Draft USB 3.0 spec released

#1 mickdevlin

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Posted 15 August 2008 - 03:53 PM

The US edition of Macworld has reported that Intel has offered a draft spec of USB 3.0. It will be interesting to see how USB 3.0 fares against FireWire S3200 over the next few years. Both technologies are aiming at the same market. Will one become pro-only and the other take all the rest?

Stay tuned for further updates.

Mick

#2 rhysbartels

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Posted 15 August 2008 - 08:00 PM

QUOTE (mickdevlin @ Aug 15 2008, 02:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

if FW3200 can be pushed out in a reasonable time, i can see it blowing USB 3.0 out of the water

#3 gazza

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Posted 15 August 2008 - 08:12 PM

QUOTE (rhysbartels @ Aug 15 2008, 07:00 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

if FW3200 can be pushed out in a reasonable time, i can see it blowing USB 3.0 out of the water

The aspect that works in favour of USB (in the shorter term, anyway) is the plethora of devices in the market place designed to work with USB - not the least being the USB flash drives, they are being churned out in the millions and have become an extremely popular way of carrying your day-to-day data about.

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#4 Some Random Bloke

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Posted 15 August 2008 - 08:34 PM

QUOTE (gazza @ Aug 15 2008, 05:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah, think VHS v. Betamax. Beta was better (according to the industry people I know), but VHS was ubiquitous.

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#5 MacDavo

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Posted 15 August 2008 - 08:37 PM

QUOTE (gazza @ Aug 15 2008, 07:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The aspect that works in favour of USB (in the shorter term, anyway) is the plethora of devices in the market place designed to work with USB - not the least being the USB flash drives

This on it's own could be firewire's biggest downfall. About 6 months ago I thought about getting a FW800 external hard drive, but short of trawling the net just couldn't find one.

FW devices tend to be a bit dearer and less popular than their USB counterparts. When I was selling external drives, USB outsold FW 10 to 1. Perhaps one factor for this is PC's have USB stock standard with lots of ports and hubs. FW isn't so standard, and won't let you hang as many devices off it.

If a super fast FW standard came out, that USB couldn't compete with, that would make a difference. Until then I think FW has a hard row to plough.

---=== The future looks cloudy ===---

#6 mickdevlin

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Posted 15 August 2008 - 08:43 PM

QUOTE (Davo @ Aug 15 2008, 07:37 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If a super fast FW standard came out, that USB couldn't compete with, that would make a difference. Until then I think FW has a hard row to plough.

That's why I suspect that ultimately FW will restricted to the pro market, just as Beta is/was.

Mick

#7 AppleConvert

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Posted 15 August 2008 - 10:18 PM

eSATA is already out there with some Laptops now supporting it along with external drives as well. It's only a matter of time before the SATA II drives, enclosures and PCs all align at 3Gb/sec. That will make FW3200 not much different and it's currently go no market penetration.

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