Review: Gee Three Sweet Multiport

Product Name: Gee Three Sweet Multiport
Company: Gee Three
URL: http://www.geethree.com/multiport/
Category: USB/Firewire port extension/hub and Multimedia card reader
Price:
- $129.99 Retail.
- Current Web Special Price: $49.95
Requirements:
- Requirements: OS X, 10.1 or later, OS 9.1 or later
- PowerMac G3 B&W or G4 tower
- One USB and one Firewire port
- Available PCI slot
- Available lower Zip or CD/DVD bay
Rating: 3 Bounces - Lustworthy

Multiport installed on a Mirrored G4

Details:

Front Ports : Two FireWire 400 ports, One USB 1.1 port
Back Ports : Two FireWire 400 ports, Two USB 1.1 port
Media reader supports CompactFlash, IBM MicroDrive, Memory Stick, Secure Digital and MultiMediaCard formats.
Quicksilver supports only CompactFlash and Microdrive.

Package Includes:

Sweet Multiport front panel card
Sweet Multiport PCI card
Sweet Multiport inter-connect cable
Mounting bracket and screws
Front faceplate
FireWire and USB cables

The Problem with Older Macs

GeeThree.com is the creator of the Stealth Serial Port as well as other practical products for Mac users. The company was founded by former Apple executives from the the original PowerBook and PowerPC systems teams.

At some point in recent years Apple decided to listen to their end users, and moved some Firewire and USB ports to the FRONT of the box while PC users had that option available to them since Noah's years.

Ports in the back of a box are great for rarely moved items such as printers, scanners or external hard drives, but to be the center of your digital life, Apple had had to consider the new mobile tools - PDAs, digital cameras, camescopes, and so on.

This is all fine for those among us with a few thousand dollars sitting idly around to buy a new model; however if your older G4 tower satisfies you, or has been upgraded with a processor card for that extra muscle power, you were stuck with the back ports. A fact that is more than a simple annoyance if you use a carrier or rack to keep your tower tidy under your desk.

I was thus forced to become quite nimble at the use of a mirror.

Cheaper than Pilates classes, I guess.

Well - no more pretzel yoga for me.

The Solution?

Introducing the Multiport at the July 2003 Macworld CreativePro expo in New York, Brian Gee and the fine engineers at Gee Three began shipping their Sweet Multiport at the end of last year, and this simple solution may be just what the doctor ordered.

The Sweet Multiport provides one USB and two FireWire port as well as 5-in-one memory card reader at the front any G4 and G3 tower. It also adds 2 FireWire and 2 USB ports at the rear of your Mac.

An interface card fits in the lower Zip (or CD/DVD) drive bay and provides the front ports; it's fully integrated with your Mac: Gee Three offers a selection of faceplates matched to your model.

The interface card connects to a PCI card that provides the other ports. Its important to note that the PCI card is a hub, and not a IO card: It needs to be connected to the built-in ports of your Mac using the included cables.

This is both positive and negative: Since it actually uses one port of each USB and FW, the card actually adds only one port each to your total rear ports. On the other hand, there are no conflicts or non-apple drivers needed - and unlike some USB and Firewire cards available out there, it's guaranteed not disable deep sleep mode.

Installation

Thanks to clear and detailed instructions, it took me about ten minutes to install the package: Screw the front card in the right holder rack for my model, remove my G4's faceplate for the media bay, undo a couple of screws, install the assembly, replace the face plate with that included by Gee Three and reinstall...

Have a drink of water - it was a hot day...

Install the PCI card connected to the front assembly with the included ribbon cable; finally, tug that cable out of the way - its long enough to make that easy.

Close the hatch and reboot. You are done!

Since I had only a single PCI slot in use, I found that the benefits of having built-in front ports and a media card reader far outweighs the cost of filling another: Many new AGP video cards built into Apple models already support two monitors, so I still have one slot left for the day I decide to add that serial-ATA card.

On the other hand, losing a PCI slot may be more critical to those people more likely to find the Sweet Multiport specially attractive - people in audio or video creation, and in need of all the accelerator cards their budget can handle.

The point may be moult since these same people are probably the most likely to be moving to better, faster Macs as soon as Apple releases them - and these, as I said, already have the front port.

Conclusion

It's no secret that I like blend-in-the-backgroud devices and add-ons. Once the Sweet Multiport is installed, you may start believing that it had been built-in at the factory, and completely forget it was an add-on. What used to be a chore - reaching to the back, pulling the case forward carefully not to pull and disconnect another wire - becomes a no-brainer. That's REALLY sweet.

Not to mention the desk space I gained by eliminating two USB and Firewire hubs. The hubs were small enough, but the cable across my desk were rather ungainly, tended to get entangled, and became a real snake pit if left unchecked.

$130 may seem a lot, but isn't that much more than the cost of a good, powered USB/Firewire hub ($40-75) and a 5-in-1 media card reader ($25-60). The convenience is well worth the small premium. And now their new "Web Special" price of $49.95 makes it very worthwhile.

Reclaiming more desk space from cables and devices means a lot to me.

It's all about image, folks: I LOOK a lot more organized than I actually am

The Sweet Multiport works with all G4 desktop, B&W G3, and does not require software. Sweet Multiport is available immediately.

- Pat St-Arnaud

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