Hewlett Packard Not Convinced of the Value of Thunderbolt

[Lesser Evets]

do we need to read ignorance like this every time another vendor doesn't 100% side with apple immediately on something ?

It's funny. When a vendor follows apple, they are "copycats, also-rans, etc..". When they go against apple, they are "doomed!". Face it guys, apple is a niche. They could disappear tomorrow and the industry would still go on their merry little way.

call the waaaaaa-mbulance.

You don't see the point: their reticence on such a matter is a sign of confusion within the high ranks. NEVER a good sign in corporate America. Apple forges the computer market, and has since around 1976. Sometimes it fails in the short run, but it all has prominence in the long run. If I had top market and wanted to keep it, I'd follow Apple quick as possible to be the cheap-seats with the huge audience behind Apple's upper crust in the slim, prime rows.

Also, read the post. I said nothing definite: it was a counter to a facetious post. Now put a band-aid on it.

I think Thunderbolt is more for professional users. Transferring high amounts of data. For the general public, I think USB 3.0 is better.

For using peripherals it is great for the general public, if the general public is storing video on the external drives. Faster is always an improvement for everyone, though initially TB is a boost for the pros. With the event of TB, I am personally ignoring USB 3. What's the use of something half-speed?

 

[steadysignal]

Anybody ever bought a Hewlett-Packard computer and thought, "Gee, these guys really know what they're doing in every aspect of computing. I should always listen to these guys."

Nope.

When HP says it doesn't see the "value" in using the port, that means the company is too cheap to put it on its cheap computers.

correct.

this article sounds like sour grapes to me.

industry pundits, guys named mike, who knows?

time will tell.

 

[layte]

My understanding was Itanium did quite well in Servers?

It always had poor sales, SPARC and Power systems easily outsold it.

but...

If your code was good, then it was fast, very, very fast (I believe at one point the most powerful supercomputer on the planet used Itanium chips). Unfortunately it was expensive and had poor support from third party vendors.

A pattern emerges..

 

[SirHaakon]

FireWire 800 never worked, 400 was the only one that made it into video cameras and pro equipment. When Apple dropped FW400 in favor of 800, my biggest problem was acquiring a cable that has FW400 on one end and FW800 on the other. Trust me, no one has ever heard of that. I could only get it on eBay, not in the real world.

FW800 has worked mighty wonderfully for me for years. And it only takes 5 seconds to Google a 400 to 800 cable from actual vendors, not shady eBay dealers:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...roogle-_-Cables-_-Cables+Unlimited-_-12339059

Troll harder next time.

 

[blackburn]

The "war" goes on. Honestly I would prefer eSATA over USB3 or thunderbolt. At least I can send ata commands directly to the hd. For now I will wait and see what happens, my macbook doesnt like thunderbolt

 

[OllyW]

FireWire 800 never worked, 400 was the only one that made it into video cameras and pro equipment. When Apple dropped FW400 in favor of 800, my biggest problem was acquiring a cable that has FW400 on one end and FW800 on the other. Trust me, no one has ever heard of that. I could only get it on eBay, not in the real world.

Where is your 'real world'?

FW800 to FW400 cables are easy to find, I've got a couple which came with hard drives and there's at least 4 listed on the Apple Store.

USB was great, but USB 3 cables cannot be plugged into USB 2 sockets, so I don't care what they say about "backward compatibility", it needs an adapter or a special cable, so it's not backward compatible.

The USB A port is interchangeable, that's the one on your computer (and the one that matters). So is the B port on the device. The USB 3 B Cable isn't, but that's not a problem as you'll get a suitable cable included in the box.

I can go out and buy a USB 3 hard drive and it will plug into my Mac, that's interchangeable enough for me.

 

[blackcrayon]

FireWire 800 never worked, 400 was the only one that made it into video cameras and pro equipment. When Apple dropped FW400 in favor of 800, my biggest problem was acquiring a cable that has FW400 on one end and FW800 on the other. Trust me, no one has ever heard of that. I could only get it on eBay, not in the real world.

FW800 "never worked"? Eh? And I've seen FW800 - FW400 cables, i've had some come with external hard drives in the past. Barring that, it's not hard to find adapters to go on the ends of cables, we've ordered plenty at my company if that counts as the "real world".

 

[Aquaporin]

Ouch! HP is down 5% in premarket trading. Glad I didn't buy HPQ yesterday.

 

[SactoGuy18]

I think the problem comes down to this: when will Microsoft offer a Windows 7 and Windows Vista software driver to take advantage of Thunderbolt. If Microsoft were to offer such a driver through Windows Update, then the Thunderbolt connector becomes very useful, especially as a replacement for eSATA (especially given the sustained transfer rate of Thunderbolt--10 gigabits/second right now, which is much faster than Serial ATA 3.0's 6 gigabits/second rate).

 

[KnightWRX]

call the waaaaaa-mbulance.

You don't see the point: their reticence on such a matter is a sign of confusion within the high ranks.

And you don't see the real point : HP has been burned by Intel before on "new" stuff. Taking the cautious "wait and see" approach is fine. Notice how they haven't ruled it out completely.

And again, HP is doomed ? How does this decision affect their Enterprise Networking/Storage/Server product line-up anyhow ? We're not moving to Thunderbolt to replace our SAN. Thunderbolt is a host based topology, not a network based topology.

How is it affecting their software division ? What does HP-UX care that their laptops don't have Thunderbolt in the next 6 months ? What does all their OpenView suite care ? What does their compiler tool-chain care ?

HP, no matter how you look at it, is far from doomed from this decision to wait and see. Anyway, it's not like in 6 months, we'll have a ton of Thunderbolt stuff on the market, even the first peripherals are still slated for "Summer 2011". Months away.

The only confusion in the ranks is the "Apple does no wrong" crowd seeing this as a bad move. It's a no consequence move for HP.

I think the problem comes down to this: when will Microsoft offer a Windows 7 and Windows Vista software driver to take advantage of Thunderbolt. If Microsoft were to offer such a driver through Windows Update, then the Thunderbolt connector becomes very useful

How is that Microsoft's job ? They provide a Windows DDK, it's up to the vendors to provide drivers.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

The only PITA of buying a Macbook Pro despite all the awesomeness of the hardware and Mac OS X, is that I have to buy two adapters, one for my HDTV (MDP -> HDMI), and one for other projectors (MDP -> VGA/DVI etc.), there isn't anything except Apple monitors that use the MDP.

Probably, but when you have to connect and disconnect several peripherals you'll see the advantage of Thunderbolt, just connect one cable for everything: monitor, hard drives, etc., all running at their highest speeds without the classic bottlenecks.

As more people adopt it, prices will go down. Next to Thunderbolt, USB 3.0 is lame.
Is there a price? Yes. But it's worth it.

 

[KnightWRX]

Probably, but when you have to connect and disconnect several peripherals you'll see the advantage of Thunderbolt, just connect one cable for everything: monitor, hard drives, etc., all running at their highest speeds without the classic bottlenecks.

Except Thunderbolt is already a bottleneck for DP 1.2, without even connecting other peripherals to it.

 

[Lesser Evets]

As more people adopt it, prices will go down. Next to Thunderbolt, USB 3.0 is lame.
Is there a price? Yes. But it's worth it.

Finally, someone that thinks within the 4th dimension. The technology is moving so fast that it isn't clever to mire in the present, but to extrapolate, plan, and forge the future.

Computers are ALWAYS getting faster, so the faster-sooner-more-versatile technology will ultimately win the day. TB is that technology at this time. A clever executive at a computer company would adapt it. There is no reason whatsoever to be adhering to USB just because it is the current standard or has a third version. That's like adhering to SCSI because it was so versatile, missing the faults it had when compared to what came beyond.

USB 3.0 is lame compared to TB, despite being excellently fast compared to USB 1/2.

 

[KnightWRX]

USB 3.0 is lame compared to TB, despite being excellently fast compared to USB 1/2.

And USB was lame compared to FW. The faster/better technology does not always win. Taking a wait and see approach is not a cause to call for the doom of one of the biggest industry player there is, that has much more going for it than just "desktops/laptops". That just shows how disconnected and little one knows about HP.

 

[Gzilirion]

+

 

[NebulaClash]

According to Lauwaert, everone seems to be content with USB 3.0 so they don't see the value of including Thunderbolt in their desktop machines.

A perfect example of HP skating to where the puck is at the moment.

Managing by focus group results in a typical PC decision.

 

[LarryC]

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I don't know why apple had to call it something different than the name that intel gave it. I would prefer light peak over thunder-bolt. Personally, I want both USB 3.0 and TB. We've had USB 1.1 and FireWire 400.

 

[Skika]

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I don't know why apple had to call it something different than the name that intel gave it. I would prefer light peak over thunder-bolt. Personally, I want both USB 3.0 and TB. We've had USB 1.1 and FireWire 400.

Because it wouldnt make sense to call it Light peak as it doesnt use optical connection it this version.

 

[farmermac]

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I don't know how this could be a surprise to anyone. USB 3 is fast enough and provides backward compatibility to USB/usb2.

No one will adopt thunderbolt. I don't know why apple is so resistant to adopt standards.

 

[TMay]

important differences between TB and USB 3

TB has extremely low latency and accurate time synchronization. People in audio and video require such things. TB also has a fiber roadmap to 100Gb/s, and I don't see the USB org even attempting that.

With TB, Apple can provide a breadth of support for pro audio/video across its product line, something that USB 3.0 wouldn't be able to. Apple will also eventually provide TB in mobile devices, first using a dongle, and later a TB port.

With the arrival of Ivy Bridge and its chipset, Apple and everyone else including HP will have equal access to USB 3.0 and TB. HP will adopt as it sees need;

Devices to take advantage of TB are on the way.

TB is not a fail. Apple will leverage TB to sell more macs and idevices.

This scenario is not that difficult to comprehend, but for some, it remains incomprehensible.

 

[MrWinters]

A perfect example of HP skating to where the puck is at the moment.

Managing by focus group results in a typical PC decision.

Couldn't agree more!!! Maybe if Apple "skates to where the puck is going to be" they can get up to 6% of the world market!!!!

Those idiots who make "typical PC decisions" will have to be happy with their crappy 90% market share!!! (And as Mac users, we get to buy elegant and sexy proprietary dongles and adapters at $30-$50 a crack)

 

[0815]

Once again, the chicken / egg paradox slows adoption.

Something is wrong today .... I agree with Full of Win

 

[Razeus]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Thunderbolt is a stupid idea. USB 3 devices are already taking over. I can walk into any store right now and find a USB 3 unit and adapter. Thunderbolt is not only a stupid name, but proves that Apple does strange things with the tech they choose to adopt. First Firewire, then Miniport now Thunderbolt. I'm not sure Apple knows what market share Apple desktops and laptops have, but it sure isn't enough to be the leader in emerging tech.

 

[toddybody]

"Consumers not convinced of the value of Hewlett Packard"

 

[Man9z0r]

I would have to say HP is spot on with this one!

They could of just kept it the mini display port and I wouldn't know the difference. Seems their is high hopes for the port but haven't really heard of anything that I would need / buy yet.

Apple just likes adding ports that they can make you have to spend more money on adapters for!