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Thunderbolt Details Emerge: Bus Power, Mini DisplayPort, and More
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Ive been wanting to do this ever since i switched to a mac.Ive always run dual 30" monitors on my PC and miss it ,Im currently running one through my MBA at 2560 x 1600 i wonder if someone will come out with some sort of adapter where it converts the single Thunderbolt/Displayport to a dual DP connection that would be awesome.
Much like firewire grew, TB seems to have been made to be upgraded. When 100GB versions come out in a few years things will be even better.
Other then that, what's to stop a manufacturer from having more then one TB port? Maybe one copper based for perfs that need power (idevices, etc, like a USB style) and one optical that is 100Gb and can run Fibre channel, RAID array's, Networking, etc... Beef up the PCIe internals and you get a lot of external TB independent busses.
Can anyone explain this thunderbolt thing to me in non-tech terms lol....all i want to know basically is can i sync my iphone 4 and ipad faster with it somehow?sorry im techno-retarded...go easy on me
In a digital world connected by lots of different proprietary tubes, this is one massive tube that can fit all sorts of smaller different kinds of tubes inside, with a really high speed limit.
Kinda like a big truck, you can just dump stuff onto it.
In simple terms you don't really need to worry about all this for at least 2 years. Today is a day for geeks to geek out about devices that won't ship for awhile. MBP's being the exception. Current iDevices can't use this tech without adaptors that don't exist yet.
You should have it sorted out in 2 years when hopefully Thunderbolt devices are far more common and cheap.
Can anyone explain this thunderbolt thing to me in non-tech terms lol....all i want to know basically is can i sync my iphone 4 and ipad faster with it somehow?
Let see....
Think about it as 2 super highspeed trains carrying 1 million people on each train, heading in opposite directions; using the same track. With no collisions and no slowing the other down as one stops in a city.
the just swoosh through each other (with no mix up). Kinda like a real train and a ghost train in sci-fi flicks.
As for syncing ipad / iphone faster. Not the current ones, but the newer ones that have a thunderbolt port (not yet released - rumored next ones coming out). Then yes. a 64gb in mere seconds as opposed to the few minutes it takes now.
Can anyone explain this thunderbolt thing to me in non-tech terms lol....all i want to know basically is can i sync my iphone 4 and ipad faster with it somehow?
Basic idea: you plug one single small cable in and get instant high-performance connection to an external monitor, a couple of backup/external storage drives, your i-gadgets, your external dvd drive, your microwave and your fridge
Most importantly: single cable and single port for everything. You don't need to get an extra cable for video, storage, network, etc - just a few TB cables. Equals less cable salad, simpler installation, better performance, less irritation.Of course, this will only be possible after vendors jump onto the TB bandwagon, but I am very sure that they will do it soon. The benefits are just too great.
on paper this connector is again superior but in reality USB3 is already having a lot of traction regarding just released motherboards and devices and very likely feature also the much smaller price tag
i'm sorry but thunderbolt has written 'firewire' all over it again ... yeah i know on a mac forum nobody wants to hear it but outside of using firewire HDs on macs (on the pc side nobody had FW drives) only some pro audio interfaces and camcorders nobody used it
the price will simply kill it
i'm sorry but thunderbolt has written 'firewire' all over it again ... yeah i know on a mac forum nobody wants to hear it but outside of using firewire HDs on macs (on the pc side nobody had FW drives) only some pro audio interfaces and camcorders nobody used it
the price will simply kill it
The copper-based Thunderbolt ports that are in the new MacBooks won't be able to output optical signals, so they will never be faster than they are today. It's possible that eventually there will be Thunderbolt ports that support both copper and optical so you will be able to use either type of connection on the same physical port. However, if they can't do that it means that the Thunderbolt ports on the new MacBooks won't work with future devices that are strictly optical (without some type of hub or converter). Thus, to be backward compatible later Thunderbolt devices might have to allow connection to either a dedicated optical port or a legacy copper port (meaning at least two input ports per device or maybe even four ports if you wanted to support daisy chaining).
** UPDATE **
Looks like you won't need a separate, external converter to use an optical cable or optical-based peripheral. Intel says that they will produce cables that will have the optical transceivers built right in to the cable itself. Thus, you'll be able to use that type of optical cable with the copper-based ports that are in the new MacBooks.
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your post does scare me in one sense. TB is using the size of the propriatory display port. Does this mean Apple will release the pattend on display port for everyone else, or are we going to see separate devices for PC and MAC.
Also TB is only a little faster than USB3. I think other than being a little faster, there is no mention that USB 3 can daisy-chain.
From an old article:
in a nutshell, USB 3.0 promises the following:
Higher transfer rates (up to 4.8Gbps)
Increased maximum bus power and increased device current draw to better accommodate power-hungry devices
New power management features
Full-duplex data transfers and support for new transfer types
New connectors and cables for higher speed data transfer...although they are backwards compatible with USB 2.0 devices and computers (more on this later)
Either way - high speed data transfer is coming as our files continue to grow in size.
As long as computers are based on silicon instead of optical, there remains the need to convert the electrical signals into optical and back. If it's in the thunderbolt plug or in the thunderbolt chip is not a huge difference. Likely the chip is positioned directly behind the connector, keeping possible signal loss extremely low. I guess in future we will see 'thunderbolt' being integrated in the CPU, memory controller and graphics card, all connected via optical links. But before that happens we probably see 2 or 3 more iterations of MacBooks coming out
If Intel drops the ability of TB to carry power in future optical versions, then it just means that they must plan on supporting USB 3, beginning with Ivy Bridge. I can envision Apple using (non-powered) TB for self-powered devices such as displays and stationary external hard drives while using (powered) USB 3 and or FW800 for portable hard drives.
Thunderbolt is going nowhere on minidisplay port. Even regular display port is practically dead as its getting thrown out of the market by mini-hdmi. I dont know if you can still even buy video cards with display port on them, its only going to get worse as 3d gets more popular. Surely its not limited to just MDP devices and there are plans to incorporate it for other ports, if not then wow. I have a feeling Apple threw Intel some money to try and save that horrible adapter-ridden port.
The Mini DisplayPort is not really Apple proprietary, it's now part of the DisplayPort standard which I believe has no licensing fees. In fact, HP and Dell already offer products that use Mini DisplayPort. However, I don't know about the Thunderbolt port, it may or may not have licensing fees (I suspect that it does NOT).
Obviously, as a techy I want one. But I have to wonder, is anyone put 0.001% of the computing population going to be able to take advantage of this?
I'm just thinking that a 7200RPM drive can read data at about 1Gbps. So what's the point of 10Gbps?
Yes, I know 10Gbps is theoretical, but so is a HD read speed. So who is going to daisy chain ten hard drives to their laptop and max the buffer read speed on all ten drives?! I suppose it'll be good for the future. It just feels like we're getting into the "mhz myth" of transfer speeds, at least to my uneducated brain. Educate me?
Also, I'm aware that SSDs can read faster, but not by that much. And we're back to what percentage of the population is daisy chaining SSDs
And while I realize that this port can handle more than just Hard drives, it seems that as a consumer all that saves me is having to plug more things in.
Not trying to be a kill joy, I just don't understand
I'm just thinking that a 7200RPM drive can read data at about 1Gbps. So what's the point of 10Gbps?
Yes, I know 10Gbps is theoretical, but so is a HD read speed. So who is going to daisy chain ten hard drives to their laptop and max the buffer read speed on all ten drives?! I suppose it'll be good for the future. It just feels like we're getting into the "mhz myth" of transfer speeds, at least to my uneducated brain. Educate me?
Also, I'm aware that SSDs can read faster, but not by that much. And we're back to what percentage of the population is daisy chaining SSDs
And while I realize that this port can handle more than just Hard drives, it seems that as a consumer all that saves me is having to plug more things in.
Not trying to be a kill joy, I just don't understand
No bus power?
Looks like when thunderbolt goes optical no more bus powered devices. Sounds like a pain to have a separate charger for your ipod.
Looks like when thunderbolt goes optical no more bus powered devices. Sounds like a pain to have a separate charger for your ipod.
The great thing about TB is that it could theoretically pipe HDMI and any future data standard (under 10Gbps). It's basically external PCIe with power. Think of it as a dumb pipe.
ok, i've been waiting for this since i heard 'lightpeak' for the first time. and i already ordered a 17''.
my concern is how many third parties will develop for the first copper iteration?
what will happen to us copper thunderbolters when fiber equipment is released?
i figured that i better have a 17'', thinking there might be an express slot adapter for second generation tb peripherals later.
but my hopes are for a hd video capture unit this time around. from blackmagic, aja, matrix or whoever
my concern is how many third parties will develop for the first copper iteration?
what will happen to us copper thunderbolters when fiber equipment is released?
i figured that i better have a 17'', thinking there might be an express slot adapter for second generation tb peripherals later.
but my hopes are for a hd video capture unit this time around. from blackmagic, aja, matrix or whoever
Obviously, as a techy I want one. But I have to wonder, is anyone put 0.001% of the computing population going to be able to take advantage of this?
I'm just thinking that a 7200RPM drive can read data at about 1Gbps. So what's the point of 10Gbps?
Yes, I know 10Gbps is theoretical, but so is a HD read speed. So who is going to daisy chain ten hard drives to their laptop and max the buffer read speed on all ten drives?! I suppose it'll be good for the future. It just feels like we're getting into the "mhz myth" of transfer speeds, at least to my uneducated brain. Educate me?
Also, I'm aware that SSDs can read faster, but not by that much. And we're back to what percentage of the population is daisy chaining SSDs
And while I realize that this port can handle more than just Hard drives, it seems that as a consumer all that saves me is having to plug more things in.
Not trying to be a kill joy, I just don't understand
Well according to Intel its Apple exclusive until late 2012 anyway, Thunderbolt that is, lightpeak is the other one that carries no power and looks like a usb connector. I sincerely hope the exclusivity thing wasnt Apple's idea...if so its a poor choice.
If I had to bet on it, I would guess is that this one will be DOA in the PC world. Its nice and all but if PC peripherals like external drives aren't going to be showing up for over a year it just means overpriced stuff from very few vendors for mac users.
According to intel it cant be added to a machine via an card or anything and has to be built into the mainboard since it needs direct access to both the video and pci express architecture.http://www.appleinsider.com/article...derbolt_as_exclusive_to_apple_until_2012.html
By the time thunderbolt goes only optical, your ipod likely won't be the device anymore as you know it today. Think mainstream availability of wireless/inductive power supplies.