[Locked] The next leap

I haven't seen a thread on this so I must start it. I am too excited to put in words how badly I desire the next step in USB. The new version, labeled USB 3.0, is set to hit the market late 2009. The thickness of USB will now be close to that of CAT5. USB 3.0 will stay true to its' predecessor, as it is still backwards compatible [works in 2.0 slots, you just won't get the speeds of 3.0] In addition, 3.0 will sport two lines for uploading, and two for downloading [as opposed to 2.0, which had one line that had to upload AND download, thus allowing for only one at a given time]. The speed of 3.0 was clocked at 4.8 Gbps, but is now said to be an even 5, thus outdoing SATA II [which is clocked at 3Gbps]. USB3.0 will be able to charge MORE external devices at once [MP3 players, etc] and is said to charge them faster as well. Wireless function is going to increase with this new USB standard. For those of you who don't want to replace your motherboard for this new spec, they are releasing USB3.0 cards towards the end of 2009/beginning of 2010. Well, just wanted to get tha off my mind. Data transfer is about to get another facelift!! Any thoughts on this?

They aren't out yet, but I do believe they are gonna be PCI Expressx1 cards [133 Mhz PCI slots are probably FAR too slow to support 3.0] Like I said, the cards shouldn't be out for several months, but its something to look forward to] :)

I too, am in no rush to get higher power consumption [I don't have many devices that would benefit from that feature anyway], but I'm pretty sure 3 is supposed to handle a bigger load of devices to be powered than before. I'm not sure how they accomplished this [I don't really think they are pumping more power through it, persay] but I do believe a few of the articles I was reading suggested a re-vamped root hub design was the source of the faster/bigger device-charge feature. It might not be faster, but I definately remember reading that the amount of devices that could be charged at once is higher in version 3. I'm probably going to read more on it [there was a schematic of the 3.0 root system that I skipped over last time] out of the curiosity that is eating away at my brain. [Jay goes where his obsessions lead him]

While you have some valid points, the fact remains that most users would find the ability to transfer files [practically] instantly [with small files] quite attractive. Also, as a power user, I often find myself transfering massive amounts of data [from 5 GB to upwards of 100GB at a time] via USB. Lots of users have dozens of movies on their drives, and many times they back them up on other drives, rather than burning them. I myself copy files from one harddrive to another [somewhat] frequently. HDD's are flawed and imperfect devices that fail after a period of time, resulting in a massive loss of data. In the dawn of this new age, with files getting bigger and bigger [a single high-def copy of a House episode runs well over 1GB] the amount of data users store on their HDD's gets more and more massive. I think version 3 will help open the door to the future of data transfer [hope that didn't sound too cheesy]. While many users might not do a lot of advanced things and upgrade often, the ability to transfer twenty gigs of data in five minutes sounds appealing. While I do think you are correct in the statement that 3 will take a while to catch, I only believe it will take six months after its' mainstream release to catch fire to the markets' ass. Enough time for the word to spread and stick. But, these are only my opinions and predictions; much like yours. You had very good points and I will +rep you tomorrow for allowing me to engage in such great discussion. Thanks.

Well said amigo. I never took current economics into account either. The way the world economy is doing now....[We're all screwed]. I think the areas of 3 that will be most desired/admired/implemented will be the fast speed and the wireless capabilities. Seriously, WiFi is going to be crazy!!