Usb 3.0 - Yes-No?

Hi!
I'm buying a new laptop Asus N56VM http://www.cyberport.de/notebook-und-tablet/notebooks/1C28-1CT/asus-n56vm-s4032v-i7-3610qm-ivy-bridge-neuheit-.html (but) it has only 3.0 usb ports!
So after reading a lot of forum posts..i'm not sure that this is a good idea?
Can someone please help!
What's your experience with usb 3.0?

PS: I really want this laptop,it has awesome config (except hdd which i will change with something faster)

 

I am in line for a laptop soon... will definitely be getting on with at least a few 3.0 ports as transfer rate is super fast and will likely get used in the future for audio.

I am pretty sure you are ok here... as I believe 3.0 ports are backwords compatible and USB and USB2 will also work in them.

 

I just brought a brand new Toshiba Satellite L750 quad core just for running Traktor, it's got 2 usb 2 and 1 usb 3 ports. I got it all set up and plugged in my S4 and got a BSOD. What who the hell gets BSOD's in win 7, after several restarts I still couldn't get rid of the problem.

Then I realised the S4 was plugged into usb 3 so I swapped to usb 2 and never had the problem again.
So much for backwards compatibility.

 

That sucks.

 

USB 3.0 is not really compatible with NI kit..! but there maybe driver updates

 

I just bought a pair of N76, it works straight out of the box, don't worry.

molenz, as per Toshiba & related website, seems you'll have a shed load of bios & driver update to do... some are dated of april 2012... and there's an USB 3.0 driver update too.

All my NI card works on USB 3.0 here, on various system, no hicup whatsoever.

 

I would steer clear of USB3 when using NI products.

 

+1

 

@DJKeyWee: does it really work on your N76? I've got a NI Komplete Audio 6, and I wanted to buy that notebook, but I only heard bad things about NI hardware and USB3.0, as the others said before me.. I tried it on a USB 3.0 port on my notebook but it didn't work..

 

It work for me with my S4, Audio 8, Audio 2, Audio 4, Komplete Audio 6.

Did you tried through a USB hub?

 

I confirm the issue. I got a new machine with one 3.0 and two 2.0 ports. I immediately assumed that 3.0 would be better, and it is supposed to be backwards compatible. For that reason I connected my S4 to that port. BAD IDEA. It will get unstable and go into panic mode some seconds after you start streaming audio, if you get it to work at all. I think it is more of a firmware issue in NIs hardware than a driver issue. However, I connect a 2.0 hub to the 3.0 port and run an X1 off the hub with no problems yet. So as long as you get a hub, you should be 'aight.

 

So I would assume our advice for the OP is don't get that machine?

 

Ok..here it is.official answer from NI support:

The problem is that out interfaces use a technology called 'isochronous streaming'
(this makes the drivers much faster).

The standard USB specifications cover this feature, and every USB2 controller
supports it.
But most USB3 controllers do not (yet) support 'isochronous streaming' (for
example the commonly used 'Renesas' chips do not support this).

Therefore you really need to use a USB 2 controller or a Esata/usb combo port.

There is nothing else you could do to bypass this problem.
As this is caused by the drivers of the USB3 controllers, it can only be fixed by
the manufacturers of these controllers.

But for all users that had a problematic USB controller, we found out that all of
them also had a 'SATA/USB' combo port, and on this port the interfaces worked fine.

 

normally it should be compatible, i believe it is a faulty USB 3 driver from your mainboard/notebook vendor! works fine on my asus P8Z68-V LX and actual usb 3.0 driver (usb 3.0 boost enabled).. its a desktop system, so this may not reflect to notebooks.

 

Asus N76, N56 use Intel Driver, Intel Chipset. They work out of the box.

 

Ok..i bought a different asus laptop (K55VM)...all latest drivers,updates installed,
win7/64...but there is something wrong with traktor/audio 8!
I've connected Audio 8 to usb 2.0,but when i open traktor,load track into the deck, i see a waveform but it doesn't start to play..i've tried all drivers/traktor 2 version and problem persist..when i select internal sound card,traktor works perfectly!
What could be the problem?

 

Hi everyone, I'm also considering buying an ASUS N76VM laptop, DJKeyWee, are you using the Traktor Kontrol S4 on an ASUS N76 laptop and could you shortly say which laptop model you've got? Just to make sure I don't spend half a fortune on a new laptop that ends up rejecting my DJ controllers.

 

wait a little bit before buying N76, N56 ... those new one... yes it works but the Intel driver is not stable as I thought... damn...

 

Thanks for letting me know. I'm glad I came across this thread before I started buying anything.

I have to say I'm not really happy with the way NI are handling this issue. I'm not blaming them for the way USB Controllers have changed with the 3.0 upgrade, but simply telling customers that it isn't NI's fault (or problem) is the easiest way out for any company.

I would expect them to do a little bit more than just tell us they can't do anything about it. Sooner or later it will be hard to find any laptop at all with USB 2.0 ports and if, by then, they haven't found some kind of solution, I will have spent more than €1000 on NI hardware I won't be able to use any longer :|. This issue really needs to be addressed!

 

It's indeed not NI's fault. BTW most other company also have this problem. This not only apply to Audio card, but video thing and other peripherals.

NI did choose the right endpoint method, by USB 3.0 spec it has to be 100% backward compatible, but it's not... and indeed it's not NI's fault.... but chip firmware programmer... in the end the end user's problem.