is thunderbolt dead!!

[jsolares]

Actually there's two more big differences.
1) USB3 devices come at little to no added cost on current USB computers/peripherals. Thunderbolt is likely to cost more under the FireWire excuse that "this is new technology and It cost more to manufacture blah blah blah".

2) USB3 is backward compatible with every computer for the last decade+ while Thunderbolt is very limited since it only appears on some products and has no actual peripherals yet.

Don't get me wrong. I want TB to succeed but so far it looks to be more about promises than actual products.

Hopefully a TB -> USB3 dongle (or dock) will come out and you'll get the speed and will only cost you once not for every drive.

 

[L0s7man]

Hopefully a TB -> USB3 dongle (or dock) will come out and you'll get the speed and will only cost you once not for every drive.

Yeah, TB -> USB3 is a no brainer while I don't think it's at all possible to go in the other direction. The beauty of TB is that you can plug ANYTHING. From what I understand it's much trickier to do the same with USB3.

However, also having a USB3 port would be a win-win ;-) Shame that it won't happen.

 

[Azathoth]

The beauty of TB is that you can plug ANYTHING.

The beauty of TB is that you can plug in anything.

The irony of TB is that you can plug in nothing*.

I see TB in its current incarnation as remaining a niche. Too expensive to implement. Not viable on smaller devices because it uses the PCI type bus, AFAIK, which I don't think that most embedded platforms, such as smart phones, have. Having said that I really how TB will give us some affordable FW and USB3 interface options on the MBA and MBP.

Regarding the OP: I saw the article. 20A at 5V? How? Through a USB type connector?

I can give you my engineering opinion: no chance of this catching on. I can't see a reliable way of doing it, nor can I see a need for it.








*apart from 1 hard disk array and a monitor and a bunch of vaporware.

 

[soulreaver99]

I miss having the express card slot that used to be on the MBP 15. If it still had it, it would be easy to buy a USB 3.0 adapter and also have the choice to blow some coin on a thunderbolt device!

 

[lovelaptops]

I miss having the express card slot that used to be on the MBP 15. If it still had it, it would be easy to buy a USB 3.0 adapter and also have the choice to blow some coin on a thunderbolt device!

Unless Apple starts growing their laptop market share from 11% to something over 40% (as with iPad at 60% - 90%, even iPhone at nearly 30%, it won't pay for peripheral makers to invest in TB ports. It will be destined to become an orphan technology, at least for some time, and until Intel drastically reduces the royalty on it.

It's just another case of Steve telling us:

1) You don't need USB 3
2) Ditto ExpressCard expanson slots
3) Ditto BluRay DVDs
4) Ditto SD card readers on 11" MBAs

Thanks Steve. Love the exclusivity. Too bad it keeps me from getting what I want and need for a decent price. Can beat those slick features - like instant on - that lose their luster quickly but leave you begging for the useful features you can't have. Bragging rights for TB seem lame at best for years to come, and usb3 speeds are more than sufficient for data transfer between laptops and external drives which is 80% of the use of the dataport.

Flawed greatness. Good, because though I admire much of what Apple has achieved, and I'm scared to death that they will now use predatory pricing and patents to run all major competition out of the market. I don't want to live in a world where there are only 5 laptops, 1 tablet and one smartphone.

 

[KittyKatta]

Hopefully a TB -> USB3 dongle (or dock) will come out and you'll get the speed and will only cost you once not for every drive.

Right, but whats the hold up? Is it intentionally being held back?