Thunderbolt Peripherals

[Column]

Ok, I got the 2011 MBP right at launch and have been pleased with it. I was super excited for the promise of Thunderbolt. 6 months later, where are the mainstream Thunderbolt peripherals? I've seen one Promise Raid array and the Mac monitor, and that's it! I've been checking LaCie for their Raid Little Big Disk, but not out yet. What's the hold up? No SSD's, webcams, tv capture cards, audio devices, nothing. Are OEM's waiting for each other to make the first move, or is the technology dead on arrival? I need some 10Gbps madness!

 

[MrCheeto]

Do you recall when Apple introduced the iMac, the first mainstream computer with no classic ports like Serial and SCSI and only USB and FireWire?

At first, it seemed USB was slowly rolling. At the end of the pipeline latency, they exploded!

OEM's still have designs in the pipeline. Once the products roll to the end of the production stage, they will be everywhere.

Come on, it's intel. Everybody's gonna jump on board!

 

[Macman45]

It Won't Be

Too much longer now I don't think....Keep looking at the two ports and wondering what id actuallly LIKE there.

A super fast mixing console maybe, oems must be wondering what to r&d Remeber Windoze first USB ports?

Just look at USB now

 

[Column]

I mean, an external HDD faster than internal? Sign me up! Maybe a triple Bluray burner. I hope that dang $50 cable isn't holding things up.

I wonder if there will be Thunderbolt hubs. Trying to take a middle peripheral out of the chain and reconnecting doesn't sound fun.

 

[Freyqq]

I mean..the cable alone is $50. Most peripherals are less than $50 lol. Also, most peripherals would never require more than usb 2.0 speeds. The only thing that would warrant thunderbolt speeds are hard drives in RAID arrays and monitors. Thunderbolt isn't actually fast enough yet to drive an external video card either (thunderbolt = 4x PCIe, most good desktop video cards use 16x PCIe).

 

[MrCheeto]

Also, most peripherals would never require more than usb 2.0 speeds. The only thing that would warrant thunderbolt speeds are hard drives in RAID arrays and monitors.

And the only thing that would warrant FireWire is faster throughput. I see plenty of FireWire peripherals online, but still USB peripherals dominate. With USB 3.0, it's always going to be the foremost I/O standard.

Think of ThunderBolt as the new FireWire. For professional and specialty use. Five years from now, your camera may use USB 3.0 but your HD camcorder may use ThunderBolt to whisk all of that data over in minimal time.

Options are key.

 

[nateo200]

I wish Mini Display port would support a slower rated thunderbolt firmware upgrade It seams that my options for high speed data transfer to peripherials are limited...FireWire is almost never used on devices that would be awesome for it (Like my Canon DSLR! Come' on I hate taking 16gigs of HD video then putting it on my mac...slow) or even a USB/FireWire and Ethernet combo for fast data transfer with devices like external hard drives. Everyone says USB 2.0 is plenty fine but I gotta tell you that's a load of BS. I've got a 1TB external that is slow as molasses and supports up USB 3.0! Either way my motto is to always be ahead of the game with your media capabilities...when MacBooks in the future have crazy things espcially better graphics you will have a thunderbolt port and your speed won't be limited by crappy USB 2.0 when you start looking at pretty good performing external graphics card rigs. I have no clue why this didn't come sooner I always hated how laptops lacked readily available PCIe ports and if they had the slots it was rare or just on certain models.

 

[tbln]

Everyone says USB 2.0 is plenty fine but I gotta tell you that's a load of BS.

I agree. I'm not an A/V professional so I'm holding out for usb 3.0 to use on more mainstream devices. I hope it will be available in conjunction with thunderbolt as seems to be purported with ivy bridge.

 

[surma884]

TB seems like a pipe dream now. There should've been at least 5 devices when TB came out. I see USB3 hardrives, but no TB hardrives. Even if they had enclosures it would be nice. Hell I will even settle for a TB to USB3 adapter. At least that will get me faster speeds for my external HDDs.

The morons at Intel need to be fired. Why would they release USB3 and TB at the same time?

 

[Dhelsdon]

TB seems like a pipe dream now. There should've been at least 5 devices when TB came out. I see USB3 hardrives, but no TB hardrives. Even if they had enclosures it would be nice. Hell I will even settle for a TB to USB3 adapter. At least that will get me faster speeds for my external HDDs.

The morons at Intel need to be fired. Why would they release USB3 and TB at the same time?

They've created competition for themselves, and for what? Now the way I see it, it's going to be one or the other. Look how much further ahead USB 3 is already. Sure they've got a few devices for TB but at the cost of that external bay it's quite ridiculous. The only device I've had any interest in yet is the Seagate GoFlex with the external adapters you can swap.. and they haven't produced the adapter for thunderbolt yet.

 

[amoergosum]

6 months.....Thunderbolt has become a joke.
All I want now is a Thunderbolt to USB 3.0 adapter.

 

[AmbiguousNinja]

I see it as Apple including a Thunderbolt port because they believe it will become popular as they did with USB ports, thus "extending" your Macbook's age/usefulness in the future, when Thunderbolt is EVERYWHERE and you can't spare a grand for the new iMacbook Air Pro NoBody ChromeyBridge Processor.

 

[vitzr]

I mean..the cable alone is $50.

That's only because of Apple Tax. Once the mainstream computer companies start using it the cables will be reasonably priced.

Thunderbolt isn't actually fast enough yet to drive an external video card either (thunderbolt = 4x PCIe, most good desktop video cards use 16x PCIe).

Yes unfortunately Apple & Intel got cheap and instead of using fiber optic cable like was originally planned, they did a last minute switch to old school copper wire. This also may be one reason other OEM's haven't jumped on it. Nothing is as fast as fiber optics. That's why the original name of the project was called Light Peak.

 

[Mal]

Yes unfortunately Apple & Intel got cheap and instead of using fiber optic cable like was originally planned, they did a last minute switch to old school copper wire. This also may be one reason other OEM's haven't jumped on it. Nothing is as fast as fiber optics. That's why the original name of the project was called Light Peak.

AFAIK, they always planned on copper first, then fiber when it became feasible (from the price point mostly). The current ports will be compatible with the fiber cables when they are released.

jW