14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 8 will feature support for USB 3.0, Microsoft confirmed officially, enabling users to transfer data to and from peripheral devices attached to computers running the OS at speeds increased tenfold in comparison to the current Universal Serial Bus specification, version 2.0. A veritable explosion in the adoption of USB 3.0 is forecasted for the next four years, and undoubtedly, the fact that Windows 8 will play nice with the technology by default will have a role to play in its uptake boost.
In addition to data transfer speeds up to 5 Gbps for new “SuperSpeed” USB devices vs. just 480 Mbps for the USB 2.0 specification, there are additional benefits to embracing USB 3.0, according to Dennis Flanagan, the Director of Program Management for the Devices and Networking group.
“With throughput up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0 and improved power management that results in longer battery life, USB 3.0 introduces compelling reasons to improve the world’s most popular PC interface. By 2015, all new PCs are expected to offer USB 3.0 ports, and over 2 billion new "SuperSpeed" USB devices will be sold in that year alone,” Flanagan revealed.
In order to understand the speed boost that USB 3.0 will introduce users need to watch the video embedded at the bottom of this article. Starting in 2012, Windows 8 machines will allow large volumes of data to be transferred in just seconds instead of minutes.
At the same time, USB 3.0 not only reduces the strain on the battery of mobile devices, abut also provides almost double the amount of power compared to its predecessor.
“The new specification provided 80% more power than USB 2.0. This meant faster charging and removed the need for odd “Y” cables used by external DVD drives and other high power devices. But charging isn’t the only power consideration,” Flanagan explained.
“With mobile computing, people want PCs that conserve battery life. By also introducing new low power states, finishing tasks more quickly, and powering down at every opportunity, USB 3.0 is more power efficient than its predecessors. This translates to longer battery life for notebooks and less power consumption for desktops.”
The promise from the software giant is that Windows 8 will not only support USB 3.0, but will also continue to be compatible with in excess of 10 billion existing devices using version 2.0 of the specification.
This means that all USB devices will continue to work with Windows 8 PCs, be them full, low, and high speed hardware, and of course for this to happen, the actual plugs have been designed to be backwards compatible.