New Sony Vaio Z Series Core I7 iLink Port Speed

Does anyone know what the speed is of the iLink port on the new Sony Vaio Z Series Core I7?

I'm trying to decide whether to get the Vaio Z with 3 usb ports or 2 usb ports and 1 iLink port. If the iLink port is a lot faster then the usb ports i'll probably get it with an ilink port. If it's a slow ilink port (400 mbps) then i'll probably get the laptop with 3 usb ports.

It would be nice if it comes with a fast ilink port (800mbps) so i can get a faster connection if i connect the laptop to an external hard drive.

 

http://translate.google.com/transla...include/html/Z11/spec_vom1.html&sl=auto&tl=en

According to Japan site it's 400mbps.

 

Thanks for the link.

As the speed of the i.link port is 400 mbps, do you think it's worth sacrificing a usb port for this i.link port since the speeds for the usb ports and i.link ports are similar?

 

AFAIK iLink requires auxiliary power source - either USB port or self powered device. Conventional FW400 or FW800 (like in my early-2008 Macbook Pro) is powerful enough (8W compared to 2.5W from USB) for Dual 2.5" HDD enclosures such as G-RAID mini or external audio M-Audio FW410

I'd go with 3rd USB over iLink. ~40-45MB/s vs. ~30-35MB/s isn't worth it for me. Bus powered FW800 is another story though.

 

Do you have a NEED for an iLink port? If you don't, then get USB and stick to buying USB external accessories. If you do need it and have no other choice - like a video camera that requires Firewire for hookup - then I'd get the iLink.

Personally I'm hopefull that the Canadian model will offer the iLink option, since I have an HD camera that requires Firewire, but if they follow the US options model and don't offer it, I'll still live (since I've never actually hooked that camera up to my current SZ which does have iLink).

 

iLink by definition is IEEE1394 firewire. iLink is simply a brandname for a 4-pin firewire connector that Sony uses. Firewire is rated at 400mbps, but lacks the 2 other pins that normal 6 pin interfaces use for power. I agree though, FW800 would have been nice, seeing as how it's 2010 and all.. and the FW spec came out in 1995.

 

If it was a fast ilink port like 800 mbps then yes i would need it for connecting an external hard drive so that i could get the fastest transfer rate possible but it seems the laptop comes with a 400 mbps ilink port which i believe is a similar speed to usb 2.0 so i'll probably get 3 usb ports instead of 2 usbs and 1 ilink port.

 

I'm still waiting for Sony to implement eSATA across all their models. That would whoop some FW & USB tail, but I have yet to see a Sony notebook with it, except the new E/EB-series, and the maybe the new F-series. Other notebooks like HP have had this feature for YEARS...