Report: Intel Ready to Make Thunderbolt Widely Available

Report: Intel Ready to Make Thunderbolt Widely Available | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

 

No personal retort OP? Do you think it's a viable path in the next generation of computers?

Anyway, I'd like to know what took them so long. Also, is there any word from HP or Dell? They're still the leaders in computer production.

 

The problem is that USB3 is the quasi standard since last year, and there are a ton of devices for it, even though its only half as fast as TB is.
Additionally USB3 is both way compatible with USB2, even on device level, so Intel will have a tough time promoting TB as the next connection standard.
On the other hand there are almost no device for TB, so it might end up like Firewire, or in the best case like eSata.

 

Yeah, I could see that happening. Intel's best bet would be to get the/a higher speed Thunderbolt launched in April.

The only Thunderbolt products I've been interested in is the external GPU enclosures, and then I found out that those are going for $800 or something, so forget about it.

 

I think the Thunderbolt implementation in PCs will be worse than those in Macs, because Macs use PCIe to implement Thunderbolt and they patented it, leaving only USB3 for PCs, and for them to get the advertised 10Gbps speeds they would need to tie 2 USB3 lanes for just one port, which would totally ruin cost effectiveness when manufacturers might as well just use USB3 and enjoy much wider compatibility without paying extra for the Thunderbolt modules. Just my two cents, factual accuracy not guaranteed

 

nope Sony has used TB in a different implementation using PCIe Lanes. AFIK the entire TB spec was that way and did not go near the USB controller at all

 

A lot of mis-information here...

TB is based on PCIe over optical fibre. Intel property. Apple choose to implement it PCIe over copper, with Intel's approval.

TB is not meant to 'take over' any other connectivity standard (yet). It is meant to be the one common link that is engineered to not be bottlenecked no matter what is connected and over optical fibre can achieve 10x what Apple is able to market today.

See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunderbolt_(interface)

 

Oh well. That was what I could remember from what I read, and I was wrong. At least I learnt something

 

Maybe I'm out of the loop, but are USB 3.0 products really currently that widespread? I mean certainly more so than Thunderbolt, but I don't see people picking up USB 3.0 drives all over the place.

But like I said, maybe I just haven't noticed it.

 

yep, external drives, RAID's, DV cameras, audio interfaces, and usb to dvi adapters, thats just on my desk
ive seen mixerboards for both audio and audio/video as well as NLE interface controllers for AVID and premier pro

 

You could buy a USB3 HDD a year ago, even though at that time only very few computers had a USB3 port, and they were about 10% more expensive then USB2 drives.
With TB its the other way around, there are only a few devices, which are exorbitantly expensive (400€ for a 1Tb HDD) and are not usable on systems without TB.
The only way it could get momentum would be as a common interface for external GPUs.

 

No, you're correct. But keep in mind superspeed still is a fledgling technology. It will proliferate as the need for higher speed transfer increases.

TB will be the foundation upon which USB 3.0 (and other transfer data ports) can be built. The technology is complementary

 

You're correct. Most external drives and flash drives sold today continue to use exclusively USB 2.0. The only reason I have a USB 3.0 device (a Corsair Flash Voyager) was because I found a rebate for it that brought the price below that of a USB 2.0 equivalent.

The thing is, a majority of people don't feel the necessity of a faster interface (and often don't understand it), especially when most laptops still don't have a single USB 3.0 port. Except among enthusiasts, I don't imagine either TB or USB 3.0 catching on very rapidly. USB 3.0 will likely proliferate more quickly once Intel incorporates it into its chipset and ports become widespread, but TB is more difficult for the average consumer to understand and will likely remain isolated to high-end models for the near future.

 

I'm really looking forward to TB for the sake of having a one-port docking solution that has enough bandwidth for GbE, USB 3.0, and dual external displays (albeit not necessarily super high performance to those displays).

 

not to be too ignorant ..... we have that already with advanced docks in business class units ( for atleast 3 years )

GBE, USB, and quad displays ( high performance ) in some cases. TB just simplifies it a tiny bit and adds more cables and clutter

 

Since I'm a mac user, I'm happy and hope this goes through.

 

I'm aware of those docks, but for some (irrational?) reason, I don't like them. Maybe they appear inelegant to me, and the required port on the bottom of the machine has only one possible purpose.

 

the port on MOST units serves multiple purposes I found out after using them.

the dock is the main one, but battery slices that drastically extend bat life ( close to 24h on my x220 or 11 on my 8760W or 31h on the 8460p are handy).

Vehicle mounts where you dock it in the car for audio, gps, charging it up and a multitude of odd reasons. I agree it looks odd to begin with though