USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed) update. Best-leveraged by upcoming solid-state drives

[HEXUS]

Magnetic drives simply won't maximise the transfer speed of up-to 5Gbit/s

Read more.

[SiM]

Awesomeness... Its about time though, USB 2.0 is ancient technology!

[dhyta23]

That is amazing, next best thing since that mass produced flying car isn't what i'm driving.

[Biscuit]

USB2 may be old but there is no need to change it, your keyboard mouse and any other similar periferals dont need any more bandwidth than it offers, the only thing that would is hard drives which brings USB3 into E-Sata territory?
Modern external hard drives that run of usb are often P-ATA or S-ATA drives with a converter so they run USB. I would say ESATA which disables the need for the converter is more likely to be worthwhile than a new USB standard.

The biggest gripe i have with USB is its flimsy connection, if they should do anything it should be ruggardise the connection.

[Funkstar]

To a certain extent I would agree with you Biscuit.

The only drawback of eSATA is the lack of host power. This is being remedied in the next iteration though.

I would say the standard USB connector is probably the most hard wearing of all the current conectors. Firewire is a rubish connector and liable to fall out. All the rest have pins rather than contact points or are mainly plastic. I've recovered a USB cable that had been run over by a 3 ton fork lift truck (long story) by just bending the outer metal ground/shield and jamming it in the laptop. Worked flawlessly

[Zak33]

I think the USB plug and socket is great. I've never worn one out, not on a gadget or a mobo.

Unlike SATA which comes off if I look at it in a funny way.

And those transfer speeds....man that's fast. Wasted....but fast!

[Biscuit]

I would say the standard USB connector is probably the most hard wearing of all the current conectors. Firewire is a rubish connector and liable to fall out.

Not quite sure what firewire you have been using, from my experience with my macbook the firewire 400 port is way more sturdy once plugged in than than the USB. The Firewire 800 port yeah thats a crap connection... great transfer rates tho

I've recovered a USB cable that had been run over by a 3 ton fork lift truck (long story) by just bending the outer metal ground/shield and jamming it in the laptop. Worked flawlessly

Yeah this often is the case, they will work, however i have had many USB cables that once used a lot tend to fall out with the slightests tug or if they dont fall out the connection goes.

I think the USB plug and socket is great. I've never worn one out, not on a gadget or a mobo.

Unlike SATA which comes off if I look at it in a funny way.

And those transfer speeds....man that's fast. Wasted....but fast!

I agree that sata is a pretty flimsty socket but i wasnt meaning to compare the sata socket with the USB socket in that way. They could both do with a bit of ruggardising really!

[dangel]

Where are you getting these cables from? I've never found them to fall out on their own or be in the least bit flimsy

[Funkstar]

I've never experienced USB cables that have a tendancy to fall out. ever.

Too tight yes, but not too lose.

Firewire (great interface, wish it was more popular) 6pin connectors are solid, but they rely on that little dimple to stay in. Not great. And the mini 4pin connector is worse than useless.

[matty-hodgson]

this makes the PC i'm using seem ANCIENT!
this PC has USB 1.1 and there's a USB3.0 coming out..
oh dear!

5gb/s sounds nice though
is there anything near that?
what does e-SATA offer?

[SiM]

esata is 3gbps iirc... but im guessing its still going to be faster usb 3.0... you never get close to the theoretical speed with these things...

[Biscuit]

I've never experienced USB cables that have a tendancy to fall out. ever.

Too tight yes, but not too lose.

Firewire (great interface, wish it was more popular) 6pin connectors are solid, but they rely on that little dimple to stay in. Not great. And the mini 4pin connector is worse than useless.

Its no worse than than the mini usb connection that u often use with PDAs.

Remember a Mb (Mega bit) is different to a MB (Mega Byte) whant talking transfer rates!

[pauldarkside]

Great, so i'll have to type a whole lot faster to make use of the higher transfer rates. Maybe I'll just waggle my mouse a bit more instead.

[kchakkar]

When I worked for Acer, I did get quite a few broken USB ports. Mainly the plastic bit comes off, leaving 4 the metal pins.

[matty-hodgson]

When I worked for Acer, I did get quite a few broken USB ports. Mainly the plastic bit comes off, leaving 4 the metal pins.

a similar thing happened to me with my new motherboard y'day
but with a SATA slot.. so it's just 6 metal pins sticking out from the board now..
only 5 slots useable now..

[BUFF]

RMA the mobo.