Dane-Elec So-SuperSpeed USB Drives Hit Retail in Dec.

Geeks in America longing to try out USB 3.0 will be delighted to know Dane-Elec will start shipping their So SuperSpeed USB hard drives on December 11th alongside with add-on cards for desktops and notebooks. Their line-up includes the aptly-named SoMobile (500GB, 640GB 2.5"), SoReady (from 500GB all the way up to 2TB 3.5") and SoPremium which houses Intel 2.5" M-25 solid state drive. Dane-Elec's Jon Christeson said users should expect somewhere between 80 and 90MB/s for the SoMobile. That's approximately 3 times faster than the latest USB 2.0 drive. As for the prohibitively expensive SoPremium ($799 for 160GB), users are paying for top speed: 250MB/s.

When asked about the system and cable compatibility, Christeson told Everything USB that all their USB 3.0 drives and cards will work on Windows XP / Vista / 7 32-bit or 64-bit. For clarifications, regular USB 2.0 cables will work with the SoReady 3.5" desktop drives, only at lower speed. However, the same cables won't work with the SoMobile 2.5" portable due to changes to the mini-B receptacle in the USB 3.0 specs. Keep in mind that you will need bundled USB 3.0 cables (as well as the optional upgrade card) to see the performance gain. Detailed pricing after the jump.

SoReady (3.5") USB 3.0 Drives
• 500GB - $149.99
• 750GB - $169.99
• 1TB - $199.99
• 1.5TB - $239.99

SoMobile (2.5") USB 3.0 Drives
• 500GB - $179.99
• 640GB - $199.99

SoPremium (2.5") USB 3.0 SSD
• 80GB Intel M-25 - $399.99
• 160GB Intel M-25 - $799.99

USB 3.0 Upgrade Cards (NEC-based)
• PCI Express - $44.99
• ExpressCard - $49.99