It depends - which model?

Just buy any model that will plug into your PC card slot and you should be fine. Note that PCCard Firewire ports are not powered (same as the ones built-into the laptop) and you'll need to get one that you can plug a power supply into if you intend to use the firewire ports as "powered" ports. The ones that are on laptops (4-pin) do not provide lines for current to peripherals. The ones that are on PCCard adapters and on PCs are 6-pin and tend to be powered - in the case of PCs, but not in the PCCard adapters for laptops.

Hope that wasn't too confusing...

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@jimco wrote:
eddie,

As you probably know your model Inspiron doesn't have a PCCard slot. It has the Express Card slot. I don't think a PC card will fit in it so keep that in mind when buying. There are firewire express cards available.

You may have lucked out by not ordering firewire with your Inspiron. There have been many problems reported on the Inspiron Audio Board from folks trying to get m-audio and other devices to work. The general consensus seemed to be that one had to replace Dell's port with a Texas Instrument one to get these things to work. To find out more about these issues go to the bottom of the Audio Board page and type in 'firewire' in the 'search this board' utility.

Your Inspiron is from the new generation so those problems might not have occurred with yours.

I personally don't know anymore about firewire and can't give any specific recommendations.

Jim

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I did not realize that his Inspiron didn't come with a PCCard slot. Thanks for the tip, Jimco.

eddie,

As you probably know your model Inspiron doesn't have a PCCard slot. It has the Express Card slot. I don't think a PC card will fit in it so keep that in mind when buying. There are firewire express cards available.

You may have lucked out by not ordering firewire with your Inspiron. There have been many problems reported on the Inspiron Audio Board from folks trying to get m-audio and other devices to work. The general consensus seemed to be that one had to replace Dell's port with a Texas Instrument one to get these things to work. To find out more about these issues go to the bottom of the Audio Board page and type in 'firewire' in the 'search this board' utility.

Your Inspiron is from the new generation so those problems might not have occurred with yours.

I personally don't know anymore about firewire and can't give any specific recommendations.

Jim

I think Dell has gone over to Express Card slot with these newer models:

9400/E1705
6400/E1505
E1405/640m
XPS M140/630m
B120
B130/1300

Jim

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@jimco wrote:
I think Dell has gone over to Express Card slot with these newer models:

9400/E1705
6400/E1505
E1405/640m
XPS M140/630m
B120
B130/1300

Jim

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Hrm.. I have an E1505 and I thought it was a PCCard... I'll have to look again... Thanks for mentioning that.

The e1705 came with one firewire 1394 port standard; as far as I know it was not an option, ever. Check your configuration again. The port should be on the right side, just above and to the left of the 5-in-1 media card reader.

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@jimco wrote:
I think Dell has gone over to Express Card slot with these newer models:

9400/E1705
6400/E1505
E1405/640m
XPS M140/630m
B120
B130/1300

Jim

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Just a follow-up. You're right! It's an express card. Thanks for mentioning that. You probably saved me a couple of bucks and some headaches in buying peripheral cards.