What is USB 3.1?
Just when you finally upgraded to USB 3.0, you're now starting to hear about USB 3.1. Isn't that the way it always happens?
Well, fret not: Whatever device you just purchased isn't outdated - yet. USB 3.1 is merely a spec at this point, which means that developers are being invited to create products using the new chip. The USB 3.0 Promoter Group announced the news in a press release (you can see the full release by clicking here), but a timeline for when products may start arriving wasn't given.
What we do know at this point (August 2013) is that USB 3.1 will have top recorded speeds of 10Gbps; this is twice the max speeds of USB 3.0. Of course, max speeds are rarely hit using consumer products. The typical speed tends to fall far short of this. But max speeds rising do mean that average speeds will increase as well, which is very exciting for the world of computer peripherals.
Thankfully, the alliance said that the USB 3.1 spec will still be compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 devices, so your computer's USB ports won't be obsolete and unusable when the 3.1-compatible devices do begin to arrive.
Well, fret not: Whatever device you just purchased isn't outdated - yet. USB 3.1 is merely a spec at this point, which means that developers are being invited to create products using the new chip. The USB 3.0 Promoter Group announced the news in a press release (you can see the full release by clicking here), but a timeline for when products may start arriving wasn't given.
What we do know at this point (August 2013) is that USB 3.1 will have top recorded speeds of 10Gbps; this is twice the max speeds of USB 3.0. Of course, max speeds are rarely hit using consumer products. The typical speed tends to fall far short of this. But max speeds rising do mean that average speeds will increase as well, which is very exciting for the world of computer peripherals.
Thankfully, the alliance said that the USB 3.1 spec will still be compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 devices, so your computer's USB ports won't be obsolete and unusable when the 3.1-compatible devices do begin to arrive.
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