As I’m sure you’re very much aware, Apple
released news of a brand new set of MacBook Pros this morning, and along
with them has come something called a Thunderbolt. It’s a relatively
brand new bit of technology, this Thunderbolt, that was developed by
Intel under codename “Light Peak” and promises to be the new name in
data transfer between devices. How fast is it? Why it’s 12 times faster
than FireWire 800 they say, 20 times faster than USB 2.0, quicker than a
speeding bullet!
Would you like to know more?
What’s the Big Deal?
The big number being touted by this new technology is 10-Gbps –
that’s gigaBITS. What this number represents is 1.25-gigaBYTES of data
traveling from one device to another inside 1 single second. The closest
technology to this kind of speed that’s been adopted by any sort of
wide-spread device at this time has been USB 3.0, a version of USB sort
of skipped over by Apple, which at its fastest only goes half the speed
of Thunderbolt.
In addition to this speed, Thunderbolt is able to daisy-chain
multiple devices without a hub – an ability USB has never had. With this
ability, Apple is saying that a single MacBook Pro is able to support
six devices, making it easy to hook up to one of those fantastical
6-display setups you’ve seen in your gaming or video-editing dreams.
Additionally, Thunderbolt is bi-directional AND is 10-Gbps of data AS
WELL AS 10-Gbps of video. What this means is that in theory it’s
actually 20-Gbps which means it could easily send 4 or 5 uncompressed HD
videos to TWO 27″ Cinema Displays. Fantastic!
Is it a new port then?
Thunderbolt is built with the current size and shape of things in
mind, pairing their existing Mini DisplayPort with this PCI Express
standard, using the same size physical connection as is already
implemented on previous Apple laptop models. This DisplayPort in these
newer MacBook Pro models now supports the existing DisplayPort monitors,
DVI/HDMI video output, VGA video output, and super fast data transfer
to Thunderbolt-ready devices. Furthermore, Intel’s PCI Express high
speed serial interface is the basis for Thunderbolt; this interface
appears currently as motherboard expansion slots in desktop PCs and Mini
PCI Express cards in notebooks.
But why didn’t they just, I dunno, upgrade USB or FireWire?
It was Apple, if you’re not familiar, who was originally responsible
for developing FireWire in the early 1990′s to work as a means to fast
disk access and streaming of video and audio date. Intel then created
USB as a peripheral standard with slightly lower speed than FireWire. At
some point in there, Apple adopted USB, showing their love for it by
having it be the only serial port on the first iMac. After that, Intel
released USB 2.0 which immediately started competing with FireWire, USB
becoming cheaper all the while, FireWire remaining more expensive as it
devices that use it need more sophisticated controllers. What does
ThunderBolt do? It blasts Apple ahead with speeds way above any FireWire
port with a simple and easy to implement new system.
And the best part? Well not the BEST part, but a very interesting
part? The PCI Express design of Thunderbolt allows it to work with USB
or FireWire, cords going from one to the other, eventually (we’re not
sure why not immediately,) allowing Apple to drop all of the other ports
altogether.
What about my USB-powered external harddives?
Thunderbolt supports electrical power for bus-powered devices,
meaning they’ll need no extra power plug hanging from the wall. PCI
Express support is already included in Intel’s mobile and desktop
chipsets, making it simple to add to all new systems. Finally, again I
must state the fact that this port works backward with the DisplayPort
plugs that would have been plugged into that port before in addition to
new PCI Express signals makes this out to be what appears to be a godly
new system as chosen by Apple as one of their new standards. Sounds pretty neato!
