Latitudes with Native USB 3

Does anyone have a sense of when we might start to see Dell Latitudes with native USB 3?

And does anyone know why Intel has been so reluctant to support the USB 3 standard?

 

If you need more speed, I'd recommend eSATA.

The benefits and adoptance rate of USB 3.0 probably isn't worth the cost for manufacturers.

 

Thanks for the response. I guess it just seems like USB 3.0 has been on the verge of wide-scale adoption for some time, but Intel seems to have been less than enthusiastic about incorporating support for it into its mobile chip sets up until now.

I was just doing some research on this and Intel has apparently announced that it will included native support for USB 3.0 in its mobile chips, possibly beginning in early 2012. Here is a link to a story about this, for anyone who might be interested:

Intel, AMD Talk USB 3.0 Chipset Support

USB 3.0 is the one feature that the current latitude 6520 does not have that really bothers me. If I buy one and then USB 3.0 becomes standard in these notebooks within a few months, I am going to be pissed.

 

I doubt it's going to become a standard anytime soon, manufacturers will need to release USB 3.0 capable devices, such as USB drives, otherwise your chipset isn't going to be any more useful than a USB 2.0 one.

I wouldn't let the purchase of a computer depend on including some new feature, as you can always say that and delay a purchase. Newer technologies are always just around the corner, so if you need a new computer, just go for it and don't worry about the tiny details such as USB 3.0.

 

USB 3.0 drives are getting pretty common here, you can buy 1-2TB drives in retail stores no problem and they aren't significantly more expensive than USB 2 drives.

According to the spec-sheet the E6420 has USB 3 via a modular bay addon, not sure what controller is used (most are NEC) but you'll have to wait for mid 2012 models before you'll see anything with an Intel USB 3 controller.

For the E6410 I can use USB 3 at a slightly lower speed with an ExpressCard addon, but it uses a lot of power even in standby so I don't normally keep it plugged in.

 

Yeah, you are right. But I will probably use this laptop for quite a while, so it would be nice to have this capability. Some people buy new cars and new computers every time a new model comes out. That is just not my style.

 

Based on articles I have seen, I have not gotten the impression it will necessarily take that long. But there do tend to be delays in these things, so maybe you are right. I am not going to wait for a year. I may not wait two weeks.

 

That explains why Dells cheapest Inspiron 14r ($550) laptop has 2xUSB 3.0 ports. Even the Vostro 3450 (shares motherboards with the consumer segment?) has USB 3.0 ports. I think they just got cheap with the Latitudes because the business sector takes a little longer to adopt new tech and they knew they could get away with it.

There are plenty of USB 3.0 hard drives available for good prices. USB 3.0 flash drives are available, but cost quite a bit more than their *much slower* USB 2.0 counterparts.