We know, we know: Macs don’t support USB 3.0 yet, which allows USB to pipe through up to a blistering 3.2 Gbit per second of data throughput. The good news is, we all know it’s coming: we just have to be patient.
But why wait for Apple to catch up when Iomega is now selling USB 3.0 compatible external drives in their eGo range, which are not only backwards compatible with USB 2.0 (and therefore, your Mac) but without any price premium over their USB 2.0 progenitors.
According to Iomega, they will be updating all of their eGo portable drives to support USB 3.0 by the end of October. The 500GB currently costs just $114, and the 1TB model weighing in at $189, although these are MSRPs and are quite often yet.
Iomega’s not stopping at USB 3.0 support: they are also adding in 256-bit AES hardware encryption, and promising the drives will be capable of withstanding seven foot drops without a hitch.
As for when we can expect our Macs to be able to take advantage of USB 3.0, Iomega’s Jonathan Huberman told Slashgear that Cupertino’s delay was “interesting,” but he expected them to move to USb 3.0 by Q1 2011.
The bottom line: if you think that Apple is going to shift to USB 3.0 at any time in the near future — and its hard to imagine they won’t — Iomega’s just given you a very compelling reason to pick up one of their new drives. They cost the same, they’ll work with your current Mac, and when USB 3.0 hits Apple’s line-up next year, you’ll be able to take advantage of your drive’s blistering speed the second you unbox your new Mac.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
