Apple to Name Intel's Light Peak as 'Thunderbolt'

By Marcus Yam
published

Another flashy Apple name for an interface standard.

As we mentioned earlier, Intel has a special event scheduled for tomorrow. Many believe this to be a rollout of Intel's Light Peak interface. It's fast and it's definitely next-generation.

Apple has a habit of adopting these standards, like it did for Firewire, and this time appears to be no different with reports coming out that the new MacBook Pro laptops right around the corner will integrating Light Peak in what will be branded as "Thunderbolt High-speed I/O".

Various sources have posted on the internet what appear to be marketing materials for the new MacBook Pro model with Intel Light Peak, and amazingly enough, there's even a picture of the port.

On what appears to be a MacBook Pro 13-inch model, there's a lightning bolt (Thunderbolt) logo next to what is the mini-DisplayPort on today's models. The specs sheet describes this as a "Thunderbolt port supports high-speed I/O devices and Mini Displayport devices." Quite interesting, particularly for MacBook Pro users who want to use both an external display and Light Peak at the same time.

Source: MacRumors

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
13 Comments Comment from the forums
  • wribbs
    epic yawn inc
    Reply
  • Ragnar-Kon
    Could care less about what Apple names it, but this Intel Light Peak technology actually looks very promising on paper.

    BUT, it sounds somewhat expensive, and thus will never catch on. Hopefully I'm wrong.
    Reply
  • joytech22
    Wait a second, Light peak is pretty much a video and data cable in one right?

    So in other words, It's a lot like HDMI, which can also act as both data and video/sound. (HDMI = Ethernet too).


    But lightpeak is so much faster i guess, but it'll be a few years before anything can utilize it.
    Reply
  • molo9000
    So many questions...
    Will Apple skip USB3.0?
    Will Firewire3200 ever see the light of day?
    How long will Apple support FW800?
    Reply
  • Wish I Was Wealthy
    Hail Intel once again...No AMD line up to be seen at all for a long while in the MacBook Pro line of Mobile or Laptop computers...
    Reply
  • Wish I Was Wealthy
    At least they have given their MacBook brand a nice little name to remember it by...A Thunderbolt from Intel's Light Peak...
    Reply
  • I wonder if this version is using copper or fiber. I recall reading that Intel switched to copper because the pricing was too high with fiber. Thunderbolt? pretty silly name if you ask me, what next Rolling Lightning? Ray of Sound? Sound Ray???
    Reply
  • tu_illegalamigo
    Your USB and firewire connections still run at the standard speed, there is no real speed gain here. This is peripheral connection aggregation. Softpedia says 10gigabit bandwidth, probably a "peak" number, not the actual result, more than likely copper as well. Intel has to work on this more before it becomes viable, it`s a small step towards integration though, and all of these cumulative steps have brought us here now. Don`t expect it for PC too soon unless it manages to blow everything out of the water.
    Reply
  • Snipergod87
    PhilDgravesI wonder if this version is using copper or fiber. I recall reading that Intel switched to copper because the pricing was too high with fiber. Thunderbolt? pretty silly name if you ask me, what next Rolling Lightning? Ray of Sound? Sound Ray???
    They should just brand it Light Peak, I think it is realy a good name, and I can imagine some pretty awesome logo's.
    Reply
  • bv90andy
    First of, it's called Light peak, which it isn't because they downgraded it to cupper, now they call it thunderbolt.

    Why in the hell have names become important just for marketing, it doesn't mater any more what technology is actually sold. Like with AMD's fusion
    Reply