An IEEE 1394 Port is perhaps better known as a FireWire port, though technically, FireWire is a brand name made by Apple computer. FireWire is a bus interface for transferring data, similar to USB.
Availability
IEEE 1394 Ports are often not installed as a standard option on many computers, while USB ports are a given, and may computers have 4 or more USB ports. Computers can be installed with IEEE 1394 cards, to add FireWire connectivity.
Uses
IEEE 1394 ports are usually used to transfer large amounts of data, especially video. Many cameras, such as mini DV cameras can be transferred onto computer using FireWire.
Speed
The advantage of IEEE 1394 is that transfer speeds are significantly faster than USB 2.0. A normal FireWire port transfers data at almost 50 megabytes per second.
Appearance
Firewire ports are not as wide as USB ports, and instead of being rectangular, they have sloped edges on one side that make them an irregular hexagon.
New Versions
After the original FireWire 400, a newer FireWire 800 was released which is twice as fast. Further updates are planned for release to compete with the release of USB 3.0.
Tags: IEEE 1394, 1394 Port, FireWire port
