Posted by The Blogging Desk on Mon, May 02, 2011
CNET:
Why doesn't my laptop have USB 3.0?. I've been asking myself that question a lot lately.
It's 2011. That should be a USB 3.0 port on the 2010 MacBook Air. But it's not necessarily Apple's fault. All laptops should have had that 10-year-old USB 2.0 port updated years ago.(Credit: Apple)None of my laptops has a USB 3.0 port. Not my 2010 MacBook Air, not my prior-generation Air, nor my Dell laptop. Nor do the laptops purchased recently by my business acquaintances, who typically buy earlier models that have been price-reduced.Let me be clear, I've talked to Intel, folks at the USB Implementers Forum, PC makers, and analysts. And I've heard every reason under the sun as to why the Universal Serial Bus interface hasn't been upgraded in 10 years. (Intel: We'll get around to it in 2012.)But those reasons (including: it won't make any material difference for things like printers...not supported in Intel silicon) don't change the fact that devices I use demand a faster USB interface. Now. Or I should say yesterday: I needed it a long time ago.
Thunderbolt, as promising as it sounds, does nothing for consumers today.
I'll be honest, I had completely forgotten about USB 3.0. All this hubbub about Thunderbolt took my mind right off of it. Thunderbolt has the ability to connect multiple devices such as HDD's and TVs in order to stream media and transfer content at ludicrous speed.
But why haven't we seen more USB 3.0 support inside of laptops and other computers? I think it's safe to say we can blame Intel for their lack of adoption in their chipsets. Even if that's not the case, I'm still going to blame them just for the article's sake. It's silly to think that we've been on USB 2.0 for so long. It should take just seconds to sync our cell phones to our fancy iTunes and move over all my episodes of Doctor Who. Seconds!
Now, it's entirely possible that we may skip USB 3.0 in favor of Thunderbolt. Apple had begun using similar specs to connect to their flat-screen panels, and now the same plug can be used to transfer files at warp speed. It's likely that in future products, Apple could use Thunderbolt for their iPhones and iPads. You could, in theory, sync your iOS device in 5 seconds. Yowza!
Still, I'd love for us to get to a place were we don't need these wires, but I don't think we're there yet. We may not even be there for several more years. If you have a healthy helping of media you need transfered at light speed, be sure to contact us at Trigon and we can help you have more time for Doctor Who.
