By Luke Anderson
I remember back when FireWire was first introduced (yes, it’s actually called IEEE 1394, but I’m an old-school Mac guy, so it’s FireWire) and it had some incredible speed to it. Of course USB 2.0 eventually came along and became the more widely used standard. FireWire 800 came out a little while later, but despite its faster speed, never really caught on. Don’t count the standard out though, as a newer, faster version is coming this fall.
The newer FireWire spec is rated at transfer speeds of up to 3.2Gbit/s, which is a considerable jump. It is expected to be compatible with previous standards, something that likely contributed to the lack of interest in FireWire 800. Unfortunately with USB 3.0 on the way with 4.8Gbit/s, it faces some serious competition.
VIA [ Gearlog ]
Firewire needs to rollover and die. That one useless firewire port I have on my computer could have been another USB port. And especially with USB3 just around the corner – 3.2 Gb/s isn’t going to be enough!!!
Speak for yourself, Mike.
As a semi-pro musician and video editor, let me say that USB sucks compared to firewire.
….some of us actually have to use a LOT of bandwidth in SUSTAINED operations and the burst mode of USB just doesn’t cut it.