Why native USB 3.0 for Mac won't happen

It's jus GREED on apple's part. Apple like most companies will just look after their own f'cking bottom line at the expense of real honest customer service and consumer welfare. Steve is no different from his predecessors. At least bill is now giving back with their foundation.

I'm sure they will just push their weight around with millions of iOS devices on the lose. I should stop buying apple products their cutting edge but have lots of caveats, after sales issues and defects.

Got a few opinions on the matter, but they all pale in comparison with "obsoleteness"???? Sorry, what? Try obsolescence.

USB 3 is fairly pointless on a practical level - sure it's a nice upgrade but for the average person who is copying over a 400 MB file or 20 photos - what's the actual difference - about .05 seconds? If you're doing live video editing or transferring TB's of data, sure, that adds up for the average person? So, yea, if this next gen is coming ... right now, good enough is good enough ... if you had a visible boost for this for internet, now that woudl be noticeable and wanted but for now, good enough is good enough - and the .01% of the population who needs USB3, you can add that capability for a few bucks more ...

"In my humble opinion, with the slow adoption of USB 3.0, and its imminent obsoleteness with Light Peak around the corner, it wouldn't make sense for Apple to introduce a technology that's about to be replaced by a better one. "

hmmm sounds an awful lot like the same argument for Firewire over USB 10 years ago.

pshhhh. this is stupid beyond belief when you look at the computer as a whole

before we even get into not-Apple, this would require apple to make a new iphone and ipod model line with lightpeak for all these new computers and usb at the same time, thus they'd have to rejigger their dock connector that wouldn't be backwards compatable because lightpeak isn't on it, and would never get a single upgrade for old iphone/ipod users to the new hardware.

it'd be a hard sell to tell someone you need a new printer, cell phone, keyboard, mouse, wifi internet adaptor, thumb drive, and the like if they buy a new computer

usb 3.0 WILL be coming to Macs. Apple won't shoot itself in the foot.

The slow adoption of USB 3.0 has been an artificial one. The spec is done. Add-on cards have been available for over a year and a half now. AMD has been integrating them onto their motherboards for several months... Its Intel who is dragging their feet, probably trying to hold out as long as they can so that lightpeek will come out (which hasn't).

Intel doesn't allow licenses for any of its chipset architectures. If you buy an Intel processor today, you have to run it on an Intel chipset motherboard. And guess what Intel conveniently did not include in their own chipset designs? USB 3.0. Therefore, any OEM that wants to implement USB 3.0 would have to throw in an add-on card for it to work, which basically eliminates the possibility of USB 3.0 being implemented on notebooks for the most part, since the chipset itself does not support it and there's no room for an addon.

LightPeek is an interesting technology, but its disgusting how Intel is purposefully delaying USB 3.0 compatibility in their chipsets for their own monopolistic agenda.

I think some are missing the point. It isn't USB vs LightPeak. LightPeak will simply make USB easier. LP can easily support USB3, just get a USB3 hub, and away you go. Think about plugging in your MBP with one cable, and it is like a docking station. You have power, HDMI or DisplayPort, and all the USB/FW you would need. This also makes the need for lots of ports on a computer unnecessary.

And I'm sure LP will have some sort of power. It wouldn't make sense otherwise. Just because it is using optical (maybe) doesn't mean it can't carry a copper wire as well. In fact being optical has the advantage of allowing a large amount of power to go through the copper without the risk of interference.

The first LightPeak devices, like hard drives, will probably also double as USB and other connector type hubs. That way there is not a need to buy a separate device just to get started.

Portable, affordable USB 3.0 drives are available *today*. USB 2.0 is now officially past it's prime.

Clearly there are use cases where USB 3.0 won't replace FireWire (or Light Peak), but waiting to implement the better technology *maybe* a year from now completely misses an opportunity to be competitive with good technology today vs. the glut of cheap plastic PC laptops (that will ship with USB 3.0, if they aren't already.)

I think what everyone here is forgetting is that USB is about more than data transfer - although that is a very big component of it. USB also charges your devices, and can do this while transferring data, a feat which Light Peak, being an optical interface, could never achieve. Regardless of whatever spin Intel puts on the issue, there will always be a need for an interface like USB. In addition, look at how many peripheral devices will become useless if the industry standard went to Light Peak. At least with USB 3, it is backwards compatible with most USB and USB 2 devices. I don't think a whole lot of consumers are going to be very happy to have to buy Light Peak compatible versions of their devices just to use them. Don't get me wrong, I think Light Peak is a great thing, but I just don't see it replacing USB. I see it more as being complimented by USB. Think about it: plug your drive's data cable into a Light Peak port, and power the drive using USB. You get the best of both worlds (albeit with an obligatory tangle of cables).

Historically, it seems like the faster connections would most likely appear on the MacPro first since the demands for faster speeds are heavier on the film/video industries.

My main concern is that whatever the next upgrade may be, that they seriously consider the connector... FW 800's connector is fine if you're working on a desktop, but I use it mostly on my laptop, and the connector is so loose that it easily bumps out. USB & FW 400 seed themselves nicely, and don't easily unplug. FW 800 on the other hand comes out at the slightest bump which is no fun when I'm working on a long project, and all of my media suddenly goes offline. I've been hoping for USB 3 as a future alternative, but lightpeak is a welcome alternative! Let's just hope that it's not something that takes them 4 years to push to market.