More USB ports for a G5 tower

[Swox]

My dad's got a 1.6ghz G5 tower (1st gen), and needs at least 3-4 more USB ports on his compy (he loves his peripherals!). I was thinking that a USB card might be a good way to go, or a hub. I've never bought or used either myself. Any advice? If you know of a specific unit that would be good, that would be awesome too.

Thanks :)

[PB PM]

Just get a powered hub, you are far less likely to have any issues than a PCI card. Look at some by D-Link, they've always worked well for me.

[Luca]

Seconded. Get a USB 2.0 hub, and also make sure that it actually comes with a power cord (a lot of cheap USB hubs have a port to accept auxiliary power but don't actually ship with a power cord).

[Swox]

Cool, thanks. I was guessing that a PCI would be more reliable - I'm glad I asked :) .

[psmith2.0]

The card-based, internal one would look neater (you wouldn't see it), but the hub is probably much easier to get up and going (open it and plug it in and be done...no opening the case, monkeying around inside the tower, etc.). Plus, he can position it wherever he wants, to allow for more convenient access, if he's constantly attaching a thumb drive, camera, or iPod (reaching around the back of a tower every time, and trying to blindly "feel" for the USB slot, sucks) and officially gets old after two times).

:)

A conveniently-placed, external four- or seven-port 2.0 hub (powered) is the way to go, IMO.

[Luca]

The main problem with PCI cards isn't even the physical installation, which is easy. I mean, all you do is take off the side panel (easy on a Power Mac) and plug it in.

The reason I'd go with a hub is that you don't have to rely on software drivers for it. PCI cards require drivers, and long-term driver support for PPC Macs is probably really bad.

[Swox]

Ah, drivers... hadn't thought about that.

We got him a USB hub, so all's well :)

Thanks guys!

[PB PM]

Also PCI USB/Firewire cards often cause sleep issues, many times leading to you not being able to resume or put the machine into deep sleep.

[beardedmacuser]

Maybe I've just had bad luck with USB hubs, but I'd lean towards a USB PCI card. It looks neater, and shouldn't cause any problems if you make sure you get one that's compatible. I've never had any problems with PCI USB cards, both official Mac-compatible and random PC cards that happened to have worked. Having said that, my PowerMac G4 doesn't sleep; but I don't know if that's due to the upgraded PCI USB card, PCI IDE card, ATX power supply or upgraded CPU!!!

[kretara]

Also PCI USB/Firewire cards often cause sleep issues, many times leading to you not being able to resume or put the machine into deep sleep.

I'll agree with this, at least for USB. I have never had an issue with Firewire PCI cards and sleep, but YMMV.

I'll also point out that many (in my experience) USB devices cause sleep issues. USB hard drives are the worst for causing sleep issues, but I've had other USB devices cause sleep issues too.