c.j.magson Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 I have an old iMac and I am thinking of getting a Dimage dual-scan IV film scanner. The interface is listed as USB 2.0- is there any differance with the USB interface that came with my computer 7 years ago,? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beauh44 Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 Hi Chris, USB 2.0 *should* be backwards compatible with USB 1.x - but it'll be really slow. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jurie Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 Chris, <p>What Beau said, but I should point out that it probably won't be any slower than a USB 1.0 device plugged into your iMac. The USB 2.0 scanner will just dummy down to USB 1.0 speeds (which are still way faster than the paralel port scanner I just tossed in the dumpster...) <p>Jordan R. Urie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gv Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 I used a Nikon V scanner with a G3 iBook with USB 1.1 ports. It wasn't a big deal time-wise to me, but I'm not the impatient type... You can start with the iMac/Dimage combo and at some point you are likely to upgrade the iMac and then it won't be an issue any more. And if one of your friends has a Mac with USB 2.0 you can see for yourself how much faster USB 2.0 is than USB 1.1 in the real world, and whether the difference matters to you. It's too bad that scanner manufacturers have tended to ignore Firewire, which is superior to USB 2.0 speed-wise and is bootable, whereas USB 2.0 cannot be used to connect an external bootable drive and a Mac. Even Nikon has opted to use USB 2.0 instead of Firewire (at least in the Nikon Coolscan V.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peufeu Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 Do you want to boot from your scanner ? Well every PC on earth has USB now and few have FireWire (only Macs and recent PCs) so don't expect FW scanners... anyway a scanner is a lot slower than a harddisk for instance, so it wouldn't benefit from the firewire... and the FW chips being one dollar more expensive than the USB chips, that's something important to the manufacturers ! I have a Canoscan Lide 50 which is USB 1.1 ... it is actually SLOWER when plugged in a USB2 port. Go figure. On the other hand there are USB2 scanners which are very very fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peufeu Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 Also, yes, your USB 1.1 iMac is gonna be able to use a new USB2 scanner, it will just be slower if you scan full pages at 300dpi. However, most "USB2" scanners are in fact "USB2 full-speed" which means USB 1.1 so you might lose absolutely nothing... the real USB2 is "USB2 high speed" (or is it the reverse ? I never remember. Damn marketing droids). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek_stanton2 Posted March 7, 2005 Share Posted March 7, 2005 Chris, The cost of a USB 2.0 card is only about $25. I bought a five-port Belkin card (the one listed as being 'approved/compatible' by Minolta for the 5400/II) for $24.95. Not much harm in trying it. Just make sure you get the proper card for your machine. Do you need a low-profile card? Check www.belkin.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c.j.magson Posted March 8, 2005 Author Share Posted March 8, 2005 Thanks for all the info- I have ordered the dimage and i will install a card if it is too slow for me- although I imagine it will have to be glacially slow before I'd want to crack open the iMac! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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