Although you'd probably be able to get more distance, the further you go the more likely you will begin to experience slower transfer rates because of corruptions in the file packets, until entire files are not able to transfer any longer. USB only extends across 16 feet of typical USB cable. Perhaps one of USB's biggest limitations is its distance limitations. USB 3.0 is just now becoming available in consumer products, and will become the standard in the future. USB 3.0 was demonstrated in 2007, and has increased USB 2.0's maximum transfer rates by 10 times, supporting 4.8 Gbit/s (which translates to roughly 600 Megabytes per second).

Improving upon USB 1.1's 'Full Speed' of 12 Mbit/s, USB 2.0 to this day supports a max transfer rate of 480 Mbit/s. decided to join forces and develop a higher-speed USB standard. Later, large companies like Intel, HP, Lucent, Microsoft, etc. USB 1.1 was soon developed after that to help solve problems with the initial USB adoption process. USB 1.0 was introduced in 1995 but wasn't standardized in computers until 1998 when Apple Computers came out with the iMac G3. USB was originally designed to replace the motley assortment of cables coming out of the backs of personal computers with their big inconvenient connectors which were USB's predecessors: parallel and serial connections. You probably already know a lot about USB, being that it is now the most popular data connection for typical consumer end computers. USB stands for Universal Serial Bus, which you probably already knew. Below are the 4 most common connector types, but many more exist as some companies design their own versions for their products. USB B and mini-B are the most common connectors found on USB devices.

USB A is the connection found on computers. There are several different USB connector types. This creates the ability to easily expand the number of USB devices can be connected to a single computer. The design of the system, however, allows you to use a USB hub to split that one USB port into several, allowing you to connect many USB devices to a single port. These cables have repeaters in them that allow the signal to be repeated to longer distances.Įach USB port can only physically connect to one device. You can get around this problem by using active USB extension cables. Using passive USB cables longer than this can result in improper function of the USB device. USB supports a maximum standard cable length of 16 feet.

Usb 2 vs usb 3 for mice