Intel On The Brink Of Full USB 3.0 Support In 2012
Filed in: USB 3.0 Mother-Boards
Back in April of 2011, Intel went on-record to lay out the clear 2012 rollout of USB 3.0 en masse with the release of it's long awaited Ivy Bridge chipset. And in that announcement they also made it clear that ThunderBolt would also be a complimentary interface technology to join it.
Frankly if I was in the market for a new laptop or desktop - Mac or PC - I'd be tempted to hold off this holiday season and wait for announcements at CES and MacWorld Expo 2012 in January. I think the floodgates on BOTH these high-speed interface technologies are going to hit the market in high volume. That means Intel OEM motherboards with direct support for USB3 and ThunderBolt. Up until now, those Windows PC's that do include USB3 support have used a separate NEC SuperSpeed chipset as an interim solution. And Apple seems to have enjoyed an exclusive deal to get 10 million plus ThunderBolt port Mac laptops and desktops out on the market before Ivy-Bridge brings USB3 to the Mac.
Frankly if I was in the market for a new laptop or desktop - Mac or PC - I'd be tempted to hold off this holiday season and wait for announcements at CES and MacWorld Expo 2012 in January. I think the floodgates on BOTH these high-speed interface technologies are going to hit the market in high volume. That means Intel OEM motherboards with direct support for USB3 and ThunderBolt. Up until now, those Windows PC's that do include USB3 support have used a separate NEC SuperSpeed chipset as an interim solution. And Apple seems to have enjoyed an exclusive deal to get 10 million plus ThunderBolt port Mac laptops and desktops out on the market before Ivy-Bridge brings USB3 to the Mac.
