One day, everything that connects to your computer, including power delivery, will probably be wireless. I say—probably—because I assume there will always be some kind of security risk associated with wireless technology. I look forward to that day, but until then, we’re stuck with messy cables as the most reliable and cost-effective way to transmit our data.
Last week Apple announced a refresh of its new MacBook Pros, which include a bunch of new things. As I mentioned then, (one of) the most interesting new features was the inclusion of Thunderbolt (codenamed LightPeak). If you’ve read a little about the new Macs then you’ve probably seen Thunderbolt (or LightPeak) being thrown around a bit.
So WTF is it? Without getting too heavy, Thunderbolt is a new I/O (input/output) protocol. In a hardware context on your current computer, existing examples of I/O would most certainly include USB but possibly Firewire as well. I/O can also refer to your mouse and keyboard—essentially any device or port where data is moved in and out of your computer.
SO WTF IS IT? From an industry perspective, it’s the holy grail of connectivity. It’s a SUPER-FAST connection from the computer to an external storage device. But it’s also the connection to an external display. Most brilliantly, it’s both of these things at the same time! Thunderbolt was developed by Intel and but it uses Apple’s existing DisplayPort connector. Thunderbolt’s underlying data architecture (PCI express) already exists in most computers meaning that it is easily backward compatible (using an adaptor).
It only needs the one connection at the computer for two or more devices—thus freeing up valuable space on laptops. Multiple devices are daisy chained together and multiple streams of data can travel between them in each direction. Previously I wasn’t very keen on having to daisy chain devices, but I’m guessing we’ll have compatible hubs built into monitors or hard drives.
How fast is it?
Thunderbolt transfers data at a blistering 10Gbit/s. To compare, that’s roughly:
Twice the speed of USB3.0 (+4Gbit/s)
Ten times the speed of FireWire 800 (0.8Gbit/s)
Twenty times the speed of USB2.0 (0.48Gbit/s)
This video shows King of Nerds talking about Thunderbolt (it was still known as LightPeak then) with a prototype set-up. He demonstrates a data transfer of 700MBytes/s (compare that to USB2.0’s 100MBytes/s):
700MBytes per second—that's one standard, compressed movie "back-up" per second or roughly 130 MP3s per second. These figures are put in perspective when you consider Thunderbolt doesn’t have the CPU overhead that USB requires and that it can transfer data in both directions simultaneously. But also that you can transfer full HD video and audio across it—again, simultaneously.
Compliments all round
There are billions of USB devices out there, so USB isn’t going to go anywhere just yet. According to Intel, Thunderbolt is designed to compliment USB (which it also developed). Thunderbolt is aimed at power-users and professionals who need to transfer or process large amounts of data for applications such as high definition video editing. USB on the other hand would be aimed at consumer-level digital cameras and basic storage devices.
One I/O technology that Thunderbolt will encroach on is HDMI—the current standard in high def digital video transmission. If you’ve got a newish, flat-screen TV then it’s likely to have HDMI ports and cables. What HDMI can’t really do, is transfer raw data in the same way as Thunderbolt. In the consumer realm, FireWire is probably a goner now—we’ve yet to see real-world applications of its new specification, which though faster than USB3.0, has missed the boat to market. That and Apple is no longer championing it on its computers, with the existing FireWire 800 being relegated to a legacy interface for those users out there who still have compatible gear.
External storage company, LaCie, has
announced an external hard disk drive that is Thunderbolt compatible that will go on sale this winter. Given that Intel is behind it and Apple has launched with it in its MacBook Pros, expect a plethora of Thunderbolt compatible PCs and devices to hit the market over the next year.