Miscellaneous
USB 3.0, or SuperSpeed USB, is the successor to the USB 1.x and 2.0 standards. In this article we will try and summarise the standards characteristics, presenting everything you need to know about this new standard which has been available since January 2010. SuperSpeed USB has been announced with transfer speeds of 6 to 10 times faster than USB 2.0, is compatible with the older standards, synchronises to peripheral devices faster when connected, and the most important point, better manages energy use (placed into standby, brought out of standby, disabling if required). Are the current operating systems ready to host it? What peripheral devices are already available? These are questions which we will try and answer!
The first motherboards
While awaiting Intel and AMD to introduce their first USB 3.0 chipsets in 2011, other major players in this field have taken the lead. Gigabyte is already offering 24 motherboards (18 Intel and 6 AMD) with the X58, P55, H57, H55, P45, 790X and 770 chipsets… Asus (Tek) have also made USB 3.0 available to their Asus P6X58 Premium, Asus P7P55D-E and Asus M4A89GTD PRO boards. As a general rule, you will find between 8 and 10 USB 2.0 ports and 2 USB 3.0 ports on these motherboards.
Controller cards, hubs
If you don’t want to change your motherboard, you can always add a controller card into a PCI-E x1 slot, or an Express Card (notebook) into a port. Here you will find numerous options, with GA-USB 3.0, the USBGEAR USB 3.0 PCI-Express Host Adapter, the PTU-302 with its NEC chips, the Active Media cards for PCI-e and Express Card, Freecom, Trust SuperSpeed 2 Port USB 3.0 PCI-Express Card and Trust SuperSpeed 2 Port USB 3.0 Notebook Express Card and the StarTech Express Card. Some Coolgear hubs also offer 2 or 4 USB 3.0 ports.
Hard drives and memory stick storage options
Numerous external hard drives are available. The Seagate BlackArmor PS 110 Portable USB 3.0 Hard Drive 3 is three times faster than a USB 2.0 disk, the Western Digital My Book 3.0, LaCie 2big Quadra and Freecom Hard Drive XS 3.0 are also available. Besides these, SSD solutions will soon release their SW6315, while Active Media will release the Predator X7. Finally, USB memory sticks have started to appear with Super Talent who already have three SuperSpeed USB flash drives available (Thumbdrives), the RAIDDrive USB 3.0, the SuperCrypt USB 3.0 and the Express Drive USB 3.0. For your internal SATA hard drives, Docking stations even exist released by Unitek and the Sharkoon Quickport which can host your 2.5 and 3.5 inch drives.
Laptop computers
The first laptop computers to come with USB 3.0 ports shouldn’t be far off, as Asus has announced the N82JV-VX020V (14 inch), N61JA-JX008V (16 inch) and the magnificent NX90 which is completely fabricated from aluminium and which was designed in collaboration with Bang & Olufsen (18.4 inch). Hewlett-Packard is also looking towards this market with their EliteBook 8740w equipped with two USB 3.0 connectors in addition to HP Envy 15s range. Lenovo, on their side, have the ThinkPad W701 with its second slide out screen, while the Dell Precision M6500 will also come equipped with USB 3.0.
Other USB 3.0 devices
We cant forget mentioning Buffalo who are trying to widely spread USB 3.0. In addition to their DriveStation (external hard drive) and their BSH4A03U3 hub, the manufacturer also has an innovative Blu-Ray burner, the BR-X1216U3. Besides these, PointGrey has recently released the first SuperSpeed video camera (1920x1080 60 IPS). Finally, there are already numerous USB A to A or A to B cables available at online shops.
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