USB 3.0 Coming Soon
Posted by Wade Burchette at 9:36 AM News
Expect new computers to have an USB 3.0 adapter in the spring to summer of this year.
By now you know about the USB adapter. The benefits of USB over FireWire and the older adapters, such as the old serial and parallel adapters, is ease of use and expandibility. You just plug the cable in to the computer and the computer takes it from there. USB also supports hubs, which can take one USB port and turn it into several. Each USB adapter can support up to 127 different devices, which includes hubs.
USB 1.0 has a speed of 1.5 megabits per second. USB 1.1 has a speed of 12 megabits per second. USB 2.0 has a speed of 480 megabits per second. And the new USB 3.0 has a speed of 4800 megabits per second. Of course, USB 3.0 adapters are almost fully compatible with older USB devices. Only some of the oldest USB devices will not work with USB 3.0. With USB devices, that speed is the total speed for all devices per adapter. For example, suppose you have 8 devices connected to a hub. If you add up the speeds of each device, it cannot exceed the speed of that the USB version allows.
FireWire was pushed by Apple for the same reasons Intel was pushing USB. FireWire has benefits over USB. It has the ease of use found in USB, but not the expandibility. However, FireWire does not require a computer. HD cable boxes are mandated by the FCC to have a working FireWire adapter, which can connect to camcorders, DVD recorders, and so on. This allows the recording of shows without the need for a computer. The other advantage of FireWire is the speed is the exact same for every device, no matter how many are connected.