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Gigabyte is looking to prove that there is money to be made in the vacuum of a slow economy. Like competitor Asus who is still riding the eeePC craze, Gigabyte seems determined to become synonymous with USB 3.0. They have been releasing USB 3.0 powered motherboards for several months already. Their use of NEC’s USB-IF certified chipset has almost kept pace with NEC ability to produce them. Currently at 1 million motherboards, for every 3 USB 3.0 chips produced by NEC one of them is headed towards a Gigabyte motherboard.

Hopefully, betting on the technology will help build their name up and pay dividends in the long run. USB 3.0 isn’t exactly an uncertain technology, but Intel and some others seem to be waiting for it to pick up more momentum before fully adopting it. Other standards like LightPeak loom on the horizon with powerful backers making some people weary of backing the SuperSpeed pony. It’s even money as things stand now that LightPeak would become LightSpeed USB, and get adopted as another USB-IF standard. While there are some other great options out there, history teaches us that Moore’s Law is obeyed and that trying to exceed the speed increments that seem built into computer hardware development carry more than equivalent drawbacks. We’re still waiting for our multilayer fluorescing optical discs. SuperSpeed USB seems to be just right and ready to go. Check out Gigabyte’s USB 3.0 competition here as they try to get you to imagine the USB 3.0 future along with them.
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The current generation of USB monitors are great but a little on the diminutive side with few exceptions. The Panel from Medltech is a 13″ USB monitor which can run up to 1280×800 over the now miniscule 800×480 offered by current mini monitors. Running double the diagonal width comes with some extra power requirements that the USB 2.0 standard of 500mA just can’t handle. Medltech’s “The Panel” (they really need to come up with a different name) incorporates a rechargeable Li-ion battery that supplments USB power for up to 5 hours of run time. Charging options haven’t been specified but an external charger should allow it to reach full charge in roughly the same time; USB recharging might take double that amount of time. USB 3.0 powered version of this would be really exciting, it might not need the battery.

Surprisingly, this isn’t just a PC peripheral. It may actually end up a favorite of the consumer electronics crowd due to the plethora of multimedia connection options it offers. USB sourced video is just one of the many options available; VGA, DVI, Component, mini-HDMI and S-video inputs will also feed this tiny monster for a mobile gaming station with high definition display options. Having a self powered display unit can vastly simplify mobile presentations. Long road trips could definitely benefit from having a working game console to take the edge off. A low power monitor like this could make a traveling Wii Tennis tournament possible without draining your car battery or overloading the inverter. Price and release date aren’t available yet but this is one that would easily be worth a few benjamins just to have around.
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