Why Doesn Steve Jobs Care About USB 3.0?
Intel just revealed that its 2012 CPUs will include baked-in support for super-speed USB 3.0–the very same technology that Steve Jobs recently said isn’t taking off due to…lack of Intel support. What’s going on? Intel’s processor development trail leads to Chief River Intel just revealed its plans for the Chief River suite of CPUs, 22 nanometer chips based on the upcoming Ivy Bridge architecture and designed to succeed the Huron River notebook CPUs. They’re slated for mid-to-late 2011 mass production, with the first notebooks incorporating them likely due in early 2012. But Chief River includes one thing Intel has deliberately shied away from until now: Native USB 3.0 support. This is the super-speedy, fiber optic-boosted successor to the USB 2.0 ports that probably litter the sides and back of the computer you’re reading this on right now. It’s backwards-compatible, multiple times faster than USB 2.0, and is pretty future-focused–external hard drives that support the protocol for
