Thunderbolt (formerly known as Light Peak) is the input/output that you’ll find on the new MacBook Pro, lodged next to the USB ports and marked with a cute little lightning bolt. But what can this bit of tech do, and how will it affect the way you use your MacBook Pro? Read on for everything you need to know about the MacBook Pro’s Thunderbolt I/O.
Here’s what Apple says about Thunderbolt:
“Thunderbolt enables expandability never before possible on a notebook computer. Featuring two bi-directional channels with transfer speeds up to an amazing 10Gbps each, Thunderbolt delivers PCI Express directly to external high performance peripherals such as RAID arrays, and can support FireWire and USB consumer devices and Gigabit Ethernet networks via adapters.
“Thunderbolt also supports DisplayPort for high resolution displays and works with existing adapters for HDMI, DVI and VGA displays. Freely available for implementation on systems, cables and devices, Thunderbolt technology is expected to be widely adopted as a new standard for high performance I/O.”
It’s fast
Thunderbolt on the new MacBook pro can push to 10GB per second, that’s either as an input or an output. That backup you’ve been meaning to do won’t take all day anymore: just a teabreak should do the trick. To put it in perspective, you can transfer a full HD movie in under 30 seconds.
It supports up to six devices
The business and professional possibilities for the MacBook Pro are ramped up considerably by Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt means you can daisy-chain six devices into your MacBook Pro, and because it’s backwards compatible with existing DisplayPort devices and gear, there’s a whole world of possibilities.
It’s backwards compatible
The Thunderbolt port is the same size and shape as the DisplayPort, which many monitors plug into. You can plug non-Thunderbolt DisplayPort cables and devices into the Thunderbolt port, and it will still work, meaning you can hook up old monitors and the like and you don’t have to reinvest.
It’s not called Light Peak any more
Thunderbolt was developed by Intel and Apple, and while it was in development it was codenamed Light Peak. That name is no more, and it has officially taken the title Thunderbolt, now that the MacBook Pro is out, as has also been confirmed by the Intel info page on Thunderbolt.
The accessories are coming
While you’ll no doubt be eyeing up your old kit to figure out which you can stick in the Thunderbolt port, Apple has dropped some hints about accessories that will be coming for the new MacBook Pro and its Thunderbolt capabilities. Namedropped so far are Promise Pegasus RAID and LaCie Little Big Disk. There’s no official details yet, but we’re expecting more info later on today.
Have you got any burning questions about the new MacBook Pro Thunderbolt I/O? Shout out in the comments!
