How imortant is a Firewire 800?  (imac 24" versus imac 20")

Hi,
I've been using Logic on a 1 ghtz PowerBook G4. I am ready to upgrade.
After looking over everything, I really don't feel I need to spend the $$ on the ProMac - as I think it's too much power for me at this moment. I'd rather buy a new computer when I have the need for more power - and by that time - everything is twice as fast/more bells and whistles and cheaper.
So - I was seriously considering the 24" iMac - basically because of the firewire 800. Problem is - I don't know how important that is to me. I've been holding off buying a pro audio interface (like the Ensemble or RME 800)... I mainly do MIDI (I'm a pianist), but, want to be able to record live musicians in the future as I have a couple of nice mikes.
So tell me - should I go 24" iMac or 20" iMac? For the $600 I'd save buying a 20" iMac - I could buy another 20" screen. But - no Firewire 800 on the 20".
Again - how important is the Firewire 800 for me?
Thanks!

Two reasons:
1) If you use a FW800 device by itself, you get
800Mbps (100 MBps). If you combine FW400 and FW800
devices on the same bus, the FW800 device will
operate at 400Mbps (50MBps), giving you a total
maximum throughput of 100MBps, over the two devices.
ahm. i know that the two firewire busses share the same connection to the cpu. you can see this at
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/HardwareDrivers/Conceptual/iMac0609SuperDrive/index.html
actually i assumed that apple would be smart enough to build the computer in a way that it's not the same if you connect a fw800 device to the 800bus and a 400 device to the 400 bus than if you connect a 800 and a 400 device to the 800 bus (which obviously would clock the 800 bus at 400 speed.
so you are saying that as soon as i connect a 400 device to the computer ALL fw buses become 400, even the one that's labelled fw 800?? where did you get that information?
AND...
2) The PCI bus to which both FW ports are attached
has a maximum throughput of 133MBps. Even if the
FW800 and FW400 ports operated at full-speed when
devices are mixed (they don't...see point 1), you
wouldn't be able to get full bandwidth anyway, since
100MBps (FW800) + 50MBps (FW400) = 150MBps, which
exceeds the max bandwidth of the PCI bus.
how do you know that the pci bus has 133mbps throughput max? all the information that i found is that it's a 33mhz 32bit pci bus...does that automatically mean it has 133 mBps throughput or what...?
i just ordered a 24" imac mainly for the reason that i need one 800bus for audio interface and harddrives (many tracks) and one 400 bus for dv video at the same time. if both of your statements are correct i will cancel the order immediately since i could do the same things with a 20" imac an the screen would be sufficent for me. and should any problems arise i'll sue the **** out of apple for misleading information about their products. i mean you can't label a buss 800 if it is not if you max out the capacity of the computer. that seriously ****** me off...
if you have a link to an apple tech note that clarifies things...i'd really appreciate it...
all the best...

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