Apple Revamps Thunderbolt Cable Lineup with Lower Pricing, Shorter Cable Option

[manu chao]

But right now, it is turning into USB 3.0 and no Thunderbolt at all.

Can you give me any reason why somebody would buy a TB device instead of USB 3 device when connecting single drive (HDD, SSD, memory card, Ethernet adaptor), even if TB were on every computer and would cost the same as USB 3?

If for 95% of current devices (who knows about SSD speed in the future) and for only using one or two devices at a time, USB 3 is not slower than TB, TB would not be chosen by the majority even if it did cost the same.

So, the price is not helping TB but even at equal price only a minority would buy it.

 

[MattInOz]

...
Perhaps this year's CES really outlined that Thunderbolt is not targeted at the same consumer demographic as most of the rest of the schlock found at that show.

Yes in that context "Consumer" means lowest common denominator.
Pretty much no one other than the ingest and poo in to landfill crowd.

 

[SicMX]

Ok Ok. how much did it cost you again?

Quite a bit, but I had the old Lacie 2Bigs (FW800, USB 2.0) and 4big (FW800, eSata) for the last 5 years (without any issues) and i'm hoping these new ones will last at least 5 years too. The warranty is good for 3 of those 5 years so I should be ok.

 

[rainydays]

With more and more things becoming wireless, I see USB3 becoming less and less relevant.
Wireless is added to more cameras, people use NAS or the cloud for extra storage and backup, use airplay or similar to connect to their TV etc.

I fail to see how USB3 is needed for the average consumer really. Sure, you might need to hook up a device every now and then, but USB2 is good enough for that.

So that leaves us with the pros and pro-sumers, and there's also where Thunderbolt kicks USB3 in the butt. USB3 has no way of extending the capability of portables the way TB has.

I completely understand the lack of interest in TB today, but I do believe that it will change in the coming 2-3 years. The remaining cables in an otherwise wireless world will need to be as powerful and versatile as Thunderbolt.

 

[IBeenMacSince19]

Overpriced

So basically one is still $10 overpriced and the other is $20 overpriced?

No. One is still $20 overpriced and the other is $30 overpriced.

 

[tevion5]

Uh again ? I didn't say I didn't support cheaper cables, only that I can't encourage it. The only way to encourage Apple here is to buy the cables. I don't have a need for them so I'm not going to buy them just to encourage Apple.

Well then in that case I agree

 

[Gomff]

For the love of god, please someone make a TB -> USB 3 adaptor so that I can get some use out of my TB port.

One year on and it hasn't been used *once*.

 

[manu chao]

For the love of god, please someone make a TB -> USB 3 adaptor so that I can get some use out of my TB port.

One year on and it hasn't been used *once*.

I guess someone should make a VGA (or DVI or HDMI or mDP) to USB 3 adaptor, so all the computers without TB not using an external display get some use out of their video ports.

 

[rainydays]

For the love of god, please someone make a TB -> USB 3 adaptor so that I can get some use out of my TB port.

One year on and it hasn't been used *once*.

I haven't used my ethernet port on this MacBook ever. But that doesn't bother me. I knew that it was there when I bought it.

I use the TB port practically every day though.

People have different needs you see.

 

[AC Rempt]

For the love of god, please someone make a TB -> USB 3 adaptor so that I can get some use out of my TB port.

One year on and it hasn't been used *once*.

I use mine every day to connect to my ATD, but of course, the ATD only has USB 2.