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CalDigit brings USB 3.0 AV Drive to the Mac, still working on peace in the Middle East (video)
With Intel showing signs of jumping on board, USB 3.0 is looking more and more like the one next-gen interconnect to rule them all. Them all except for Apple, of course, who has notably thrown its support exclusively behind Light Peak. The chums at Cupertino have no interest in newer, bluer revisions of USB, but enterprise storage firm CalDigit thinks that many Apple lovers will. It has developed USB 3.0 PCIe and ExpressCard adapters (plus the necessary drivers) that will bring 5Gbps transfers to Macs, and is releasing its CalDigit AV Drive to match, up to 2TB of external storage with 145MBps transfers. (It also sports FireWire 800 compatibility if you're not ready to cross the interface picket line just yet.) That PCIe adapter will set you back a not entirely unreasonable $59, while the 1TB external drive is $199. No price on the ExpressCard adapter or 2TB version yet, but all are said to be shipping presently. Update: As bhillyer70 pointed out in comments, these are now available in the CalDigit store. The 2TB drive will set you back $299, while the ExpressCard adapter is listed at $69 and sports this somewhat troubling disclaimer: "CalDigit does not guarantee USB 3.0 performance on all Macs or when used in conjunction with third party products. The driver has been optimized for CalDigit certified products." Perhaps we should re-open those peace talks...
