I use external disks to access Aperture libraries, and my docks (I use bare SATA drives in them, don't judge me!) are USB3 compatible. I was never satisfied with the performance of Aperture with these on my MBP 2010 with USB2 speeds, but the only new computer I was willing to consider was a Mini for reasons of affordability. I grabbed the base 2012 Mini.
I am happy to report that USB3 is the upgrade I hoped it would be on this little machine. An example: WD clocks one of my drives at sustained transfer of 126 MB/s. If I use a USB2 cable I get 35 MB/s writes and 38 reads. Switching to USB3 gives me 100 writes and 102 reads.
I am happy to report that USB3 is the upgrade I hoped it would be on this little machine. An example: WD clocks one of my drives at sustained transfer of 126 MB/s. If I use a USB2 cable I get 35 MB/s writes and 38 reads. Switching to USB3 gives me 100 writes and 102 reads.