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"For months, Mac users have had to sit on the sidelines while Windows users have enjoyed drives with USB 3.0 capabilities."

Hm, that is a bit misleading? Even Windows users still have to rely on costly expansion cards, which are some times not guaranteed to work with every manufacturer's offers. As long as Intel will not provide USB 3.0 enabled chipsets, there is really no way to have stock USB 3.0 support in any PC with a current (Core ix) CPU, as Intel does not licence other companies to create chipsets for them.

Also, besides the AJA tests, real world test do not show a great difference between USB 3.0 and FW800 (a far cry from the theoretical differences), which could mean that FW1600 or FW3200 should easily outperform USB 3.0 in the future. Of course this assumption does not take into consideration any possible limitations of current PCI busses - could it be that we have approached he practical limits of current bus architectures?

Comparing final gen FW800 to 1st gen USB 3.0 is comparing apples and oranges. USB 3.0 has bandwidth to burn (see http://www.zdnet.com...-fast-maybe/746), while FW800 is topped out.

AFAIK there are no FW1600/3200 products. Without investment FW is dead.

The real question for Mac users is USB 3.0 vs Light Peak, the 10GB/s fiber optic interconnect due from Intel next year. It is rumored that Apple will be the launch customer for Light Peak, which means that Apple support for USB 3.0 suffers. But the coolness factor of fiber + Light Peak's ability to scale to 100 GB/s over the next decade will give long-term bragging rights to the Mac.

As for the article's statement that USB 3.0 is the fastest they've tested: what, no eSATA tests?

Robin Harris
StorageMojo

StorageMojo, on 08 October 2010 - 07:16 AM, said:

How is that "apples and oranges"? Both are available now, the performance difference is academic, and both involve a certain investment. Any USB 3.0 controller or device I can buy today will not automagically improve in the future. I can get practically identical performance from a cheaper FW800 device today, and I can use it with every Mac I have; there is no way to add USB 3.0 to e.g. any MBP below the 17" model, or any desktop Mac except the Mac Pro. The vast majority of Core ix machines on the market (those not having expansion slots) is not USB 3.0 ready, and this will not change until Intel embraces USB 3.0 and every machine will support it out of the box. Therefore the linked article (stating that Apple is missing out here) is really FUD. Apple builds only a few machines with expansion ports, and you can add to them whatever you like. In most cases where really fast storage is key (like video production), no professional would go for a completely new and largely untested technology, especially since the past of USB is not really glorious. In our production environment, we use FibreChannel, FW and eSATA and nothing containing the letters USB (other than mice or keyboards) will enter our server rooms unless there is valid long term data identifying important details like processor loads, power management, etc. Speed tests and specs are for Porsche drivers, not for real world usage.

Wanted to let users know that the CalDigit SuperSpeed Cards are actually available with support for 3rd party products and not just the CalDigit AV Drive.

Also uses who are interested in some more detailed speed tests, they can refer to this review at Bare Feats.

http://www.barefeats.com/wst10d.html

dreyfus, on 08 October 2010 - 04:59 AM, said:

Don't worry about the speed.
Apple is releasing new machine with USB 3.0 built-in Jan. 2011.
There will be no driver issue and will be fully compatible with all third party USB 3.0 device.

Apple is going to launch USB 3.0 equipped machine in two months.
Heard this from factory.