Thunderbolt?

willyg · 28 Jul 2011 at 07:20

Has anyone had a chance to have a go with one? If so how uber fast is it then?

nav... · 29 Jul 2011 at 04:07

The possibilities of thunderbolt aren't even really being explored yet due to high cost.

The new Thunderbolt display is exciting however as it's essentially a brilliant laptop dock.

Have that sat on your desk hooked up to ethernet, external disks and some decent speakers and your laptop only needs two things unplugged to be mobile.

shine · 29 Jul 2011 at 07:28

I'm waiting for some cheaper products to be released before I give it a try.

Deleted member 77746 · 29 Jul 2011 at 10:23

I hope they bring some thunderbolt hard drives out soon. Need an external one for my MBA.

Somnambulist · 29 Jul 2011 at 15:23

They already have some multibay ones, they're just veeeeeeeeeeeeeeery expensive.

Deleted member 77746 · 29 Jul 2011 at 15:44

Somnambulist said:
They already have some multibay ones, they're just veeeeeeeeeeeeeeery expensive.

Don't require multibay just a normal hard drive & portable.

AbsenceJam · 29 Jul 2011 at 20:07

It's just too expensive, any hardware that uses it will have a big premium.

MikeHunt79 · 29 Jul 2011 at 23:45

Why is thunderbolt stuff expensive?

Early adopter tax?

Brian8bit · 29 Jul 2011 at 23:59

MikeHunt79 said:
Why is thunderbolt stuff expensive?

Early adopter tax?

Yup. I also don't see the price coming down too much unless PC motherboard manufacturers start bundling it on their boards.

Doug · 30 Jul 2011 at 01:38

nav... said:
The new Thunderbolt display is exciting however as it's essentially a brilliant laptop dock.

Have that sat on your desk hooked up to ethernet, external disks and some decent speakers and your laptop only needs two things unplugged to be mobile.

It's funny, the Thunderbolt Display is exactly what I imagined when Thunderbolt was first introduced.

If I had a Mac with Thunderbolt I'd be sorely tempted by it.

I think we'll be seeing a flood of break-out boxes with USB, Firewire, Ethernet, card readers, etc. once the manufacturers realise that every new Mac that's sold (bar the Mac Pro, for now) has Thunderbolt onboard.

Deleted member 77746 · 30 Jul 2011 at 12:32

^^ I hope so can't wait for mainstream thunderbolt devices.

Amp34 · 30 Jul 2011 at 19:59

Out of interest is it likely that standard lightpeak drives/peripherals are going to come out that can run on all iterations of this technology?

I presume it's going to be a nightmare because the Apple connection is different to the Sony connection for a start...

JAPears · 31 Jul 2011 at 09:53

Amp34 said:
Out of interest is it likely that standard lightpeak drives/peripherals are going to come out that can run on all iterations of this technology?

I presume it's going to be a nightmare because the Apple connection is different to the Sony connection for a start...

thunderbolt is lightpeak under a rebrand by apple, they own the rights to the technology for 3 years, so it's going to be a while before we'll see tb in pcs

Arthur17 · 31 Jul 2011 at 17:23

As Intel's press release mentions, ThunderBolt was developed by Intel in collaboration with Apple. LightPeak was only a code name (like Nehalem and Sandy Bridge are).

This Intel-developed technology is coming to market through a technical collaboration with Apple, and is available first on Apple's new line of MacBook Pro laptop computers. (Source)

PC motherboards featuring ThunderBolt will be released next year (it's not exclusive to Apple)...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4406/correction-ivy-bridge-and-thunderbolt-featured-not-integrated

Arthur17 · 31 Jul 2011 at 17:45

Amp34 said:
I presume it's going to be a nightmare because the Apple connection is different to the Sony connection for a start...

It's not going to be a nightmare because no one else will use Sony's propriety Thunderbolt connector. The Power Media Dock is just a one-off Sony product that happens to use the same underlying technology as Thunderbolt. Nothing more than that.

The reason Sony describe it as "featuring high-speed I/O data transfer based on the architecture codenamed 'Light Peak' is because they cannot legally use the Thunderbolt trademark.

Ekim · 31 Jul 2011 at 20:06

I would think that the next iPhone will be Thunderbolt ready - will be good to be able to fill up an iPhone with music and apps without it taking for ever.

Broken Hope · 31 Jul 2011 at 21:38

Pricing needs to come down a lot first, I mean the cables are like £40, I realise they are more than simple cables, having controller chips and such inside them, but it's still expensive.

Amp34 · 31 Jul 2011 at 22:04

Arthur17 said:
It's not going to be a nightmare because no one else will use Sony's propriety Thunderbolt connector. The Power Media Dock is just a one-off Sony product that happens to use the same underlying technology as Thunderbolt. Nothing more than that.

The reason Sony describe it as "featuring high-speed I/O data transfer based on the architecture codenamed 'Light Peak' is because they cannot legally use the Thunderbolt trademark.

Is the implementation Apple use not a proprietry system, which is one of the reasons they changed the name? The Thunderbolt name is trademarked by Apple as their implementation of the Intel Lightpeak technology.

http://www.computerworld.com/s/arti...ts_Intel_s_Light_Peak_tech_in_new_Vaio_laptop

Apple have implemented the lightpeak tech into a mini display port (Apples essentially proprietry connection) and called it "Thunderbolt". Sony have integrated the lightpeak tech into a USB3 port and kept the "generic" name.

As I said, unless I'm missing something buying peripherals is going to be a mess if there isn't a standard port...

EDIT: According to wiki the thunderbolt trademark is now owned by Intel, which begs the question of why Sony have called it Lightpeak, the codename rather than the commercial name... Next question... Unless Intel have specified a port type i'm guessing a lot of companies will implement it through USB 3 rather than display port like Sony. Otherwise that will be another port to add next to HDMI and DVI.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what the next manufacturer does with it.

Amp34 · 31 Jul 2011 at 22:47

Ok so I get what you were talking about now Arthur17.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/21/why-apple-is-trademarking-thunderbolt-and-why-sony-might-be-left/

So in essence because Sony didn't use the standard connector they couldn't use the Thunderbolt name. That doesn't necessarily take the point I was making completely moot though. I can see a lot of laptop manufacturers inserting it into a USB port like Sony to save space as for better or for worse most laptop manufacturers will still produce laptops with VGA and HDMI ports. An adaptor will then be needed to connet to any other thunderbolt peripherals. On the other hand manufacturers could just end up using "lightpeak" technology and bringing out USB style connected peripherals...

Arthur17 · 31 Jul 2011 at 23:42

Amp34 said:
Apple have implemented the lightpeak tech into a mini display port (Apple's essentially proprietary connection) and called it "Thunderbolt".

Mini DisplayPort is an official standard backed by VESA. Anyone is free to use it. In fact, mDP has already been adopted by many companies in the PC industry inc. Dell, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, AMD etc. There's nothing proprietary about it.

The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) today issued its Mini DisplayPort (mDP) Connector Standard, defining the new, small connector that supports the full range of power, signaling and protocol capabilities defined in the DisplayPort Standard Version 1, Revision 1a.

Mini DisplayPort meets the need for a smaller form factor connector for devices such as thin portable computers and add-in cards with multiple display interfaces. The mDP connector can be used as an alternative to the standard DisplayPort connector defined in Version 1, Rev. 1a. (Source)

Amp34 said:
which begs the question of why Sony have called it LightPeak, the codename rather than the commercial name...

Sony obviously can't call it Thunderbolt™ because they aren't using the correct (Mini DisplayPort) connector.

Amp34 said:
Unless Intel have specified a port type I'm guessing a lot of companies will implement it through USB 3 rather than display port like Sony.

Amp34 said:
unless I'm missing something buying peripherals is going to be a mess if there isn't a standard port.

Mini DisplayPort is the standard connector for Thunderbolt. The USB Implementers Forum objected to the use of USB for Thunderbolt so I'm not sure how Sony have managed to get away with it...

"USB connectors are not general purpose connectors and are not designed to be used in support of other technology applications or standards or as combo connectors." (Source)

Sony is still suffering from "not invented here" syndrome. Remember i.LINK, Memory Stick's etc.? By making the dock use a connector which no one else is using for ThunderBolt, they are forcing you to buy it from them instead of another manufacturer.