usb 3.0

USB 3.0 will not see widespread adoption until at least late 2011 because of lack of direct support from Intel. As a result, the new standard may not become as prevalent this decade as USB 2.0 has been through most of the past decade.

The current USB standard, which is found on almost all mainstream gadgets today, has been around a long time. USB 2.0 was first available as far back as 2001 and Intel laid the groundwork for widespread use on PCs and devices in spring 2002 when it put the technology in its silicon.

Eight years later, the advantages of moving to a faster standard, USB 3.0, are clear (for devices like digital cameras, camcorders, and hard drives): transfer rates jump from 480 megabits per second to 5 gigabits per second--which is more than a 10-fold increase in speed. And as this CNET Review of a USB 3.0 Seagate external hard disk indicates, it can make a big difference: the Seagate drive was the "fastest USB external hard drive to date," according to CNET Labs.

But without direct support in Intel's silicon, it's a chicken-and-egg dilemma. The result: mass adoption of USB 3.0 by PC makers is unlikely.

"The real sweet spot of a new version of USB comes when it is integrated into the chipset of the PC," said Brian O'Rourke, an analyst at In-Stat. "That's when USB becomes mainstream...By integrating it into its chipsets, Intel essentially allows PC OEMs to offer that new flavor of USB for free," he said.

But Intel is not expected to put USB 3.0 in its silicon until 2011, according to O'Rourke. That means the interval between the initial introduction of USB 3.0 by NEC in May 2009 and Intel's adoption will be much longer than the transition was in 2001-2002. "In this go-round, it's going to be about two and a half years instead of a year," said O'Rourke, who also writes about this in a blog entitled "Transition to SuperSpeed USB Will Be Slow."

In an interview last month in Heise Online, an Intel representative said that USB 3.0 wouldn't become mainstream until… Read more

After so much fuss about the new USB 3.0 technology, I finally finished the first CNET review of a storage device that uses this new high-speed connection, the BlackArmor PS110 USB 3.0.

This external hard drive looks very much the same as the USB 2.0 version we reviewed last year: it's slim, well-designed, and very portable. The only difference, and also the most significant one, is the fact that it now uses the USB 3.0 connection, instead of USB 2.0.

USB 3.0 has a top speed of up to 5GBps, and Seagate accommodates … Read more

Hewlett-Packard has begun shipping some Envy 15 laptop configurations with USB 3.0 technology, becoming one of the first PC makers to do so.

The new "SuperSpeed USB" 3.0 standard is touted as achieving up to 10X the data transfer rate of USB 2.0, the standard that has been shipping on laptops for the last eight years or so. (See video demonstrating the HP Envy 15 with USB 3.0..)

HP spokeswoman Sheila Watson said Tuesday that the company is shipping certain Envy 15 configurations with the USB 3.0 ports. "HP Direct (our online … Read more

LAS VEGAS--The president of the USB Implementers Forum discussed the arrival of USB 3.0 and gave a brief demonstration of transfer speeds on a Hewlett-Packard laptop at the Consumer Electronics Show.

In case anyone was in doubt, USB 3.0 is faster than the current 2.0 version. Below is a photo from CES of an Asus display, showing a comparison of the time it takes to drag a 2.1GB file from a laptop to an external hard disk drive using USB 2.0 and USB 3.0. (Asus was showing laptops with USB 3.0 connectors at CES.) And in the second video segment, Jeff Ravencraft, president of the USB Implementers Forum, provides a taste of the difference in transfer speeds between USB 2.0 and 3.0.

USB is more power efficient than 2.0. "This uses one-third of the power it would take on USB 2.0," Ravencraft said in an interview at CES. It's also backward compatible, he said, meaning it can also handle peripherals that use older USB standards.

Speaking of peripherals, Western Digital has announced a new WD My Book based on the USB 3.0 specification with an adapter card, which will make an existing desktop PC USB 3.0-compatible. … Read more

Now that Seagate has taken care of laptop users with its BlackArmor PS110 USB 3.0 external hard drive kit, Western Digital has something along those lines for desktop users.

The hard drive maker announced Tuesday at CES 2010 its first USB 3.0 external hard drive upgrade kit for desktop computers. The kit includes the My Book 3.0 and a PCI express card that adds USB 3.0 capability to a computer.

The add-in card is necessary as most, if not all, existing computers don't yet have a built-in USB 3.0 controller. Without the card, you'… Read more

You probably won't be able to get a hold of a motherboard that has a built-in USB 3.0 controller, like the VL810 SuperSpeed from VIA, but if you want the taste of the new USB SuperSpeed, Seagate has something to offer.

The company announced Tuesday at CES 2010 its first USB 3.0 external hard drive all-in-one performance kit for laptops.

The kit comes with both the USB 3.0-based external hard drive, the BlackArmor PS110 USB 3.0, and an USB 3.0 add-in controller card. The controller card is a PC card adapter that fits in … Read more

When USB 3.0 was demonstrated by Intel last year, I was really excited. Now the wait is really over.

The VIA group unveiled Monday the world's first USB 3.0 Hub Controller, the VIA VL810 SuperSpeed. This is the industry's first integrated single-chip solution that supports the higher transfer rates of the new USB 3.0 specification.

And here's the reason why I've been so excited: USB 3.0 (aka SuperSpeed USB, as opposed to the HighSpeed USB or USB 2.0) allows for a maximum data transfer rate of up to 5Gbps, which is … Read more

The biggest consumer electronics event of the year is around the corner, and by that we of course mean CES 2010. We'll all be there in Vegas scouting out the best of what's new, but you may find yourself asking: after Windows 7 and the launch of Core i7 laptops, what else is there to look forward to? Plenty, by our measure. Here are the trends we're expecting to see.

New Atom processors, new Netbooks The star of the show will likely be Intel's new line of Atom processors for Netbooks. Previously codenamed Pine Trail, these new CPUs will give the Netbooks platform a performance push, we hope, making these popular laptops even more ubiquitous. Currently, Netbooks are great for some tasks, but can be frustrating to use if you need them for all-around computing. Look for added graphics and HD video performance in particular.

On a related note, hardware manufacturers will continue to try to "upscale" Netbooks, by adding features such as discrete graphics, touch screens, and HD displays--all in an effort to move prices past the low-margin $299 mark. We'll see increased stratification in Netbooks--a category previously notable for its commodity nature.

Here come the Smartbooks If you don't know the term already, get ready to know it, as this will be one of the hot product trends of 2010. Consider them even cheaper and smaller Netbooks toting smartphone-level processors and a pared-down OS. Small CPUs such as the Nvidia Tegra and the Qualcomm Snapdragon are what will power this next generation of devices, and almost none of them will have an operating system that will be Windows or Mac.

Expect to see most of these hybrid devices with 3G antennas, sold in cellphone stores, and subsidized by mobile phone providers, much like some Netbooks already are. Economic realities have pushed computer makers to favor value over flash in designing new systems, and at CES 2010, we're likely to see a bigger focus on Netbooks and other low-cost PCs over the extravagant showstoppers of previous years. Smartbooks could help define a new low-end pricing zone, but it remains to be seen whether they'll offer enough computing power.… Read more

UPDATE: No USB 3.0 support for Mac OS X.

With the release of the original "Bondi Blue" iMac, Apple was one of the first to adopt USB technology, but was a little late on getting USB 2.0 implemented. USB 3.0 is just around the corner, and I've wondered whether we will see Apple jump on the bandwagon or wait for another technology. Regardless of what Apple decides to do, claims around the release of new external drives from Buffalo Technologies suggest Mac Pro and some PowerMac users may already have a USB 3.0 option available.… Read more