Apple Thunderbolt Cable and Promise Thunderbolt RAID Systems Hit the Apple Store

[tdar]

What a joke, this product won't sell. $1,000 for a 4 bay array is MUCH too expensive.

Even pros won't pay for this - they'll probably opt for a cheaper eSATA array at 1/4 the cost...

Really look at this :
Drobo S 2nd Generation 10TB Bundle with 5 x 2TB Western Digital WD20EARS Hard Drives $ 1,799.00

Estimated Shipping Cost $21.95


Estimated Total $ 1,820.95

That is a screen grab from the Drobo store for a 10Gb Drobo S . For $178.05 more you get a 6th drive, real raid and a raid controller,and the speed of thunderbolt. Seems like a great deal to me. The 4 drive unit is a bargin compared to the Drobo!

 

[SockRolid]

Apple just cut Monster Cable's quarterly earnings

I can just imagine Monster Cable's management saying "Rats. Now we can't charge the usual $100 like we did with those HDMI cables..."

 

[nemaslov]

Does it say there is no cable included? Maybe not but I recently purchased a hard drive and ordered separate cables only to find the appropriate cables in the HDs box when it arrived. Not everything says :"what's in the box" like Apple Products do.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Gee, $999 to start (for barely more storage than a $120 3TB drive will provide by itself; I hope people REALLY need that extra speed....) And it doesn't even come with the cable to make it work.... LOL.

Bend over people. You're going to take it up the wazoo for Thunderbolt products and there's the proof.

I hate to say I told you so, but I did.

$50 just for the cable?!

Ever look at what an HDMI cable costs at a place like Best Buy? They're typically $50-100+. Buy them online and they're like $3-5. And yet you're surprised by Apple screwing people up the wazoo on cables? After all the adapters they sold for Mini-Display Port racking up them millions in after-market useless junk part sales? That's the WHOLE POINT of using obscure new formats instead of generic standards. You get to rob people on the accessories. Whereas shopping at Best Buy you get robbed on the accessories even for standards. Don't forget that $150 Monster brand surge strip (no it's NOT a UPS!) That $15 model won't do. It has to be a MONSTER!

 

[AidenShaw]

I wonder...

Bend over people. You're going to take it up the wazoo for Thunderbolt products and there's the proof.

I wonder if the price for the optical TBolt cable will be north of $500....

 

[wovel]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_6 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/8E200)

You're id you're even considering this.

Doesn't FireWire so 800mbps? And it doesn't even come with a cable.... And they're charging 50 bucks for it.

I would wait for monoprice cables and a raid that can really take advantage of the speed.

As others have explained b != B

I guess, the reason to get this would be a need for high speed transfers.

Indeed.

For the price of a good iMac and several TBs of TB storage you could have a Mac Pro filled with hard drives and a good monitor. And, you'd have a computer you can touch after heavy use without getting burned.

If you traded your good imac for a crappy Pro you couldn't. Anything with 6 or more cores would cost considerably more.

Gee, $999 to start (for barely more storage than a $120 3TB drive will provide by itself; I hope people REALLY need that extra speed....) And it doesn't even come with the cable to make it work.... LOL.

Bend over people. You're going to take it up the wazoo for Thunderbolt products and there's the proof.

Show me similar products for less money. Just so we are clear, a 4 drive chassis with hot swappable drive bays, a hardware raid controller, and the capability to deliver data at 650MBs is not the same as a 3TB drive from newegg. It is not for everyone, it is aimed at a specific market. It is not overpriced for what it is. As others in the thread have already posted, it is less expensive then similar solutions (even lesser solutions) from other vendors.

It is always so hard for people to comprehend the world outside their comfort zone.

 

[saberahul]

I hope this thunderbolt technology kicks off like the iPod did when Apple released it. Then - so many companies would produce it that the price would be very low.

 

[KnightWRX]

It is always so hard for people to comprehend the world outside their comfort zone.

Looking at it through consumer eyes, it is quite expensive for what it is. This is not aimed at the consumer market, and like many here have stated, Thunderbolt seems to be heading for the "prosumer" niche between consumers and enterprise solutions.

A lot of people had expectations of Thunderbolt being a consumer technology and it's just not panning out, hence all the posts exclaiming "This is Thunderbolt stuff ?".

 

[ghsDUDE]

complete n00b on this subject...but what exactly are these used for...external hard drive?

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Show me similar products for less money.

I was referring to the cable, not the chassis.

 

[Sylonien]

I want RAID, but maybe with SSD to maximise the TB speed. But too much at that price (for my budget) and really, not including cable?

Sort of understand new tech is going to cost a lot. Remember the first Sony Blu-ray player were like $1000 back in 2007.

 

[KnightWRX]

I think the point is having an Airport Extreme with a TB port instead of a Time Capsule.

There is no point right now and in the near future for that. You will replace the AEBS before Thunderbolt even comes close to being needed on it.

So having a Airport Extreme with a TB port would cater to those how want to have a reliable RAID system, that would be future proof (rather have a system that ends up being a little under used than a system that become the bottleneck) if networking speeds improve.

You'll need to replace the AEBS anyway to improve the networking speeds. No matter how much your CPEs evolve, the AEBS with Thunderbolt would remain the same. It would very much be the bottleneck. Hence why it's useless right now to even think about it.

And I would definately opt to get another NAS box with RAID support over a AEBS with Thunderbolt. Much more flexible, much more protocol support, and much more open to devices other than Apple's eco-system.

The TC and AEBS (I have an AEBS with an external USB drive for Time machine) are a nightmare to configure in anything more than the 2-3 configurations Apple supports. Mine is forever stuck as a Access Point, failing at being a home router because it insists on being DHCP server if it is going to do NAT (ridiculous).

 

[MacFly123]

And there goes the need for me to ever buy a MacPro again. With what I use a computer for, any iMac with Thunderbolt can now become a MacPro, in essence, with one of these. The external storage now has enough speed to be worthwhile. I prefer the iMac's form to the clunky Pro; this storage can be placed out of sight or on a shelf to keep the desk clean.

The iMacs are great and pretty but you won't have near the horsepower with their GPUs and CPUs! Especially when the new Mac Pros come out in the next month or two!

Is this how they intend people to work with the new FCP X then? Shared storage pools with multiple worstation connected and sharing projects? Seems like that is how it is coming together. These RAID systems can connect to multiple machines and the same time right???

 

[JAT]

I wonder if the price for the optical TBolt cable will be north of $500....

I was referring to the cable, not the chassis.

You computer geeks really need to get out more. There are $20,000 .5m audio cables on this planet. Relax, get over it. You're just showing your bias. I would never buy the $50 cable in this story, either. (mostly built my own) But I'm not rolling my eyes and whining about it.

 

[Torrijos]

There is no point right now and in the near future for that. You will replace the AEBS before Thunderbolt even comes close to being needed on it.

You'll need to replace the AEBS anyway to improve the networking speeds. No matter how much your CPEs evolve, the AEBS with Thunderbolt would remain the same. It would very much be the bottleneck. Hence why it's useless right now to even think about it.

Changing the AEBS all the while keeping your RAID enclosure, like I said.
As for the Thunderbolt becoming the bottleneck, while your advocating a half as slow technology right now (USB 3), if you ever need a faster data rate (not available right now), which will probably come as an improved iteration of TB, you could daisy chain the old TB enclosure at the end using it for additional storage instead of throwing it away.

And I would definately opt to get another NAS box with RAID support over a AEBS with Thunderbolt. Much more flexible, much more protocol support, and much more open to devices other than Apple's eco-system.

Flexible, sure! Performing as advertised? Most of the time, no.
Some "mainstream" NAS boxes are slow as hell (drobo), and as for the openness, unless you'r building your own linux box you'll be linked to whatever company you trusted, and as far as I'm concern my Apple ecosystem behaves nicely with others.

The TC and AEBS (I have an AEBS with an external USB drive for Time machine) are a nightmare to configure in anything more than the 2-3 configurations Apple supports. Mine is forever stuck as a Access Point, failing at being a home router because it insists on being DHCP server if it is going to do NAT (ridiculous).

On the other hand, I haven't. I found the AEBS easy to configure even in the funkiest of configs (possibles of course).
I've had way more problems with my various modems.
But like all mainstream networking product it has it's limitations.

 

[weing]

A grand for 4 TB of fast storage isn't such a big deal for a power user. Especially since a thousand bucks didnt even get you a full Gigabyte of Hard Drive storage less than 15 years ago.

But the 50 dollar cable ? That's such a bend-over price there should be a tube of lube in the package!

 

[AidenShaw]

There are $20,000 .5m audio cables on this planet.

Link please? I assume that it's not a coax with an RCA plug on each end.

...if you ever need a faster data rate (not available right now), which will probably come as an improved iteration of TB, you could daisy chain the old TB enclosure at the end using it for additional storage instead of throwing it away.

So, Intel has announced that you can daisy chain 10 Gbps copper LightPeak at the end of a 100 Gbps optical LightPeak connection?

How does that work, since the display needs to be the end of the chain in the current implementation?

 

[!¡ V ¡!]

Don't buy too soon, because equipment using Apple's implementation of Light Peak with copper with a mini Display Port will soon be legacy hardware, unsupported by Apple or anyone else. Kind of like the old Apple Desktop Bus cabling. Why?

Because what Intel has promised and what everyone really wants is Light Peak running on fiber optic cabling at TEN times the speed of Apple's copper-based T-bolt. I predict the this will be available within a year or two at the most and only then will we see widespread adoption. That means that everyone who bought into Apple's copper scheme will be left with orphan hardware, slow and unsupported.

::cough: DVD Ram ::cough::

A grand for 4 TB of fast storage isn't such a big deal for a power user. Especially since a thousand bucks didnt even get you a full Gigabyte of Hard Drive storage less than 15 years ago.

But the 50 dollar cable ? That's such a bend-over price there should be a tube of lube in the package!

Come next year when USB 3.0 is included with intel IB chips, ThunderBolt will become FW800 status. Considering I have USB 2.0, FW400 and 800 and I still prefer my NAS. Cannot see the requirement for TB yet considering the initial high cost and lack of products. In 2-5 years with TB copper drops in price and TB Optical is introduced, most of the early adopters will be kicking themselves like those DVD Ram adopters, only to be phased out with something better.

Wish Apple would make a Mac the size of that RAID system.

They did, it was called the G4 Cube. It was considered a failure by as the lack of market adoption and price. I still think it was classy similar to the Luxo iMac.

 

[Ben Simpsy]

this conversation is such a headache.

I know this is a side step here but lets compare this to a different industry.

In the medical field, if a company manufactures and succesfully patents a new drug they sell these at a huge profit. once the patent lapse's you see all the generics come out at fractions of the cost.

The reason - what incentive would the company have to research and license the drug, and design and purchase the required machinery? it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to register and research these drugs and the company will want to recoup as much of the cost and make it worth there while, whilst they still have the patent.

Same principle on some level applies here:

Apple, and Promise are taking advantage of being early adopters and are trying to recoup the money they spent adopting Thunderbolt while they can. Things will get cheaper, Why? because Apple, Intel and Promise did all the hard yards and spent all the cash ironing out the product ready for consumers to use, and third parties will reap the benefits without bearing any of the cost

Why would any manufacturer go out and create new things and adopt new technologies if there was no money in it? Apple is a business. Business's rely on turning a profit to be successful, which in turn leads to the development of new and exciting technologies.

Everyone is right, in the not so distant future Thunderbolt will be a lot cheaper when these third parties come in. Yes apple are charging a premium but if cost is so important to you then you aren't the type of consumer that should be adopting these new technologies straight off the mark.

 

[!¡ V ¡!]

A grand for 4 TB of fast storage isn't such a big deal for a power user. Especially since a thousand bucks didnt even get you a full Gigabyte of Hard Drive storage less than 15 years ago.

But the 50 dollar cable ? That's such a bend-over price there should be a tube of lube in the package!

At this rate you might as well go back 25 years and quote price and capacity.

Less than a year ago you could have had a 3TB HDD for less than $300 USD, today you can have that for half the price in less than a year. And possibly at the end of this year have a 4TB single 3.5" HDD if not early 2012 and you can bet that it will not cost $400 for this drive either. If you do not need it, I would wait. Why not sell a TB case and allow the end user to insert they choice and size of HDD.

this conversation is such a headache.

I know this is a side step here but lets compare this to a different industry.

In the medical field, if a company manufactures and succesfully patents a new drug they sell these at a huge profit. once the patent lapse's you see all the generics come out at fractions of the cost.

The reason - what incentive would the company have to research and license the drug, and design and purchase the required machinery? it costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to register and research these drugs and the company will want to recoup as much of the cost and make it worth there while, whilst they still have the patent.

Same principle on some level applies here:

Apple, and Promise are taking advantage of being early adopters and are trying to recoup the money they spent adopting Thunderbolt while they can. Things will get cheaper, Why? because Apple, Intel and Promise did all the hard yards and spent all the cash ironing out the product ready for consumers to use, and third parties will reap the benefits without bearing any of the cost

Why would any manufacturer go out and create new things and adopt new technologies if there was no money in it? Apple is a business. Business's rely on turning a profit to be successful, which in turn leads to the development of new and exciting technologies.

Everyone is right, in the not so distant future Thunderbolt will be a lot cheaper when these third parties come in. Yes apple are charging a premium but if cost is so important to you then you aren't the type of consumer that should be adopting these new technologies straight off the mark.

There is acceptable pricing (percentage based) and then there is absurd pricing (gouging), guess which one this is for both the storage and cable. At this rate the adoption of this will be similar to FW800 (a shame really). People will move toward NAS adoption more compared to this. I bypassed USB 3.0 for a NAS solution and at this rate TB will also be bypassed. Considering you can run and power components via ethernet, not sure why its not used as a common cable connector.

 

[iSayuSay]

Get 4TB Thunderbolt HDD with RAID 0/1 today .. just $999 on Apple Store .. GET IT NOW !!! *)
*)Thunderbolt cable sold separately

Great!! .... Thunderbolt device at last, for just under $1000 .. it's just right, YAY!!

Wait a minute .. i read something there, some fine printed notes..

Oh well

EDIT: But on second thought .. it still better deal compared to single SSD 512GB regarding transfer rate .. separated cable is a bummer though

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

You computer geeks really need to get out more. There are $20,000 .5m audio cables on this planet. Relax, get over it. You're just showing your bias. I would never buy the $50 cable in this story, either. (mostly built my own) But I'm not rolling my eyes and whining about it.

So because there are even bigger rip-offs out there, that justifies this rip-off? Wow, I bow to your genius.

 

[OatmealRocks]

HOw much is the transfer speed if you use platter HD? I saw the video with SSD but I wanted to know the speed with regular HD when compared to Firewire.

 

[dr Dunkel]

anyways, just pointing it out because apparently a lot of people are under the impression that Apple made Thunderbolt and Intel made Light Peak.

All good then, I just didn't think anyone had gotten it that wrong.

 

[JAT]

Link please? I assume that it's not a coax with an RCA plug on each end.

http://www.stradivariaudiodesigns.com/LOUDSPEAKER_CABLES.htm
Sorry, it is 1.5m. My faulty memory. And the long-time champ was Audioquest Everest, but that was actually 9m for $21,000. The Everest at least had active electrical tech in it, I think the Strad is just wire.

So because there are even bigger rip-offs out there, that justifies this rip-off? Wow, I bow to your genius.

Perhaps you should reread the last two sentences of my previous post to get my point. Or have a Valium, as an alternative.