The Mac Professional's Resource
2008 looks like it will be an interesting year for everybody who likes to follow the latest in peripheral cabling trends. The USB 3.0 Promoter Group has announced the specs for USB 3 which will boost the throughput to a theoretical 4.8 gigabits per second. Meanwhile, the people at IEEE 1394 Trade Association announced FireWire3200 which will boost speeds of the competing protocol to 3.2 gigabits per second.
Although this is going to be a big step forward for both protocols, we don’t see either announcement really changing the landscape for normal desktop peripherals. Both camps still maintain the same advantages and disadvantages. Most desktop peripherals will stay USB because it is still cheaper to implement and is available everywhere. Meanwhile, FireWire will still be the choice for people who need longer cable runs, would benefit from the lower processor loads associated with it.
In round 3 of this battle, there is still no real winner.
— Joe Fahs
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