PC Peripherals [THUNDERBOLT TECHNOLOGY]Transfer a full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds

G

Gaurish

ex-Mod
Hi,

There is a new kind of Port for I/O devices which can be used in PC & laptops. It is made by Intel and Intel has claimed 10 Gbps performance on this!

What is Thunderbolt technology and how does it work

Developed by Intel (under the code name Light Peak), and brought to market with technical collaboration from Apple. Thunderbolt technology is a new, high-speed, dual-protocol I/O technology designed for performance, simplicity, and flexibility. This high-speed data transfer technology features the following:

  • Dual-channel 10 Gbps per port
  • Bi-directional
  • Dual-protocol (PCI Express* and DisplayPort*)
  • Compatible with existing DisplayPort devices
  • Daisy-chained devices
  • Electrical or optical cables
  • Low latency with highly accurate time synchronization
  • Uses native protocol software drivers
  • Power over cable for bus-powered devices

What does Thunderbolt technology mean for the PC industry?

By tapping into the performance and protocols delivered over Thunderbolt technology, designers are free to innovate new PC products and configurations, no longer constrained to the boundaries of the chassis walls. Thunderbolt technology enables engineers to:

  • Design standalone performance expansion technologies commonly used in desktops and workstations, using existing native device drivers and interconnected by a single cable.
  • Introduce thinner and lighter laptops, expandable through Thunderbolt technology and its miniature connector designed for mobile applications, without sacrificing I/O performance.
  • Extend to reach other I/O technologies by using adapters that use widely available PCI Express controllers. It's simple to create a Gigabit Ethernet, or FireWire, or eSATA adapters using existing device PCI Express drivers.
Click to expand...

Currently its only available in Macbook Pro. Hoping that it comes into PCs as well

sources:

Thunderboltâ„¢ Technology - Intel.com

Apple - Thunderbolt: Next-generation high-speed I/O technology.
 
^^

I heard of this I think it was called Lightlink or Light-(fill a cool suffix) earlier in development, I'm rather skeptic about this due to following reasons --

1) Intel doesn't share so a majority of people might need to completely overhaul their systems, AMD users like me will have to wait for companies like NEC to pitch in their third-party controllers.
2) USB is very popular, all three versions are interoperabe USB 1.0 - USB 1.1 - USB 2.0 - USB 3.0, they butchered the advent of eSATA and FireWire for windows.
3) Intel has been raving about this for years and keeps double standards on such issues (if it doesn't succeed they will come back to the USB consortium, just like they lost the fight for Netburst architecture and the FSB vs. HyperTransport Link)

the above reasons do not mean I'm unexcited about new technology coming up, it is just that companies like Intel and Apple make a killing with such over-the-top technologies and don't share it openly. Please don't mark me as a Intel-hater, Apple lets just say apart from MAYA I didn't like its functionality anywhere.
 
USB3 is looking so yesterday now as Intel's LightPeak aka. Thuderbolt technology has launched... :)

Thanks Gaurish for sharing this wid us... :)
 
Haha... you can only expect Apple to rename an existing technology for their own computers :p

Lightpeak by Intel.. its cool n all but USB3 still has the upper hand by being in the market NOW and being backward compatible.. this is a brand new port.. going to take time to catch on.
 
eSata never really got a fair chance even before it could mature USB 3 came into the scene and going by the current trend i don't think anything can trump USB ports.

LightPeak will meet the same fate as FireWire, eSata and the likes. The only thing going in its favor is that it can be used over existing ports which FW and eSata never could.
 
It'll be a year or more atleast before this even makes it to the mainstream market...

USB 3.0 is still not well settled in India atleast. Plus add to it the fact that the prices (being new technology) would require one to sell a kidney... :p
 
asingh said:
How will the physical docking be...?
Click to expand...
Just like any other USB/Firewire device. The devices can be daisy chained as well so a port isn't lost when connected to a device. :)

Engadget has few shots on the new Promise Pegasus and Lacie Little Big Disk which sports the Thunderbolt ports.
 
10Gbps and all is fine and dandy, but where are the applications to make use of the bandwidth. USB3 is itself so under utilized at the moment. We need drastic advances in storage tech to see the benefits of this. Personally, I don't think thunderbolt it is going to be of use in the near future except may be for something like external graphics cards or for display interfaces.
 
i believe ssd already can access data lot faster than usb 3.0 can support... lacie soon coming up with thunderbolt enabled drives... also in raid u need even more bandwidth.... n with intel behind it... don't c it going same way as esata or firewire.... n who knows may b next ipad comes with this too... it will become mass market then... no going back after that...

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

as a cable vendor i can say....best thing about thunderbolt other than the bandwidth of course... it allows for much longer length data transfers with much lower costs.... usb 3.0 goes a maximum of 3m... esata maximum of 2m... thunderbolt..max length... 10m..20m...30m... still going..:)
 
Techtree trying to explain:

All About Thunderbolt
Lord Nemesis said:
10Gbps and all is fine and dandy, but where are the applications to make use of the bandwidth. USB3 is itself so under utilized at the moment. We need drastic advances in storage tech to see the benefits of this. Personally, I don't think thunderbolt it is going to be of use in the near future except may be for something like external graphics cards or for display interfaces.
Click to expand...

It seems like solution in search of a problem
 
guess apple launching ipad 2 with thunderbolt.... so may be usb 3.0 be underutilized... but thunderbolt will soon be mass market n cheap too...
 
Why? is it because there are some wild rumors that iPad2 may come with thunderbolt support? lol.. What happened to the rumors that iPad2 will have 4 times the resolution of iPad or that it will come with sd card slot? And how exactly is thunderbolt going to help iPad or even the other way around? What are the devices that can make use of thunderbolts bandwidth and still be able to be powered by an iPad?
 
may be it not comes on ipad 2... but if it does... m looking at it from point of a person who deals in cables... if ipad were to come with thunderbolt as standard... the prices for this particular connector will drastically fall... it is not jus about using the available bandwidth to the limit... (as every1 is say tat usb 3.0 is underutilized n what will we do with extra bandwidth)... its jus makes more sense to bring down the cost of making a high bandwidth cable. and also less space required on host device to house that connector. smaller devices.... cheaper cables... and better technology.
 
I think it is a new (CLOSED TECH) design and will eventually fail like Firwwire etc .. specially as it is supported by Apple..
they don't have a wide enough userbase to make a difference.
 
cnctinc said:
may be it not comes on ipad 2... but if it does... m looking at it from point of a person who deals in cables... if ipad were to come with thunderbolt as standard... the prices for this particular connector will drastically fall... it is not jus about using the available bandwidth to the limit... (as every1 is say tat usb 3.0 is underutilized n what will we do with extra bandwidth)... its jus makes more sense to bring down the cost of making a high bandwidth cable. and also less space required on host device to house that connector. smaller devices.... cheaper cables... and better technology.
Click to expand...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA... APPLE = CHEAP TECHNOLOGY wake up bruv, which world are you living in it costs minimum 70K to get a decent APPLE configured desktop. Not to compare prices of i-Pods and better mp3 players.
they don't have a wide enough userbase to make a difference.
Click to expand...
 
Back
Top