Intel Thunderbolt Coming to Windows PCs in April
Thunderbolt could become much more available in April as Intel is apparently working with first-tier vendors to integrate the interface in their systems.
Digitimes reports that Thunderbolt-supported motherboards, notebooks and desktop PCs are on their way and are being prepared for an early Q2 launch.
Initially, Thunderbolt carried a cost of more than $20 per device and is prohibitively expensive for most computer systems. The cost may drop in the second half of the year as the technology is adapted on a much broader range, but Intel will have to actively support and drive the technology into the market to make it a success.
Digitimes said that Sony will pick up Thunderbolt and Asustek Computer will, at least, put the technology into its high-end systems. Gigabyte will be launching a Thunderbolt motherboard in April. Intel confirmed in September that Acer and Asustek Computer will introduce Thunderbolt computers in 2012 to begin the breakaway of the interface as an Apple-exclusive technology.
Yeah, most of us already new that for months now. Intel decided that copper could handle the speed requirement + it's cheaper than optics so they went with that for now.
It certainly is TRUE Thunderbolt! It's not TRUE LightPeak. They figured out how to get the full 10Gbps speed on copper so it will be cheaper for us to buy. They won't need the fiber optic cabling until the spec gets bumped to 50 or 100Gbps. Also, I heard you can still get the fiber cabling but it will cost much more.
I wonder if they'll ever come out with some external (upgradable) GPUs which you can also use on laptops, netbooks (maybe even tablets) using this technology. Probably something resembling a HDD rack, but for GPUs. Hmmm...
Not quite. Firewire was a proprietary port. Thundrbolt not only has its own port but supports USB, DP, ePCIe as well as eSATA. Its more like USB 4.0.
Firewire was hugely superior to USB in both speed and "features". daisy-chained devices (no need for hubs), lots of power for external hard drives (45W I believe), dedicated hardware to manage communciation (USB relies on the CPU to manage all the low-level communication)...
The only reason it never caught on was that it was more expensive to implement than USB.
Thunderbolt might suffer the same fate.
i.e. all the way back to XP / Win2k or just Win7 and newer ?
is there a USB 4.0, gotta check wikipedia
Nope nothing on wikipedia