With a top speed of 4.8 Gbps and a perfectly hideous logo, USB 3.0 is expected to be unveiled next week. Gizmodo spells out what that means:
Ten times faster than the old USB spec, USB 3.0 can transfer a 27GB file in just 70 seconds. Plus, with more “lanes” of data within the connector, new USB will be able to simultaneously send and receive information—that might not sound like much, but the old USB couldn’t do so.
There’s also a rumor that Windows 7 won’t support it natively, due to “time constraints,” (cue Nelson Muntz laugh here). No mention of Apple at all, but then, Apple isn’t a member of the group that’s fleshed out the specs for the new high-speed port, even though they were invited to do join.
While all of Apple’s current computers have USB 2.0 ports, the company has been reducing support for their own Firewire technology, which used to be the fastest kid on the block. The Firewire 400 port is dying a slow death, and both the current Firewire 800 port (which caps out at 800 Mbps (note the “M” and not a “G” there), and the forthcoming update (3200 Mbps) will be outclassed by USB 3.0.
Via [Gizmodo]
Does USB still not use a dedicated controller chip, like FireWire does? And if it does/doesn't, will that have any noticeable effect on performance for a spec like this?