Thinkpads Forum

I thought I could do without a firewire port but, alas, I have now stumbled upon a reason to get one so I'm wondering the cheapest and easiest way to add FW capability to my T61 (non-WS).

Really I want some sort of external solution and I don't care how ugly or clunky it is because it'll only be needed on rare occasions. I assume the expresscard option is best... does anyone have suggestions on brands/specs etc.? Thanks.

Here is the appropriate category on NewEgg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi ... rchInDesc=

I don't have any personal experience with such a product...my X61t has FireWire built-in and I've never even used it. None of the products on that page seem to have particularly outstanding reviews, but for occasional use I'm sure the $33 SYBA or the $51 StarTech would be fine.

LaCie have both a PCMCIA Card & ExpressCard 34 solution - The ExpressCard version supports the IEEE1394b (FireWire800) specification which is backwards compatible with the original IEEE 1394a (FireWire 400) and a 12v DC jack for devices that demand more current. The PCMCIA version has 2 dedicated FireWire800 ports & 1 dedicated FireWire400 port.

I use a PCMCIA FireWire card (1394a) from the Swann product range (occasional use) - very stable and works well with all 1394a FireWire devices I plug into it!

How fast is your PCMCIA/Firewire connection? There have been a couple of posts about exceptionally slow performance through the cardbus interface.

Thanks all... I hunted around for the cheapest option and found a PCMCIA card with cable included for $30. Reviews seemed OK so I'm sure it'll be fine. Speed is really not an issue in this case so I decided not to go with the more expensive expresscard option.