Belkin has jumped on the USB3.0 bandwagon it looks like with a few product offerings like cables, PCIE cards and ExpressCards. They’re going to be available in April in the U.S. and Canada in May. Looking at their prices though they’re pretty high for these USB3.0 products, I’m not sure what sets theirs apart from others out there. For example their PCIE card and ExpressCard are selling for $80 each. There are places out there you can get PCIE USB3.0 cards for less than $40 and they work fine, so not sure how these will sell for them…
–Belkin announces a new line of SuperSpeed USB 3.0 products, including a PCIe Add-In Card, ExpressCard, and Premium A-B and Micro-B Cables. SuperSpeed USB 3.0 products provide a high rate of transfer speed that allows you to move content-rich media back and forth between different devices.
USB 3.0 is specified to transfer at five gigabits per second, or 10 times faster than USB 2.0*. In our tests we observed speeds of up to 180 megabits per second, or three times faster than USB 2.0, which is a great improvement for activities such as large file transfers. USB 3.0 products are backward-compatible with USB 2.0 devices and will interoperate with them as well.
With SuperSpeed USB 3.0 products, you can do the following faster than before:
- Download HD movies and other multimedia
- Transfer high-bandwidth media and files back and forth
- Charge and sync devices, like a digital camera or smartphone
STATISTICS
- An In-Stat 2008 report shows more than 3 billion USB-enabled devices currently being shipped.
- According to The NPD Group data from February 2010, Belkin is the current market leader in USB connectivity**.
AVAILABILITY
SuperSpeed USB 3.0 PCIe Add-In Card (F4U023) – $79.99
- Connects up to 127 USB devices (through cascading additional hubs)
- Supports plug and play and hot-swap functionality
SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ExpressCard™ (F4U024) – $79.99
- Fully compliant with ExpressCard specification 1.0 and Universal Serial Bus 3.0 specification Revision 1.0
- Supports plug and play and hot-swap functionality
- Connects up to 127 USB devices (through cascading additional hubs)
SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Premium A-B Cable, 4 ft. (F3U158-04) – $39.99; 8 ft. (F3U158-08) – $49.99
SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Premium Micro-B Cable, 4 ft. (F3U165-04) – $39.99; 8 ft. (F3U165-08) – $49.99
QUOTE
RJ Theodore, General Manager of Core Products, at Belkin:
“Belkin has always led in adopting new technology and bringing products that support these new technologies to consumers. USB 3.0 is positioned to have a major impact in connectivity for computers, media players, and other devices. Similar to when USB 2.0 was first introduced, we plan on leading the integration of USB 3.0 with a line of thoughtful solutions that are easy for our customers to understand and use.”
*This is the theoretical performance of the USB 3.0 standard as specified by the USB-IF. Real-world throughputs will vary.
**USB connectivity consists of the following NPD categories: USB Hubs and USB Cables.
To learn more about Belkin International, Inc., visit http://www.belkin.com/pressroom/about/?sid=36.