This article was written in December 2009. USB 3.0 is already available, sir.

And the technology was accepted in late 2008.  But won't be really available until later this year.  Try finding a computer with it.  It can be done but not readily as of yet.

of course, here's what willl come around right after USB comps start being the norm...and then will make you curse for dropping the cash on them if you're an early adopter.  Sigh...it never ends.

And that's something to sigh about? Advancement in technology is one of humanity's great hopes.

I can't afford the new technology!

That too was written two years ago. USB 3.0 is here and off the shelf. I do not see Light Peak anywhere.

Since then I've found that the best thing to do is when you're forced to upgrade for one performance reason or another is to buy the most reasonable 2nd tier technology available at that instant and drive it til the wheels fall off. I'm sure by today's standard my Intel Core2 Duo 6600 @2.4GHz is a POS but it does all I need it to do.

After about a dozen times around the high performance technology ferris wheel the bleeding edge of technology loses it's appeal. No matter what you buy it loses half its value once you drive it off the lot and in 6 months will be obsolete. It's not a matter of money because I can afford any system that I could ever want its just a matter of the ennui of who cares.

In any case my desire for the highest performance hardware is highly diminished by the crap software most companies put out these days. If you look at it honestly you have to acknowledge that over my working life which is a little bit in excess of 30 years processor, memory, video, cache, system bus, or any other measure of hardware performance that you wish to choose has increased by at least 1,000 times. Generally from MHz to a corresponding value of GHz.

Over tha same period by about the most generous allowance overall system performance you can grant is perhaps 10 times more performant than 30 years ago and that's being very generous. Viewed this way software has effectively wasted hardware performance improvements of over 100 times. In other words for every doubling of hardware performance, software is able to effectively utilize only 1 percent.

Why should I spend my money on improved hardware so that the latest software can waste 99% of the improvement?

I'm not saying you should always pay for the latest technological advances, you'll have to weigh the pros and cons on your own. But if you by default lament new technology, that is a poor attitude to have since we owe so much to it. If someone sighs at technological advancements being unending, I would say we should be so fortunate that it never ends.

+1

Pre built computers always lag a bit behind. If you build your own you can easily have usb 3.0 at this point. But really.. who cares? I never do anything speed intensive with USB anyway. I use it for.. my wireles mouse. my wireless controller, mp3 player and a printer.. lol

<s> you mean that motherboard with 4 usb3 ports i ordered thursday isn't usb3 compatible?  </s>

The desktop computer sitting next to me on my desk has two (2) USB 3.0 ports in it. I built this computer last fall. I had no trouble at all getting my hands on a motherboard supporting the USB 3.0 standard.

If you are still convinced that you are correct, then explain to me why USB 3.0 appears in the tech specs of this alienware desktop:

http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-aurora-r3/pd.aspx

Cheers.

Best answer. Trying to keep up with tech is never ending. You have to take the plunge at some point. Know what you want and then wait for a reasonable price.

The thing is, when you have USB external HDD's, USB3 is a great innovation and a time saver for data backups and transfers, etc.  Thus my next build most definitely will have USB3 ports because I already have 2 USB3 compatible external drives and I'd like to save more time when creating my weekly backups [2 OSes/2 internal storage HDD's}.

Oh i agree 100%. There is a use for USB 3 of course. I just personally wouldn't see any improvement from it, and maybe i'm unknowingly in the minority.. but I figure the average pc user wouldn't either. I'll probably have usb 3 with my next build as well.. but not because i want it or need it.. just because it's on most new motherboards lol. But ya.. maybe I underestimate the amount of data transfers people do through USB.

I certainly didn't mean to imply its useless.. just that to alot of people the difference between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 wouldn't be noticable. I just found it odd that someone would suggest people should wait to purchase a new PC because they would want USB3 instead of 2. Because if you think about it.. anyone who has a need for USB3 probably is already informed of it.

If you're not doing it yourself it is guaranteed to come back and bite you....eventually.

Backing up data/work/etc is critical/essential.

LoL i Reformat yearly.(sometimes every 2 years.. anytime i do a major upgrade.)I have a rule.. i don't put any data on my PC I can't afford to lose(this is something that was engrained into me from years of using windows, and cheap second hand harddrives). I could see how that would be valid for people who use a PC for work, or someone who doesn't consider a reformat as a solution to any problem).. but a pc is just my gaming toy. (consequently the amount of upgrading and poking around I do is why i'm still running XP rather than one of the phone home/hash check windows versions)

Oh....you mean one of the MS OSes that actually WORKS? [Windows 7]....

XP is a dinosaur.....that hasn't seen/noticed the meteor strike....yet.

Very true.. but the price of a NON OEM version of windows7 is something I haven't been able to justify to myself(yet). If only games were made for Linux.. lol. But ya at this point I'm running an AM2+ mobo with an AM3 processor(last thing I upgraded) and 4gb of DDR2. So in order for me to justify upgrading I need more ram.. and i'm certinally not going to buy more DDR2 at this point.. so i need a new MOBO. So next upgrade goes to mobo and 6+gb of DDR3. Then spending $200 for a 64 bit OS will be easier to talk myself into. Of course thats all assuming I have extra cash to do so...which is another issue entirely.