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Whenever we start transferring data onto our pendrive we always think once that there should be some technology that should literally make life easier for us by increasing the transferring rate.There are many advances in this field but it is always marred by not making our life simpler by some or other mean.some common thing can be as transferring rate will differ little much between them as not much difference had been made in newer technology .so in this post we are going to take into note this technology which has made life simpler and easier for apple products user.so what comes into your mind when I say port which transfers data at faster rate?
USB 2.0? or USB 3.0?? which can transfer data @ speed of 5Gbit/sec,it can be considered slower compared to technology which we are going to discuss today...so can you all guys decide which technology it can be??
ITS THUNDERBOLT
Thunderbolt was developed by Intel and brought to market with technical collaboration from Apple. First of all its speed 10Gbps, which is around twice as fast as USB 3.0 and 20x faster than traditional USB 2.0,so it is for you'll to decide what we have in store if this technology is used in our daily life.It was introduced commercially on Apple's updated MacBook Pro lineup on February 24, 2011,so now you know why apple products cost BOMB.
And you know what it is backward compatible also because Thunderbolt combines PCI Express and DisplayPort into a serial data interface that can be carried over longer and less costly cables. Thunderbolt driver chips fold the data from these two sources together, and split them back apart again for consumption within the devices. This makes the system backward compatible with existing DisplayPort hardware upstream of the driver. so you don't have to worry if your device support Thunderbolt. You can hook up to 7 daisy-chained devices for multiple connections without affecting performance and in case of USB 2.0, when you connect a non-high speed device, it affects the performance of entire bus.
Intel Thunderbolt controllers interconnect a PC and other devices, transmitting and receiving packetized traffic for both PCIe and DisplayPort protocols. The thunderbolt controller is developed and supplied by Intel and requires a small connector, which will be bundled in the platforms supporting this tech hence, PCI Express is built-in that makes, external connected devices as fast as internal ones. The above added graphs and images of connector and controller are enough to make you understand how does it itself work and how is its cable.
What you can do with it??????
You can transfer a your full HD movie (15 to 20GB approx.) within just 30 seconds.
Backup 1 year of continuous MP3 playback in just over 10 minutes.
This thunderbolt technology has wide applicable areas, such as faster storage drives, faster transfers of huge files between PCs, Cameras, DisplayPort as a link to displays and many even unimagined.
When would this technology be introduced to us?
It was long rumoured that the early-2011 MacBook Pro update would include some sort of new data port, and most of the speculation suggested it would be Light Peak. As the system was described, Intel's solution to the display connection problem became clear: Thunderbolt controllers fold data from existing DisplayPort systems with data from the PCI Express port into a single cable. Older displays, using DisplayPort 1.1 or earlier, have to be located at the end of a Thunderbolt device chain, but newer displays can be placed anywhere along the line.Thunderbolt devices can go anywhere on the chain. In this respect, Thunderbolt shares a relationship with the older ACCESS.bus system, which used the display connector to support a low-speed bus.
This products are currently using Thunderbolt technology:
Apple
MacBook Pro (February 24, 2011)
iMac (May 3, 2011)
MacBook Air (July 20, 2011)
Mac Mini (July 20, 2011)
Mac Pro (N/A)
Sony
Vaio Z21 (N/A)
so what can be technical description of this technology??
Thunderbolt is based on the physical Mini DisplayPort connector developed by Apple. Mini DisplayPort is electrically identical to Display Port, but uses a smaller, non-locking connector.
Thunderbolt is inter-operable with DisplayPort 1.2 compatible devices. When connected to a DisplayPort compatible device the Thunderbolt port can provide a native DisplayPort signal with 4 lanes of output data at no more than 5.4 Gbit/s per lane. When connected to a Thunderbolt device the per-lane data rate becomes 10 Gbit/s and the 4 lanes are configured as 2 channels with each bidirectional 10 Gbit/s channel comprising one lane of input and one lane of output.
what are the main difference from USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt??
First of all speed of thunderbolt is 10Gbps, which is around twice as fast as USB 3.0 and 20x faster than traditional USB 2.0.
- It provides up to 10 watt of power to connected peripherals on the other side, USB 3.0 does, 5watt.
- In theory, a single Thunderbolt port thus has four times the throughput of a USB 3.0 port
- It can drive greater than 1080p resolution displays and up to eight channels of audio simultaneously.
- You can hook up to 7 daisy-chained devices for multiple connections without affecting performance and in case of USB 2.0, when you connect a non-high speed device, it affects the performance of entire bus.
SO NOW MAIN QUESTION ARISING IS WHY DON'T WE USE THIS AWESOME TECHNOLOGY IN OUR REGULAR LIFE??
ANSWER TO IT IS ITS COST because As of July 2011, the first two meter Thunderbolt cable from Apple costs US$49.00. As an active cable, it includes circuitry inside the connectors. The cable has 5 wires, 1 for management and two uni-directional pairs, one for incoming and second for outgoing traffic.
so hoping that its cost will reduce and this technology marvel comes to use in our day to day life we end this blog.
