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LaCie Brings USB 3.0 Hard Drive Support to Mac Pros and MacBook Pros

JAT said:
My views are based on the Bible, not any particular country's laws.
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Your Holiness,
The problem is the you live on earth. You don't live on heaven. You have to follow earth's laws. I don't really trust people who seem too sure to know exactly what God wants.

____________________________

I think it is ridiculous to argue why we should have this or that technology instead of the other one. It would be better to have a choice. What is wrong with streaming and wanting to have Blu-ray? Light peak and usb3 on the same machine?
 
Quality is the point of BD.

linux2mac said:
Vudu is offering 1080p videos now to rent and buy for those with 4.5 Mbps download speeds. ... Then you have Roku Box and now Netflix offering 1080P streaming. So what is really the point of a 1080P physical disc when streaming now offers 1080P?
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And do you believe that a 4 Mbps MP4 stream is any match for the quality of a 40-54 Mbps BD disc?

Many BD titles use more than 4 Mbps for the audio tracks alone.

Quality is the point of BD.


pr5owner said:
oh BTW @ Aidan Shaw, Christians believe that the new testament overwrites the old testament so that shrimp thing would be void in a Christianity argument...
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So, god was wrong about shrimp - interesting theological quandry.

[Actually, the GodHatesShrimp site is meant to illustrate how some "pick and choose" which parts of the bible to follow, and cherry pick some passage in the bible that scorns whatever they feel like scorning at the moment.]

</OT>
 
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Here we go with another compatibility war!

Light Peak is the USB of 2011, and already Apple's chosen connector. We knew that 6 months ago. The tie-in with Intel was always obviously so much deeper than processors.

And Apple's development lead-time means this was obviously planned well before that - probably around the time the Intel deal was considered, therefore definitely pre WWDC '05 and possibly around the time Apple began running OS X on Intel based Macs in the lab...

This begs the question: What on earth are LaCie playing at?
 
G58 said:
Here we go with another compatibility war!

Light Peak is the USB of 2011, and already Apple's chosen connector. We knew that 6 months ago. The tie-in with Intel was always obviously so much deeper than processors.

And Apple's development lead-time means this was obviously planned well before that - probably around the time the Intel deal was considered, therefore definitely pre WWDC '05 and possibly around the time Apple began running OS X on Intel based Macs in the lab...

This begs the question: What on earth are LaCie playing at?
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Probably they're trying to earn some revenue from those who really need the speed now, those who have older computers and don't plan to buy new ones.
 
Yeah, letting others do the dirty pioneering work. Remember how :apple: was last to implement usb2.0?
 
potatis said:
Yeah, letting others do the dirty pioneering work. Remember how :apple: was last to implement usb2.0?
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You're missing out all the important details.

Firstly, at that time Apple were putting their efforts behind Firewire 400, and then 800. There are reasons why that hasn't gone as well as it needed to.

But the important adoption of connectivity innovation was Apple's original singular USB push with the first iMacs. That changed computing forever. In one move we lost a myriad of different connection solutions, all more expensive to produce, all more complicated, all bigger, all causing compatibility issues.

But it took Windows PC manufacturers at least 5 years to get the message. I well recall people using USB converters to connect their old mice with whatever that cylindrical connector was called, to newer Windows machines.

Firewire was Apple's own development. But it didn't get a universal take-up, or even a universally adopted name. Windows users call it IEEE 1394! Retarded or what? Yet another example of over geeking something useful and in the process, killing it.
 
AidenShaw said:
And do you believe that a 4 Mbps MP4 stream is any match for the quality of a 40-54 Mbps BD disc?

Many BD titles use more than 4 Mbps for the audio tracks alone.

Quality is the point of BD.
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4.5 Mbps is the minimum. If you have higher bandwidth, you should get better results. Plenty of cities have ISPs offerring 50 Mbps or better. Also, like Blu-Ray, HDX can send tens of Mbps for delivering just the video in a movie.

On the subject of the amount of data being sent to provide audio and video, if it is difficult to impossible for the human eye and ear to discern the difference between BD and streaming except in the rarest of instances, it really becomes a moot point.

Let's also not forget human nature's propensity for the path of least resistance. All things being equal, people will often go with what is most convenient. Just look at audio formats. There are better ones out there than the most popular ones, but most people are content buying music tracks in the 5 or 6 MB range versus a 25 MB lossless track.

While "quality" is important, convenience no less so. Just ask all the people carrying portable record players.
 
deconstruct60 said:
The problem with LP versus USB 3.0 (and other copper stuff) is that it is going to be marginally more expensive. something like $15-20 cables versus $10-15 ones. For manufactures with razor thin margins ( folks other than Intel and Apple ***) that makes a big difference.
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$10-15? Why would anyone pay that much? Even Belkin cables are going for a pittance on Amazon

Belkin USB 3.0 1m/3' cable for £2.81 delivered

USB 3.0 cables will cost no more than USB 2.0 cables in next to no time. I cannot foresee the same with LP, which unfortunately may push it into the niche market. The best hope for it is if Apple somehow manages to shoehorn it into the iPad/iPhone/iPod without greatly increasing the cost or hitting battery life too hard.
 
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Great. I have an ExpressCard MBP. I use LaCie drives, for my own design/video work and the production company I work for has 100 of them. Great drives.

Not great. The LaCie eSata ExpressCard I already own causes kernel panics galore. Hope the driver for this is improved.
 
Hmm, maybe I can hack one of these USB 3 drivers so the USB 3 ports on my Hackintosh work...
 
Silly

What nonsense I read in this thread!!! "Firewire is fast enough", "USB 3 is stillborn", "I wait for lightpeak".

Hey, I hate to wait over one hour to clone my hard disk using Firewire 800. I really hate it. It must be faster and it must be available now. Not in two years. And I don't care about theoretical numbers like 10 or 5 or 3 or what a pity ONLY 2.5.

So let us talk about real numbers in real life (Thanx to #65). And about products which are available. And about stability/driver problems/kernel panics.

Is there anybody here who tested already the Caldigit or the LaCie product or compared it to eSATA or read a test about it?

BTW could somebody please delete all offtopic discussions? And could YOU please stop answering them?
:mad:
 
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leroypants said:
I thought that was one of the funniest posts, until i realized that you and others might actually believe it.
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Hmmm, Bulky and many cables or one cable for them all? Bulky and many cables or one cable for them all? You decide.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfGevFIVKw4

Lots of discs all over my desk and wall or 1080p streaming? Lots of discs all over my desk and wall or 1080p streaming?

If you don't get it by now, I can't help you.
 
acslater017 said:
I am not an expert in this field so can somebody enlighten me:

Will these super-fast USB interfaces improve real-world usage? Will hard drives, flash drives, video cameras, etc. be able to take advantage of these speeds if my computer's hard drive cannot keep up with it? Or will it simply buffer somehow?
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If you are a user that attaches only one or two peripherals to your computer at any one time and you already find yourself waiting minutes not seconds for transfers to happen, this is probably right up your alley.

Examples include external portable hard drives and memory sticks which will now transfer 3-6x as fast as a good USB2 connection. The 10x theoretical simply will not happen.

If you capture content such as high res digital stills or HD video to magnetic media and need to transfer it to your computer for storage or review, even in the field, then this is a wonderful release.

Any computer which currently can accept a USB3 PCI or Express card will also have a couple of USB2 slots for any other stuff you might want to do like attach mice, iPhones, wired printer, or even your Time machine drive which all happens in the background anyway.

Does that help?

Rocketman
 
linux2mac said:
Hmmm, Bulky and many cables or one cable for them all? Bulky and many cables or one cable for them all? You decide.
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It seems you don't have to decide or even think, Steve Jobs does all that for you, just follow him without question.

linux2mac said:
Lots of discs all over my desk and wall or 1080p streaming? Lots of discs all over my desk and wall or 1080p streaming?
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Some people can afford things like shelves or a bookcase. Second you can not compare the quality of a streaming video to a Blu-ray. I know the turtle necked overlord might have convinced you of that, but it is simply not true.

linux2mac said:
If you don't get it by now, I can't help you.
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I am grateful you can't help me accept inferior products.
 
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leroypants said:
It seems you don't have to decide or even think, Steve Jobs does all that for you, just follow him without question.
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I don't need SJ to point out the obvious. Thanks for your assumption though. And you know what happens when people "assume" right?

leroypants said:
Some people can afford things like shelves or a bookcase.
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LOL! Some people just don't get it.


leroypants said:
Second you can not compare the quality of a streaming video to a Blu-ray. I know the turtle necked overlord might have convinced you of that, but it is simply not true.
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Allow me to enlighten you again. BD and HDX display the same 24fps.

http://www.home-theater-systems-advice.com/VUDU-1080p-HD-movie.html

DOH!
 
Lighten up guys

What is wrong with all you people? USB3 is great. The interface cards are cheap, the speed is incredible and the convenience is unsurpassed.

I just bought a cheap PCIe interface card for my PC, some external boxes for 2,5 inch SATA drives (come with cables even!) and now I'm transferring files at the maximum speed the drives can manage. Even popped my SSD into one of those things and lo and behold, 275 MB/sec. No need for power bricks and all that and the USB3 ports are even backwards compatible. What's not to like?

LaCie and that other company should be commended for bringing USB3 to the Mac. If you don't need it, fine. Be happy. For all other people, especially those who also live in the PC world: great news.
 
the lacie pci e card is 50 bucks the caldigit is 75 bucks the real question it which works better? does one of them boot? if they don't boot they are not a big deal. has anyone boot tested them?

speed is around 115 to 120MB/s so the only way the usb3 is as good is if it boots.
 
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JAT said:
Considering USB2 is a joke for drive usage due to the inherent design of USB, does 3 fix that? Or is it just faster but still including slow downs from other devices and overall latency?
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Hmm, USB2 seems to work ok for the rest of the world... At least Apple has the good grace to include USB2 ports on all their laptops. If only they could do the same with FW...
 
G58 said:
You're missing out all the important details.

Firstly, at that time Apple were putting their efforts behind Firewire 400, and then 800. There are reasons why that hasn't gone as well as it needed to.

But the important adoption of connectivity innovation was Apple's original singular USB push with the first iMacs. That changed computing forever. In one move we lost a myriad of different connection solutions, all more expensive to produce, all more complicated, all bigger, all causing compatibility issues.

But it took Windows PC manufacturers at least 5 years to get the message. I well recall people using USB converters to connect their old mice with whatever that cylindrical connector was called, to newer Windows machines.

Firewire was Apple's own development. But it didn't get a universal take-up, or even a universally adopted name. Windows users call it IEEE 1394! Retarded or what? Yet another example of over geeking something useful and in the process, killing it.
Click to expand...

That's because the IEEE maintains the standard, initially developed by Apple and then further developed under the the IEEE work group (in conjunction with various other companies). Considering Apple litigious nature, other companies are probably not allowed to call it Firewire. IEEE 1394 is the correct name for the interface.

Hope this clears some things up for you....

Regarding the use of USB/PS2 adapters - the PC world regards legacy support as an important feature. Apple does not.

Firewire is niche for a variety of reasons (despite it's better performance), one of which is Apple's own inconsistent support for it on their own hardware and the 3rd party integration cost (IIRC there was a licensing fee as well).
 
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