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Boost Your Apple Mac to USB 3.0 Connectivity With Some Help from LaCie

Nov 8, 2010 08:11 GMT  ·  By
LaCie enabling USB 3.0 connectivity on Apple Mac
   LaCie enabling USB 3.0 connectivity on Apple Mac

By now, pretty much everyone's probably aware of the very impressive data transfer speeds enabled by the USB 3.0 interface and eagerly await to adopt such a solution in the near future, but unfortunately, for the time being, certain computing systems (such as Apple's Macs) don't provide this functionality natively. For this reason, LaCie, one of the best-known names in the field of external storage, backup and connectivity solutions, has developed an exclusive USB 3.0 driver for Mac, that, used together with the company's expansion cards, will enable Mac users to enjoy the superior data transfer rates enabled by the SuperSpeed standard. So, the company developed and is currently offering the LaCie USB 3.0 PCI Express Card, targeting MacPro users, whose purpose is, quite obviously, to enable USB 3.0 connectivity on the Apple's favorite workstation. For MacBook Pro users, the company developed the LaCie USB 3.0 ExpressCard/34, meant to provide the same enhanced functionality, but this time around for portable computing systems from Apple (as far as we're concerned, this particular version is actually even more exciting that the one for desktop Macs, given the fact that, after all, MacBook systems are much more widespread). However, we'll have to mention that in order to ensure the fact that these products will work correctly, Mac users will first have to upgrade their Mac OS X operating system to version 10.5 or later. After installing these expansion cards, users will have to download and install the dedicated LaCie USB 3.0 driver for Mac, and then connect one of LaCie's many USB 3.0 external storage offerings, that include the LaCie Rugged USB 3.0, LaCie d2 USB 3.0, LaCie 2big USB 3.0, LaCie Minimus USB 3.0 and LaCie Rikiki USB 3.0. Pricing for the LaCie USB 3.0 PCI Express Card has been set at 50 US dollars, while the LaCie USB 3.0 ExpressCard/34 sells for 60 US dollars, both of these price points being more than OK for the level of functionality they enable (especially since the driver is available as a free download).