Thunderbolt finally taking off

[jayducharme]

... just in time to be made obsolete by USB-C:

http://www.businessinsider.com/a-te...king-off-in-high-end-pcs-after-5-years-2016-1

 

[NT1440]

I work at ESPN, all the editing laptops that are windows based (giant HP Zbooks) have had thunderbolt for two or three years (that's when the lease started, I haven't been here that long). The drives they use are STUPID fast.

 

[vkd]

I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[phrehdd]

Thunderbolt 1 showed up on Macs and little in way of devices to attach to these ports. Later, we got some items and yeah, all expensive. For months Mac users had empty TB1 ports. When TB2 came out, all of a sudden TB1 devices became within the price range for many. This seems to be the Mac way of doing things which in my opinion is pathetic and certainly not "cutting edge."

I'm looking forward to the latest with USB and just put up with TB for now.

 

[maflynn]

Like what happened to Firewire, its slowly being adopted, but unlike Firewire, TB, does have some advantages over USB-C

 

[phrehdd]

For most users, USB 3.1 will cover nearly all needs. A regular hard drive connected via USB 3.1 will run just as fast as with Thunderbolt. In fact, a single SSD will not run any faster with Thunderbolt. USB 3.1 gives the goodness of TB1 plus some backwards compatibility. While TB2 remains faster, for the typical user, it has little value when cost is considered.

With more dynamic set ups, TB come into its own with with TB2 and RAIDS that offer improved speed (RAID 0 etc.). Also, with some "smartware," TB can do more clever communication tricks as USB has one upstream and one downstream while TB has 2 up and 2 down which can be as needed, arbitrated or allocated. While the latter isn't really in play, it is possible. In the meanwhile, I hope to see USB 3.1 with its subset USB-c take the lead on being cheaper than the disgraceful Apple introduction of TB without any real devices to attach. Why introduce something with no devices? At least pay a 3rd party or provide it yourself, Apple. (bicker bicker)

 

[Admiral]

Where Thunderbolt will amaze is when you have multiple 4K/5K monitors and transfer data. That's where TB1's original 10GBps really stood out in 2011 (or, as you allude, 2012 when the docks and external storage devices first trickled out).