VR-Zone

It isn't a secret that the speed of USB 2.0 devices has gone back over the course of the past couple of years. First and foremost, the USB drives went from fast and expensive SLC to slower and cheaper MLC NAND flash. Secondly, the appearance of USB 3.0 meant that USB 2.0 devices are taking a second place in terms of bandwidth available to the standard.

One such example was connecting a USB 3.0 device on a 2.0 port and witnessing the bandwidth speed tumbling way below USB 2.0 levels, which are rated for maximum of 480Mbps i.e. 60MB/s. Realistically, you're lucky if you get 30-40MB/s.

VIA is now offering "USB2Expressway Dedicated Bandwidth Technology", quite the long name for a feature inside their USB 3.0 hubs which are present on an increasing number of devices (this article is being typed on a HP EliteBook 14“ which utilizes VIA VL810 2-port USB 3.0 chip).

The company states that they "eliminate USB 2.0 bandwidth limitations by providing full, dedicated bandwidth per port, allowing multiple USB 2.0 devices to be connected and operated at their maximum."

At press time, we weren't informed what chips support this feature so we'll have to leave you guessting. Still, this technology is quite neat as now you can copy from one USB 2.0 device to another and have the full available bandwidth, instead of sharing theoretical 60MB/s between the two.