Asus Vows To Bring USB 3.0 Across The Line, Will Others Take Notice?

Asus has been a huge fan of USB 3.0, and they have definitely supported the protocol on a few Eee PC machines and motherboards early on. We personally think everyone should be shifting to USB 3.0 as soon as possible, and it's tough to swallow any new PCs with "just" USB 2.0. Now, Asus is making a challenge to every other company out there: shift to USB 3.0, or get left behind.

Asus was the first major company to include USB 3.0 on a mainboard, and the company has a huge lineup of USB 3.0 motherboards on the horizon. They are also promising to include it on a number of upcoming Eee PC netbooks (1018, 1015 and 1016), the N Series of notebooks and the Eee Box 1510U and Eee Box 1210U.

Having USB 3.0 on lower-end machines is something we didn't really expect at first; we suspected that higher-end machines would get it first, and slowly it would trickle down. But this ground-up approach certainly bodes well for the future of USB 3.0, so long as everyone else will stop trying to evaporate their USB 2.0 chipsets from inventory and get with the program.

ASUS Leads the Way for True USB 3.0 Integration in Complete Product Line From Mainstream to Hardcore, ASUS Introduces Consumers to USB 3.0

Taipei, Taiwan, March 24, 2010 – The introduction of USB 3.0 heralds a new age of faster than ever connectivity to benefit consumers in a reality of massive high definition content. Seeing this evolution coming, ASUS has been the first to ready and launch an entire lineup of products that truly incorporate USB 3.0 in their designs, making the most of its new features.

ASUS was the first to include USB 3.0 on a motherboard, offering the new technology not just as-is, but optimized to realize its potential. Based on world-acclaimed motherboard design expertise, ASUS has been able to quickly move on integrating USB 3.0 so that consumers may take advantage of it without delays and the teething problems associated with generic, after a fashion designs.

One result of the intense efforts ASUS has put into building a roster of USB 3.0-ready products is the unique PCIe x4 bridge chip, designed from the ground up to enable true USB 3.0 performance levels without compromise. This has resulted in blistering fast performance that outstrips other solutions by as much as 74.38%*.

ASUS has extended USB 3.0 implementation to a full range of motherboards, from the mainstream to the hardcore enthusiast. To ensure backward compatibility and protect the investment of existing consumers, ASUS has even developed a standalone PCIe x4 card solution to offer USB 3.0 on previously-released motherboard models.

The P6X58D Premium motherboard by ASUS is also the first to be officially certified by the USB Implementation Forum (USB-IF) as achieving the standard's newly-formulated SuperSpeed USB compliance requirements.
USB 3.0 here to stay

The availability of super fast data transfer to consumers is not a gimmick; it is the way of the future and a means to providing better technology to people around the world. Knowing this, ASUS now offers USB 3.0 on a wide range of products beyond motherboards. This includes notebooks, the Eee PC range of netbooks, all-in-one PCs and even digital media players. All of these feature designs specifically tailored to accommodate USB 3.0 connectivity so that its true benefits are available in full.

In this, too, ASUS is first, offering far reaching coverage of different product segments. While for many USB 3.0 remains a novelty confined to ultra-pricey offerings, ASUS believes every product that can be designed to optimize its performance must include the new standard.

Speaking about the innovative move of introducing USB 3.0 in as many product lines as possible, ASUS CEO Jerry Shen said:
"We are the first in the world to introduce USB 3.0 through our notebooks, namely the multimedia N Series. We're also the first to win USB-IF certification, achieved on our P6X58D premium motherboard. We believe that USB 3.0 has a pivotal role to play in delivering the ultimate experience to a new generation of multimedia-savvy users. With USB 3.0, everyone can enjoy fast data backup and ultra-speedy file sharing."

As of this writing, ASUS has already integrated USB 3.0 into the following products, with numerous others to be added in the immediate future.

          o N Series notebooks
          o Eee Box 1510U/1210U
          o Eee PC 1018/1015/1016
          o Motherboards:
                + P7P55/P7P55D/P7P55D-E Series (Intel P55 chipset)
                + P7P55 WS SuperComputer (Intel P55 chipset)
                + ROG Rampage II Series/Rampage III Extreme (Intel X58 chipset)
                + ROG Maximus III Series (Intel P55 chipset)
                + P6T/P6TD/P6X58 Series (Intel X58 chipset)
                + P7F7-E WS SuperComputer (Intel 3450 chipset)
                + P7H57/P7H55 Series (Intel H57/H55 chipset)
                + P5G41T-M/USB3 (Intel G41 chipset)
                + P5P43TD/USB3 (Intel P43 chipset)
                + M4A89 Series (AMD 890GX/890FX chipset)
                + M4A88/M4A87 Series (AMD 880/870 chipset)
                + M4A77 Series (AMD 770 chipset)
                + M4A785 Series (AMD 785G chipset)
                + M4A78 Series (AMD 780 chipset)
                + M4A79 Series (AMD 790FX chipset)

For further information on the continuing integration of USB 3.0 in more ASUS products, please visit these sites:
http://event.asus.com/mb/2010/USB3/index.htm