Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Rolling Thunder: Why Thunderbolt Is Good

All this hype about Intel/Apple's new Thunderbolt port, and other manufacturers have yet to produce peripherals for it.  They can't get here soon enough.  Specially the adapters and hubs.

Now, to the people that really need it, like multimedia professionals, its use and advantage are obvious.  But how does it affect everyone else?  Why should the average consumer care if their new laptop has Thunderbolt or not?

Well, let me illustrate:

Without Thunderbolt:






With Thunderbolt:


















How does this work in real life?  Thunderbolt aims to be a universal connector, much like USB did, except Thunderbolt was built to handle accessories, external storage, and external displays... and then some.

A single cable plugs into your laptop, from that cable, a hub with all the regular connectors: USB, Firewire, Ethernet, eSata, DVI, Displayport, etc... This allows a universal docking system for people with laptops.

You can leave your mouse, external keyboard, external display, hard drives, etc... all connected to one Thunderbolt hub, and just attach one single cable to your laptop.  Neat, clean, and fast.

Even if you don't need the speed, the sheer convenience of not having to plug and unplug all your peripherals all the time is a big plus.  On that merit alone, Thunderbolt should be standard on all peripherals and laptops now, not next year... NOW!



**Hallo, ich lerne Deutsch und ich kann ein paar Fragen zu beantworten.
Je parle un peu français aussi. Je peux répondre à des questions sur mes messages.**

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