USB 3.0 coming soon to laptops and mini PCs

USB 3.0 technology has already been rolled out on certain desktop computer motherboards and it's now beginning to appear on some laptops and mini PCs. Asus is one of the first manufacturers to include USB 3.0 ports on a selection of flagship models.

Looking at the notebooks first of all, the first models set to feature USB 3.0 technology will be the Asus N71JA and the Asus N82JV. The N71JA is a 17-inch laptop with a Core i3 or i5 processor and an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730 graphics card. The N82JV will feature the same type of processors but with a 14-inch screen and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 335M graphics card.

Both models will be positioned towards the middle of the market, which is reassuring, as you won’t have to shell out a fortune to enjoy the benefits of USB 3.0. Both models are, however, limited to a maximum of two USB ports as that’s all their NEC chip can support.

Asus N71JA MARCHANDS €     Amazon.fr m...  805.28  Amazon.fr  824.59  Compare prices	Asus N82JV Find the best price

The Asus EeeBox PC EB1501U will be the brand’s first nettop PC to use USB 3.0 technology, with two ports on the front panel. It will feature the Intel Atom 330 processor and the NVIDIA ION chipset, as well as 2 GB of RAM, a hard drive of 250 to 320 GB and a slot-in DVD rewriter drive. This mini PC is about to be tested so keep an eye out for the results on Digital Versus soon.

Asus EeeBox EB1501U MARCHANDS €     Amazon.co.uk  309.67  Amazon mark...  372.21  Amazon mark...  465.52  Compare prices

SuperSpeed USB 3.0 allows theoretical transfer speeds of up to 4.8 Gb/s, compared with just 480 Mb/s for USB 2.0. A transfer speed that’s 10 times faster than USB 2.0 will certainly prove useful as external hard drives continue to increase in capacity and speed. Take a look at our test of one of the very first USB 3.0 hard drives.

Even though we already know the actual transfer speeds are more likely to be nearer three or four times faster than USB 2.0, it’s still an interesting technological development for laptop users who often save files to an external hard drive so as not to clog up the laptop’s internal hard drive (usually quite small). With USB 3.0 set to speed up file transfer, users won’t have to spend quite as many minutes twiddling their thumbs while they save or back up files.

> Product Survey: Laptops
> Product Survey: Mini PCs

> Buyer’s Guide: Laptops

> Buyer's Guides: Our Pick of The Best Products