mac OS 8.6 through 9.2.2, and all but the XLR8 provide full USB 2.0 speed with every version of OS X.

PCI card These cards let you add USB ports to PCI Power Macs and clones. Specifications are virtually identical: two USB ports, 500 mA power to each port, requires PCI Mac or clone with Mac OS 8.1 or later (8.6 or later recommended for best USB support).

All cards ship with Mac drivers or work with Apple's drivers. In cases where the card doesn't claim Mac compatibility, I am relying on feedback from Mac owners who have installed and use the cards.

Brand/Card Name	Features	US SRP
Amedia: USB Simply Connect	2 ports
Ariston: PCI slot to 2 USB port adapter	2 ports
Belkin: USB BusPort for Macintosh	2 ports	$49.95
Entrega: 2 Port USB Upgrade for Macintosh	2 ports
Entrega: 4 Port USB Upgrade for Macintosh	4 ports
iMaccessories: iBus USB Host Adapter	2 ports	$49.95
Keyspan: USB Card	2 ports	$49.00
Macally: PCI to USB Card	2 ports	$49.95
SIIG: USB DualPort PCI	2 ports
XLR8: DualPort USB	2 ports	$44.95

Join us on Facebook!, follow us on Twitter, use our Google+ page, or read our RSS news feed

Links for the Day

Mac of the Day: Macintosh 512K 'Fat Mac', introduced 1984.09.10. The first Mac with enough memory for serious work.
Support Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM Support Usage Privacy Contact

Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2012 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc. unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Low End Mac, LowEndMac, and lowendmac.com are trademarks of Cobweb Publishing Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iPad iPhone, iMac, iPod, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.
Advice is presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
Email may be published at our discretion unless marked "not for publication"; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.

Custom Search

Follow Low End Mac on Twitter
Join Low End Mac on Facebook

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Macsales.com for the Right Mac Memory. Most Popular: 16GB from $128; 8GB from $50. MacBook Pro & Mac mini Kits up to 16GB. iMac up to 32GB & Mac Pro now up to 128GB. - Macsales.com

Don't install Parallels to play poker online! Macpokeronline.com will show you how to download and play Poker on a Mac natively on your Mac in just minutes.

Affiliates

Amazon.com
The iTunes Store
PC Connection Express
Parallels Desktop for Mac
eBay