If you’re running a Mac, USB 3.0 may be irrelevant since Apple is the only major computer manufacturer without USB 3.0 equipped computers. They’ve opted to go with Thunderbolt.
With such a divide, I wonder how popular USB 3.0 will be compared to the older USB 2.0 that was used by all computer manufacturers.
Either way, if you’re in the market for a new Windows/Unix based machine or purchasing an external hard drive, you may want to know a little more about USB 3.0.
USB 3.0
A nice thing about USB 3.0 is that it’s backwards compatible with USB 2.0. So, you don’t have to worry about “losing” ports. When I purchased my desktop, I thought it had a ridiculous number of USB ports. Now I’m looking for a good USB port. Go figure.
Faster
USB 3.0 is a whole lot sweeter than 2.0.
USB 3.0’s transmission speed is up to 5 Gbit/s versus USB 2.0’s 480 Mbit/s.
Technically it’s a 10X jump, not too shabby. I say technically, your overall speed is still limited by the type of drive you’re using. When you compare apples with apples, it’s considerably faster (make sure you sport a USB 3.0 cable).
Powered
If you’re wondering about powered devices, the answer is yes and YES!
Not only is this junk faster, it carries more power, too. This not only helps with external drives, but your rechargeables will juice up faster.
Compared
PC World tested USB 3.0 against eSATA and this is what they found:
We tested Western Digital’s My Book 3.0, the first USB 3.0-certified external hard drive. The performance was on a par with that of eSATA-but the benefit here is that USB 3.0 is a powered port, so you don’t need to have another external power supply running to the drive (as you do with eSATA; unless the eSATA drive you’re using is designed to steal power from a USB port while transferring data over the eSATA interface).
USB 3.0 , Yes or No?
Is it worth dropping a USB 3.0 in your desktop?
I don’t think so. There aren’t enough USB 3.0 peripherals right now to make it worth it. If you want to rock a faster external hard drive, you may already have an eSATA or Firewire port you can use. Who cares if it’s powered, mobility isn’t an issue.
Is it worth having in a laptop?
Yes. If you have the option to have a USB 3.0 port on your new laptop, jump on it. It’s powered, faster, and backward compatible. It’s a win, win, win! Just make sure the next external drive you purchase for your laptop has USB 3.0. 😉
The Future
Like I said at the start, I’m a little concerned about the future of USB 3.0, as I am with Thunderbolt. It seems like there’s only room for one standard when there’s competing tech. However, since this is dividing along the lines of PC vs. Mac, perhaps both will hold strong on their own, and peripheral manufactures will simply have to provide both ports.
What do you think?
[via PC World, Maximum PC & Wikipedia]
Nathaniel says
“It seems like there’s only room for one standard when there’s competing tech.”
Ehh, I’d disagree with that. Firewire and USB are a great example. Both coexist quite well and yet seem to do the same things.
I’m pretty sure Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 will continue to coexist together, just like USB 2.0 and Firewire 400/800 did. They’ll just both have segmented markets, just like Firewire and USB. Noticing a trend? 😉
Eric Dye says
Both PCs and Macs sported both USB and Firewire, whereas Mac is the only manufacturer to ignore USB 3.0.
BenJPickett says
Can’t forget, just like all serial before it, USB 3.0 doesn’t change the rule of the single bus. You start daisy chaining things together and before you know it that transfer rate is next to nothing. And most new high end desktops come with only 2 serial busses, 3 if you’re lucky. Thunderbolt doesn’t have the problem with daisy chain performance and it does more than storage, a lot more, but does have other problems of its own. It does not power devices that I’ve seen anyways, and the cost of the devices won’t be justifiable for most.
It’d be really nice for Intel open Thunderbolt up to development across Windows, Linux and even Android devices as well to see Mac accept USB 3.0 with all its flaws for the benefit of their customers. Basic home users won’t justify the price of the $1,000 Thunderbolt storage solutions, even with everything else Thunderbolt can do with daisy chaining storage, video and other devices with no loss of performance.
Eric Dye says
#EPIC
Thanks, Ben.