In early 2010, Intel premiered a new connection technology that was going to leave all others in the dust. They called it Light Peak, and it was an optical connection that promised up to 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps) transfer rates, in both directions.
The barely existent USB 3.0 pushes up to 5 Gbps transfer rates, with real-world ideals topping out around 3.2 Gbps to 4.0 Gbps.
Intel claimed that the two technologies will co-exist in this world, similar to USB 2.0 and Firewire. However, we all saw what happened there — USB 2.0 dominated and Firewire was left to languish.
Intel piped higher than HD-quality video through the Light Peak connection while simultaneously transferring data, exciting audiences.
All in all, there was very little in the way of details and specifications. Throughout 2010, there were hints of its imminent release, but it was not until this past week that Apple finally broke the radio silence and revealed Thunderbolt.
Why Thunderbolt, and not Light Peak?
The two technologies are identical, so it seems that Intel has decided to name the product Thunderbolt as a marketing ploy. There have also been some alterations to the design since it was last previewed.
Apple will be using a copper version of this connector on their refreshed line of MacBook Pros (MBP), which means no optical transfer rates, but the connection will have power.
In fact it will put out 10W of power, and is designed to be daisy-chained, which means you will be able to connect several devices to one port.
The port itself is compatible with DisplayPort, so you will be able to connect both your external monitor and other Thunderbolt devices to your MBP and power and send signal to all of it (your monitor will probably need external power as usual; it doesn’t have quite that much power).
It should be noted that this connection is not Apple-exclusive by any means; Apple just happens to be the first, hopefully of many, computer makers to offer Thunderbolt/Light Peak.
Right away, there are the comparisons to Firewire. Apple launched Firewire many years back in a similar fashion, trying to drive the industry forward with a radical new connector design in the face of the then popular USB 2.0 plug.
There are a few key differences this time around, however. Unlike USB 2.0 at the time of Firewire’s launch, USB 3.0 is not even close to being firmly entrenched.
Intel has been slow about supporting USB 3.0 in their chipsets, which means that the connection has to be supported through an extra card, which has slowed adoption.
The lack of devices that use this speedy protocol is currently very limited, and those devices cost quite a premium over their USB 2.0 cousins.
Of course, Thunderbolt is not in the lead on any of those fronts by any means, but it seems this competition will be somewhat closer to a fair fight than when Firewire hit the scene.
One big factor that may be important in this battle of connection is that Thunderbolt is DisplayPort compatible. The industry is slowly moving to adopt DisplayPort, but Apple is playing the dual strategy here of trying to get both adopted by creating this synergy of ports.
Apple can say, “Thunderbolt can run video over DisplayPort, which no other data transfer cables can accomplish.” At the same time, it can say, “DisplayPort cables can use Thunderbolt ports, and therefore they will be more prevalent than other ports.”
Some call this synergy; others call it circular logic. Whichever one you prefer, just remember that Thunderbolt is really fast, and it can daisy-chain (up to seven devices), allowing for a much broader array of devices that can be plugged into one device (i.e. a display, a harddrive, a flash drive, HD webcam, all streaming through one port).
To clarify, I am not saying that they will all plug into one port, just that with an appropriate accessory that can expand that port into multiple ports (analogous to USB hubs), you can hook up many devices to one port.
The real dream that Intel wanted to fulfill when they set about their project of making Light Peak was to create a connection that would unify all the protocols under the sun.
Light Peak/Thunderbolt is not a protocol in the way USB and Fireware and DisplayPort are. It is merely a physical connection method for getting the very many connections you have dangling out of your computer today to come together to one fast, optical cable.
That is the dream. We will see it happen eventually, but for now, we will live on copper.
