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Closer Look Photo of Thunderbolt (Light Peak) Port

It looks like it actually has TWO new ports. Take a look at the USB port next to the thunderbolt port. Its not the same as the last USB port (right). It has two subtle differences, as shown in the attached enhanced screenshot.

I dont think intel ever actually got permission in the end to put lightpeak in the USB connector for distribution (it was only ever used for a demo), however Apple may be allowed to modify it on their own I guess. It could easily be a fibre/copper cable in the middle.

attachment.php
 
Some hilarious posts in this forum. At work we sell an adapter that goes from standard USB-A to 7 different variants of the standard, including the main and mini variants and a couple of proprietary ones. You don't stick a standard USB-A plug into your camera or harddrive, so why the big fuss about the size of the port on the hardware? That doesn't mean that the other end is going to be mini displayport-esque.

Also, all the people going on about the choice of 'a second display OR a 'lightpeak' device'... have you never used firewire? The fact that you can daisychain firewire devices is half the reason why I use FW800 harddrives. Currently I have 2 drives daisychained, and the cable for these cabletidied onto a dvi-hdmi cable for my tv. I'm already using a port less than I would have to with USB, but it would be more elegant and efficient to have just the 1 in the not-too-distant future
 
rmwebs said:
It looks like it actually has TWO new ports. Take a look at the USB port next to the thunderbolt port. Its not the same as the last USB port (right). It has two subtle differences, as shown in the attached enhanced screenshot.

I dont think intel ever actually got permission in the end to put lightpeak in the USB connector for distribution (it was only ever used for a demo), however Apple may be allowed to modify it on their own I guess. It could easily be a fibre/copper cable in the middle.

https://forums.macrumors.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=272506&stc=1&d=1298491341
Click to expand...

This is far more plausible than the displayport + thunderthighs conjecture.


"oh sorry, you gotta unplug your monitor before you can plug in your thunderthighs external harddrive"
 
I'm OK with all of this, but as I see it this all seems a bit kludgy and screams rev 1.0 of a lot of ideas. That always means that the next iteration is going to perfect them.

LightPeak/Thundercat port is cool, but we know it is copper and not fiber so it will not be a port with longevity as-is.

16GB SSD... Apple had been kicking ZFS around for a while, this could be an application where it has some value. Again, probably not now but down the road.

I don't know what to make of that odd USB port. It just seems like a lot of new technology, none of it fully realized or thought out or just not ready for prime time quite yet. I don't doubt that in time it will all shake out but I just don't know if now is that time.

I really want to buy two new MBPs, and I'm hoping this refresh pans out... or I'll be looking to snag up a C2D MBP post haste.
 
73CortinaV8 said:
This is far more plausible than the displayport + thunderthighs conjecture.


"oh sorry, you gotta unplug your monitor before you can plug in your thunderthighs external harddrive"
Click to expand...

The LightPeak standard supports daisy chaining, like Firewire. Plug your monitor in, plug your peripherals into it.

And why would the thunderbolt logo be on the MDP-shaped port?

The "pin hole" is just a camera glitch or a bit of weirdness from the cellophane wrapper over the computer. It can't be a physical change, as in addition to the "hole" in the white part of the USB port is a "peg" above, in the shadow. If this were a real physical change, that would prevent any USB cables from being inserted.

And "Thunderthighs"...really? Are we in junior high?
 
allamoureux07 said:
This technology isn't even applicable to current peripherals - it will take at least a year for it to become "somewhat mainstream."
Click to expand...

I can almost promise at launch or shortly after launch there will be a hub for this so that when I put my laptop at my desk there is one cable for ALL my peripherals (monitor, speakers, external drives, keyboard, mouse). That is useful now. Furthermore, it won't be long till we have eSATA over Thunderbolt which, in and of itself, will be worth having this port.

While Thunderbolt native devices are gonna be in the future, Thunderbolt is all about being useful here and now. For instance, there's nothing stopping USB3 over Thunderbolt. I know many of you hate dongles, but one of the best realities of this I/O port is that it's a gateway to any port that any particular Mac is lacking.
 
teasphere said:
I'm OK with all of this, but as I see it this all seems a bit kludgy and screams rev 1.0 of a lot of ideas. That always means that the next iteration is going to perfect them.

LightPeak/Thundercat port is cool, but we know it is copper and not fiber so it will not be a port with longevity as-is.

I don't know what to make of that odd USB port. It just seems like a lot of new technology, none of it fully realized or thought out or just not ready for prime time quite yet. I don't doubt that in time it will all shake out but I just don't know if now is that time.
Click to expand...

IIRC I remember Intel mentioning that it would probably be possible to make the copper connectors compatible with the fibre ones once released (assumably meaning there would be two data transfer methods built into the cable; copper and fibre). Not sure how plausible it is though.

I was looking at downsizing my MBP to a smaller 13" model but even if thunderbolt is half decent, I don't think it'll be a wise investment until its full potential is realised.
 
I hope this doesn't signal the death of OpenCL. Sure we'll continue to have OpenCL CPU support, but without broad GPU support developers will not bother. Meanwhile even AMDs chips that are destined for $200 (ie Zacate) systems have full GPU OpenCL support built right in. Intel has become a poisonous influence on the industry.
 
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Didn't HTC just name a new phone the ThunderBolt? It's the Disney-fication of everything.
 
NightFox said:
Hmmm... using the lightning strike icon that's already universally recognised as being a sign of hazardous voltage - is that really a good idea?
Click to expand...

That's the first thing I thought when I saw it too. It's an internationally recognized symbol...seems kinda bush-league for them to have picked that one.
 
danfoy said:
Some hilarious posts in this forum.
Click to expand...
Yes there are. It's fun to think of the profit enhancing additional sales in new outlets. A macheesmo name like Thunderbolt would sell at the local auto parts, the scuba shop, the local Harley dealer, the possibilities are endless. Apples clever naming is quite powerful.
 
-C- said:
That's the first thing I thought when I saw it too. It's an internationally recognized symbol...seems kinda bush-league for them to have picked that one.
Click to expand...

Well, all the other meaningless symbols (for esata, firewire, usb, etc) were taken....

It does sorta seem like they punted on this one, though, doesn't it? Almost like the creative juices weren't flowing that day - "aw forget it, just put a thunderbolt on the thing" and it just stuck.
:D


rmwebs said:
It looks like it actually has TWO new ports. Take a look at the USB port next to the thunderbolt port. Its not the same as the last USB port (right). It has two subtle differences, as shown in the attached enhanced screenshot.
Click to expand...

You are simply way over-analyzing this!
 
Cory Bauer said:
Only if every laptop buyer also purchases a display that connects solely with a Thunderbolt/Mini-Displayport hybrid connector, none of which exist.
Click to expand...

Nothing exists until tomorrow.Try not to use such flimsy straw man arguments.

A mini DisplayPort/Thunderbolt hybrid port could support monitor docks, standalone docks and daisy chaining devices between your computer and your existing monitor.

There isn't a problem with it being shared with the monitor port if you understand the technology in the slightest. I'd love it on USB ports too, but it's not a necessity.
 
ozred said:
Yes there are. It's fun to think of the profit enhancing additional sales in new outlets. A macheesmo name like Thunderbolt would sell at the local auto parts, the scuba shop, the local Harley dealer, the possibilities are endless. Apples clever naming is quite powerful.
Click to expand...

I think it may be an Intel name rather than an Apple name (but could easily be wrong though) because of all the jibes about the 'Light' part of the Light Peak name when the news of the copper based implementation using electricity, not light, first broke. It would also give Intel the ability to promote the product again when the fiber & light implementation is finally released.
 
dernhelm said:
Well, all the other meaningless symbols (for esata, firewire, usb, etc) were taken....

It does sorta seem like they punted on this one, though, doesn't it? Almost like the creative juices weren't flowing that day - "aw forget it, just put a thunderbolt on the thing" and it just stuck.
:D
Click to expand...

They might be able to get away with it in the USA but don't you think places like the EU might have a problem with this?..especially since Apple is pretty high-profile and other countries place more importance on symbols.

It means something significantly different than what I think they're intending.
 
rmwebs said:
It looks like it actually has TWO new ports. Take a look at the USB port next to the thunderbolt port. Its not the same as the last USB port (right). It has two subtle differences, as shown in the attached enhanced screenshot.

I dont think intel ever actually got permission in the end to put lightpeak in the USB connector for distribution (it was only ever used for a demo), however Apple may be allowed to modify it on their own I guess. It could easily be a fibre/copper cable in the middle.
Click to expand...

There is another picture in this post where that slot in the usb port doesn't seem to appear.
 
How does one know that the port is LightPeak? The box just says that this port supports I/O and MiniDisplayPort. Is it not possible, albeit maybe unlikely, that Apple has modified the MDP port on this machine, without it being LightPeak-related at all?

The MDP port in the 27" iMacs supports "data-in" too, though only display-port data for now. Perhaps this is just an extension of that?

Yeah OK, unlikely...
 
Thunderbolt symbol looks like Nazi Schutzstaffel symbol

It looks like I am the first person to say this: The Thunderbolt symbol looks like the Nazi Party's Schutzstaffel symbol. Take a look:

324px-Flag_Schutzstaffel.svg.png


The pic above was taken from the Wikipedia entry on "Schutzstaffel," which you can read here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schutzstaffel

That Wikipedia article states, "Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS, under Heinrich Himmler's command, was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II (1939–1945)."
 
Thunderbolt

One of the lamest names Apple has ever come up with. Thunder is a sound, lighting is a visual.
 
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