USB 2.0 - High Speed Card

I have been talking about USB 2.0 almost everywhere in my posting. So what is USB 2.0 and whats the different with the previous version USB 1.1?

I will keep it simple. First time I heard about USB is on 1998, when the Windows 98 was launched. The first USB device that I know are mouse and printer.

The difference between USB 1.0, USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 are Speed, and voltage requirement.

If you have an external CD Writer or External Hard-disk and wondering how come its so slow where the speed is suppose to be very fast, thats probably because your machine is using USB 1.1.

How do you know that you are using USB 1.1 ?
When you plug your External Hard-Disk and CD Writer, Windows XP will give you a message "high-speed devices plugged into non-high-speed USB ports"
This shows that your Computer does not have USB 2.0. If you recently buy a computer, you should have USB 2.0, but if you have an earlier Pentium 4 or Pentium 3, you are most likely only have USB 1.1.

So what can you do then? Does that mean you have to buy a new PC or new Notebook?
Nope, you do NOT have to do that.

What you need is depending on your machine
1. Desktop User -> Buy a PCI Card for USB 2.0
2. Notebook User -> Buy a PCMCIA card for USB 2.0

Where to buy ?

For Notebook user:
Belkin-PCMCIA -USB 2.0

For Desktop User:
Belkin-PCI-USB 2.0

Why do you need to upgrade to USB 2.0 if all your gadgets are working?
1. Speed
When you upgrade to USB 2.0, your external storage will transfer the data faster
USB 1.1 -> Speed : 1.5 Mb/s
USB 2.0 -> Speed: 480 MB/s --> Notice the difference :-)
You will be a happy man after that

2. Voltage
When you upgrade to USB 2.0, more gadgets can be plugged to your machine
some of the new gadgets will only work with USB 2.0 i.e. new Web Cam, new External Storage

More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB

Happy shopping :)

cya