Apple Thunderbolt adapters arriving in Apple stores

Apple's low-cost Thunderbolt adapters offer legacy I/O connectivity for newer Mac systems.

CNET - Part of Apple's keynote address at WWDC this morning was a demonstration of its new MacBook Air and MacBook Pro systems, which have not only done away with optical drives but have also streamlined other I/O offerings. In order to save space in its systems, Apple has combined USB 2.0 and 3.0 connections, but has also fallen to relying on its Thunderbolt connections to provide the I/O connectivity from older Mac systems.

Apple's new Thunderbolt adapters look like the white dongles of most of its other adapter offerings.

(Credit: Apple)

 

 

As the MacBook line has evolved over the years, Apple has attempted to remove legacy ports from the systems, including the Ethernet port from MacBook Air systems, FireWire from some MacBook systems, and the ExpressCard slot from all but its 17-inch MacBook Pro.

With the inclusion of Thunderbolt in its systems, what used to be Apple's reluctance to keep a port or two has become an opportunity for it to be rid of these altogether, especially since Thunderbolt allows for the addition of any I/O technology that is needed by the user. Currently both Apple's Thunderbolt Display and upcoming third-party docking stations offer similar opportunity, though they are relatively expensive and may include features (such as a display) that are not needed.       More

Thunderbolt on Windows gets hands-on, lacks Mac's hot-swapping

Engadget -

Thunderbolt's 10-gigabit interface is only just making its way to Windows after spending more than a year as a Mac-only feature, so it's not surprising that a lot of questions surround how well the Apple- and Intel-developed connection works for those of a Microsoft persuasion. A thorough test at AnandTech of one of the first motherboards to support the spec on Windows PCs, an Ivy Bridge-ready board from MSI, has shown some positive signs along with a few flies in the high-speed ointment.            More

This Insanely Fast Gear Is Why Thunderbolt’s Gonna Matter Real Soon

Gizmodo - The Thunderbolt I/O interface is the darling of Apple and Intel. Introduced on the MacBook Pro line in late February, the port is still largely collecting dust.

The peripherals just haven’t materialized as quickly as many had expected, and unless you want to drop $1000 on an Apple Cinema Display, even getting something as simple as a hub is an exercise in futility.

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Thunderbolt vs. USB 3.0: Why it’s a lose-lose

 

The Promise Pegasus R6 Thunderbolt drive and the 
1.5TB USB portable drive from Seagate.
(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)

CNET - Ever since Intel announced Thunderbolt and made it exclusively available to Macs, Windows users have been wondering if they are missing out. The truth is: yes, they are, big time. I’ve been working with the first Thunderbolt storage device, the Pegasus R6 from Promise, and find it to be the fastest consumer-grade storage device out there, period. (Stay tuned for my full review coming up soon.)

On the other hand, since Macs generally don’t support USB 3.0, which has been out for a long time and is becoming more and more popular in the PC world, Mac users have also been missing out quite a bit. Many people are wondering which is better, Thunderbolt or USB 3.0. The answer, in terms of storage applications, is neither. Consumers should really have both. The current separation of the two standards is a lose-lose situation for Windows and Mac users alike.

Here’s why

Thunderbolt is slated to offer a speed of 10Gbps (which is about 1.2GBps). Real-world storage products generally offer much less than that, but still boast very fast data throughput. The Pegasus R6, for instance, is much faster than even a SATA 3 solid-state drive. And that’s not a surprise, because the top speed of the SATA 3 standard, which is currently the fastest standard for an internal storage controller in a consumer-grade computer, is just 6Gbps (768MBps).

The Pegasus R6 hosts six SATA 3 internal hard drives. The reason it can achieve much faster throughput speeds than the standard (up to 800MBps as claimed by Promise) is because these drives are set up in RAID configurations that aggregate their individual throughput speeds into one combined speed that’s much faster than that of each drive.

So for now, there’s no point in making a Thunderbolt storage device that’s made of just one internal drive. In this case its speed would be just the same as that of the internal drive, which is again 6Gbps or slower. Even in the case of the Pegasus R6, when connected to a Thunderbolt-enabled MacBook Pro, the transfer speed is basically that of the laptop’s internal drive–much slower than what the external drive can do.

As it stands, unless you have a bunch of Pegasuses daisy-chained to one another and move data between them, you’ll never get to see the drive’s top speed when it comes to real-world data transferring. And that would be OK if investing in a Thunderbolt storage device wasn’t a big deal, but it is. The cheapest version of the Pegasus R6 costs around $1,500. That raises the question: why should you invest in such an expensive storage device just to have its performance bogged down by your computer? Maybe because you don’t have a choice.         More

New MacBook Airs Get Hit With a Thunderbolt

Gizmodo - Apple's brought both sizes of the MacBook Air line straight up to what you'd expect from a laptop in 2011, adding a Thunderbolt port, but more importantly some sweet Sandy Bridge i5 and i7 chips—and backlit keyboards.

The addition of the super-fast Thunderbolt port will future-proof any Thunderbolt-enabled gadgets you purchase in the future, and the backlit keyboard? Well, that's so bloggers can see in the night (in Apple keynotes).

11-inch Air

Three 11-inch models are now on offer, with the starting point being a model with 64GB storage, 2GB of RAM and 1.6GHz processor. The next model up has the same CPU speed, but doubles the RAM to 4GB, along with the storage to 128GB. Lastly, the custom model can be squeezed to an 1.8GHz processor, 4GB RAM and 256GB storage.

13-inch Air

Obviously, the real power belongs to the 13-inch models, with the base model coming with a 1.7GHz processor, 4GB RAM and 128GB storage, and the next level up providing much the same, only with 256GB of storage. The built-to-order model can be outfitted with a 1.8GHz chip.    More

Apple's latest iMac looks great, even faster

New Sandy Bridge processors deliver speed; Thunderbolt port offers promise

 

Computerworld - Remember the old ad campaign for Miller Lite? "Tastes great, less filling."

The latest update to Apple's iMac line, which rolled out in May, in a way reminds me of that. Apple left unchanged the minimalist aluminum-and-glass design while switching to Intel's Sandy Bridge processors, AMD graphics chips and adding the new Thunderbolt port for high-speed connections with peripherals.

The new iMac still looks great, and it's even faster.

That sums up what Apple has done with its all-in-ones, with the biggest change being the introduction of Thunderbolt, a technology that's definitely still ahead of the curve but could prove to be quite popular down the road.

Specs and prices

 

Like the previous generation, this iMac lineup starts at $1,199 for a 21.5-in. model with a 1920-by-1080-pixel resolution screen and $1,699 for a 27-in. version, which sports 2560-by-1440-pixel resolution. There's also a high-end $1,999 model, which comes with a 3.1GHz quadcore i5 processor; this is the model Apple provided for my review.

All iMacs feature Intel's Core i5 quadcore processors (and you can upgrade to an i7 if you need more speed), a 720p wide-angle FaceTime camera for high-definition video chats, 4GB of memory, and at least 512MB of video memory. The entry-level model uses an AMD Radeon HD 6750M video card with 512MB of RAM; the pricier iMacs rely on the AMD Radeon HD 6970M with 1GB of video memory. (You can double that to 2GB on the 27-in. iMac, but it'll cost you $100.) The $1,199 model has a 500GB hard drive; the rest come with 1TB of storage, which can be expanded to 2GB or combined with a solid-state drive for a more responsive machine.

All of the changes Apple made to the lineup match the company's past practice of beefing up hardware while leaving prices intact, yielding a thoroughly modern all-in-one computer, with a sharp, bright screen that's perfect for editing movies, organizing/editing photos, watching streaming video or making your own presentations. Best of all, the iMacs come with Apple's iLife suite of apps -- iMovie, iPhoto, GarageBand, iDVD and iWeb. I still haven't found any software quite as intuitive -- or as easy to use -- on the Windows side that beats the iLife suite.

For the environmentally conscious, the iMac meets Energy Star 5.2 requirements, and is rated EPEAT Gold in the U.S. and Canada.

The iMac still comes in the unibody form factor Apple rolled out several years ago. The main iMac chassis is carved from a single slab of aluminum for solid, seamless, quality construction. The design is an instant attention-getter, and this iMac was a draw no matter who was visiting, regardless of technical proficiency. The silver of the aluminum and the black framed-glass remains striking; it's minimalism at its best, while still incorporating needed functionality. For instance, the deep black border around the screen hides the HD FaceTime camera and a green LED, which lights up when the camera is on.

Enter Thunderbolt

 

The iMac has the same retinue of ports and wireless networking as before, with one very important addition: the inclusion of the new Thunderbolt port.  

Thunderbolt was developed by Intel and implemented as the DisplayPort connection on Apple products. (If you've purchased a new MacBook Pro since February, that port you've been plugging your display into is a Thunderbolt port.)

Though the newest iMacs sport updated technology, they still look the same as before. Left: a 27-in. iMac. Right: a 21.5-in. iMac. (Image courtesy of Apple)

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