The main purpose of USB is to provide fast and useful mean to attach
external components to the PC. The USB technology is defined by power,
speed and convenience.
A single USB interface can carry 500 milliamps which is equivalent to
0.5 amps of electricity to the different hardware parts connected to it.
Low-voltage peripherals like power-efficient storage drives and USB hubs
can use the electricity instead of other power sources like AC adapter.
The USB 2.0 supports a maximum data transmission speed of 480 Mbps which
is 300 times faster than the maximum data transmission speeds of a
parallel port. USB technology in USB 2.0 is more than 4,000 times faster
than the top data transmission speeds of a serial port.
USB technology offers the biggest convenience for users who need to add
hardware to the present system. Each USB port is able to support string
of hardware components connected one to another, just like a chain of as
many as 127 devices. In short, there are practically no limits to the
number of components you can add to your PC. Plus, USB ports are
hot-pluggable that means you can very easily add USB-equipped
peripherals to your PC. For all these advantages and benefits, USB has
begun making huge impact on the world of PC. Today, most of the PCs
support the new Hi-Speed USB 2.0.
USB 2.0
USB 2.0 is almost similar to its forerunner, USB 1.1, except for one
feature that makes it different - its speed. The earlier generation USB
1.1 supports a maximum throughput of 12 Mbps which is equal to 1.5 MBps,
on the other hand USB 2.0 supports throughput of 480 Mbps which is equal
to 60 MBps. This fast transmission speeds of USB 2.0 makes it the
perfect technology for transferring data from storage drives, digital
cameras, scanners, and other external parts that need to transfer
information to the PC.
Besides, USB 2.0 is fully backward-compatible with USB 1.1, which allows
you to plug a USB 2.0 device into a USB 1.1 port. The device will work,
but at the most it will have a partial data throughput of 12Mbps. This
is similar if you plug a USB 1.1 device into a USB 2.0 port.
Benefits of USB 2.0
Hi-Speed USB 2.0 with higher bandwidth supports most of the PC user
applications, like web publishing and digital image creation where
multiple high-speed peripherals will be running at the same time. Today,
hi-Speed USB 2.0 has already replaced USB 1.1, which is the most common
connector on PC systems for peripherals like mice, removable storage,
keyboards, scanners, joysticks and printers.
|
