Intel holding off on USB 3.0 until 2011?
updated 12:45 pm EDT, Thu October 22, 2009
May slow adoption of important tech
Intel has postponed its support of USB 3.0 until 2011, a new report claims. The information is said to come from a senior technology manager at a "top tier PC maker," who says that Intel chipset teams are more focused on supporting the current Nehalem platform, as well as transitioning to 5GHz PCIe 2.0. "They need to prioritize their time and resources on a whole host of things and have to consider the compelling needs for USB 3.0 now versus 18 months later," says the manager.
USB 3.0 should prove useful for devices such as cameras, media players and backup drives, due to speeds as high as 5Gbps, and backwards compatibility with USB 2.0. Without Intel's backing however the technology is expected to gain little traction, due to many computer makers' reliance on standard Intel chipsets. Intel may also be showing preference to its own Light Peak format, which can handle transfers up to 10Gbps. The technology may have difficulty gaining support in its own right, due to the widespread prevalence of USB.
if rumours are true
10/22, 01:18pm reply
The Light-peak connector will be physically backwards compatible with the USB connector because you still need copper to carry power even if using light to carry data.
Feathers
Forum Regular
Joined: Oct 1999
A bit misleading
10/22, 01:27pm (1 reply) reply
A bit misleading to call Light Peak "its own" when Apple developed it.
hexor
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2003
no they didn't
10/22, 03:08pm reply
Apple did not develop it, false rumor.
Jonathan-Tanya
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Oct 2004
Never a rumor
10/22, 05:30pm (1 reply) reply
It was never a rumor they developed it. Even the initial report never stated they developed it or even designed it. They 'suggested' it as an idea to Intel, who did all the heavy lifting.
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Oh
10/22, 05:32pm reply
Bear in mind this is intel support on their chipsets, nothing else. USB 3.0 can still be added/used on other motherboards and thorugh add-on cards. (For you Macintosh users out there, an add-on card is a circuit-board based card that fits into a slot found in most computers. These allow one to add extra functionality to the computer without having to go out and buy a whole new system, assuming you could even get a system with said feature you want to add).
testudo
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Joined: Aug 2001
Firewire 1200?
10/22, 08:11pm reply
This is why we need Firewire 800 ports on ALL Macs including the MacBook Air and Mac mini!
ionlyuseosx
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Joined: Jan 2002