Is new Drobo S USB 3.0 a good buy considering LightPeak?

Sensamic

Sensamic

macrumors 68040
Hi everyone.

Im interested in buying the new Drobo S with USB 3.0. I think it would be the better choice of all Drobos right now because of the USB 3.0. I think all computers will eventually have USB 3.0 in the future, so if Im gonna spend a lot of money in storage, like the Drobo, its wise to buy it with USB 3.0.

Ive been doing research, and it worries me the whole battle USB 3.0 vs LightPeak. My question is, whoever wins, will USB 3.0 still be available on future Macs?

I mean, considering that USB 2.0 is universal and all, its logic that USB 3.0 will be in Macs too, anytime in the future.

What do you guys thin? Should I buy this Drobo S or wait to see if USB 3.0 disappears or whatever?

Thanks!
 
Just opinion, but I don't think you'll see LightPeak in machines for another 3 years. If USB3.0 makes it into intel laptop chipsets... it will make it into Apple's laptops.

USB3.0 is backward compatible so all your USB2.0 stuff will work hooked up to a USB3.0 port. The same cannot be said for a LightPeak port... and the average user doesn't want to buy a computer with a new port if it means they also have to buy new cameras, printers, scanners... altho a lot of them may be moving over to a wireless interface so that may not matter...
 
USB 3 is just USB 2 times 10. It will be used for all the kind of things that USB 2 is now, and will eventually be incorporated in Macs. When this will be is uncertain, although probably sometime in 2011, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Light Peak is not a replacement for USB. It is an expensive, super high speed connection that works over longer distances than USB. It will be incorporated on devices that presently use Firewire or Ethernet, ie. very high speed storage clusters (eg SSD RAID 0 in a box), networking computers, and very high resolution screens probably with USB 3 ports on them.

If you're a normal consumer, Light Peak is unlikely to have any effect on you. At least not for 3-5 years. USB 3 will become a big deal within the next year, ie. as soon as USB 3 flash drives become mainstream.
 
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What's the point of a USB 3 connection on a Drobo? Either USB 2 or FW400 have plenty of bandwidth. The bottleneck is the Drobo, not the interface.
 
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