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.

Tags: USB 3 Ivy Bridge, Mac USB 3.0

Intel and Apple's new LightPeak-aka-ThunderBolt port on the recent MacBook Pro laptops is NOT a death-knell for USB 3.0 peripherals. In fact, both speak well of the inevitable transition to next-generation, ultra-fast computer peripheral interfaces on both Mac and PC platforms.

It isn't just about 10Gbps vs 5Gbps data speeds where ThunderBolt appears the technical 'winner'. It's about consumer acceptance and adoption that drives the marketplace. Not only does USB3 have the lead there - but backward compatibility with tens of millions of legacy USB 2 devices assures USB 3.0 is unstoppable and compelling to consumers in itself. And ThunderBolt backup drives in particular - as well as other high-speed video and display accessories will succeed in other market segments for other reasons.

Tags: Apple ThunderBolt Port, DisplayPort, LightPeak

CalDigit and LaCie are leading the Mac USB 3.0 market for owners of Macintosh Pro towers with it's PCI slots - and for recent MacBook Pro models with ExpressCard/34 slots built in. On LaCie's support page you'll find optimized USB 3 Drivers for Mac OSX Leopard 10.5 and up.

NOTE! LaCie's SuperSpeed cards and its driver currently ONLY support LaCie brand USB 3.0 drives! So it is essential to pair these cards with LaCie SuperSpeed drives from their current product line.

For Mac Pro Towers with PCI-e Slots:

LaCie USB 3.0 PCI Express Card - Model 130977



For MacBook Pro's with ExpressCard Slots (15" & 17" models):

LaCie USB 3.0 ExpressCard-34 - Model 130998

Again - at this time - you MUST pair either of these cards with any number of LaCie's own USB3 external hard drive lineup. LaCie's drivers are keyed-in to only working with LaCie brand SuperSpeed USB3 drives (at this time.)

Alternately: you can order a CalDigit USB3 PCI or ExpressCard Caldigit.com - who's driver works explicitly paired with their AV DRIVE. (Although some Forum posts around the net suggest CalDigit's card and driver combo works with a wider range of 3rd-party drives or DIY enclosures - at your own risk...)

CalDigit SuperSpeed PCI Express Card - USB 3.0 for Mac



Why this 'Lock-In'? USB drivers are often explicitly written to look for and detect specific product and vendor ID codes when polling for a device on the USB bus. (This is common with, say, USB TV tuners or Graphics Tablets.) This has benefits for the manufacturer and the consumer: Quality control for full compatibility and testing for the best end user experience. If you want a working Mac USB3 solution today - LaCie and CalDigit have the goods that other's don't.

More versatile USB 3.0 drivers for Mac OSX Leopard will eventually become available that will work with a wider number of 3rd-party USB3 external hard drives or USB3 SSD Drives.

Tags: Mac USB3 Drivers, OSX SuperSpeed Drivers

With its SuperSpeed eGo line of portable external hard disk drives - Iomega is aggressively leading the USB 3.0 backup drive market. At this point, the negligible cost of using a 3.0 USB chipset in its storage products makes forward-thinking SuperSpeed capable drives the ones to buy from here on out.



Backwards compatible with USB 2.0 ports - they're the right purchase decision today for any Mac user. Eventually you'll be able to take advantage of SuperSpeed data transfer speeds (if and) when Apple starts supporting USB 3.0 in its laptop and desktop computers.

It should be noted the Iomega eGo Portable USB 3.0/USB 2.0 drive line offers both a spacious 1TB Terabyte disk capacity in addition to 500GB -- all in an easily portable, shock resistant 2.5" drive sized enclosure.

When I registered www.mac-usb3.com a year and thensome back, I honestly expected we'd be enjoying the HUGE performance benefits of USB3 Super-Speed on the latest Mac computer models and Apple handheld gadgets by now.

It's not for lack of available and currently shipping USB 3.0 peripherals - In fact, many products are now on 2nd-generation USB 3 controller chipsets that refine adherence to the established SuperSpeed spec. Take a look at what's available and wonder; "Why can't I have that making MY computing experience better?"

In 30+ years of computing, I've never, NEVER seen a backward-compatible, functioning and shipping technology advancement like transition from USB 2.0 to USB 3.0 utterly STALL-OUT like this in the marketplace. You really have to ask WHY aren't Intel Corp and Apple Inc 100% onboard with this? WHY the delays from the 2 most powerful companies advancing technology adoption? We could be charging our handheld devices in HALF the time. We could be syncing our iPods, iPads,iPhones, and what have you in mere SECONDS. We could be backing up our Terabytes of iPhoto and iTunes media files in MINUTES rather than HOURS: If Intel would just.... If Apple would just... deliver today's technology solutions - Today.

Tags: OSX USB3 Support