Thunderbolt
The USB-IF and VESA released the specifications of USB4 v2 and DisplayPort 2.1 in Q4 2022. At that time, Intel also announced that their next-gen Thunderbolt specifications would build upon these standards. However, concrete details were not divulged. Today, the company is unveiling Thunderbolt 5 officially with discrete controllers in tow for both hosts and peripherals. Thunderbolt 5: Technical Details The USB4 v2 specifications have been public for almost a year now. As a result, the capabilities of Thunderbolt 5 on the technical front are not much of a secret. In fact, Intel had detailed most of them last year. The technical aspects described above include: PCIe Gen4 x4 support (64 Gbps full duplex) DisplayPort 2.1 support (up to 80 Gbps) Asymmetric operation (120 Gbps transmit / 40 Gbps receive)...
Seagate's GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapters
Finally, we're getting somewhere. After seeing nothing but Thunderbolt storage devices with built in, overpriced drives, Seagate is going to be delivering the first GoFlex docks with Thunderbolt support...
17 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/10/2012MSI's GUS II: External GPU via Thunderbolt
In addition to 7-series motherboards, MSI had its GUS II external GPU solution on display. The external chassis features a Thunderbolt interface and an internal PCIe slot. Despite running...
47 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/9/2012Elgato's Thunderbolt SSD: Bus Powered, 120/240GB, Available in February
Elgato sent over info on its brand new Thunderbolt SSD available in February in 120GB and 240GB capacities. There's no word on the controller inside. If I had to...
4 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/9/2012OCZ's Portable Thunderbolt SSD: Lightfoot
I mentioned earlier that we'll be seeing more Thunderbolt devices at CES this year, but what I wasn't expecting was for one of those devices to be made by...
12 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/9/2012LaCie at CES: 2big & eSATA Thunderbolt Hubs
We're expecting to see a lot of Thunderbolt devices at CES this year and we've already seen our first two new products, both from LaCie. The first is the...
2 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 1/8/2012Thunderbolt Goes Universal in H1'12
Thunderbolt initially launched in February when Apple updated the MacBook Pro, but since then the technology has been an Apple exclusive. The understanding was that Thunderbolt would be a...
25 by Kristian Vättö on 1/4/2012LaCie Little Big Disk (240GB SSD) Review
A week ago we published our review of the first sub-$1000 Thunderbolt drive enclosure: LaCie's Little Big Disk. Armed with a pair of 2.5" hard drives, the Little Big...
24 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 11/8/2011LaCie Little Big Disk (2TB) Review: More Affordable Thunderbolt Storage
Thunderbolt is the absolute fastest consumer interface available for users who want high-speed external storage. We proved this in our Pegasus R6 review where we sustained transfer rates of...
40 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 10/31/2011Early Benchmarks and Teardown of LaCie Little Big Disk
LaCie released its first Thunderbolt-equipped storage solution called Little Big Disk (LBD) last week, and some people have already received their units. A user ender21 over at MacRumors Forums...
8 by Kristian Vättö on 9/26/2011The Apple Thunderbolt Display Review
Ever since I moved to a notebook as my main work computer I've become increasingly annoyed with the process of actually moving my notebook-as-a-desktop around. At my desk I've...
277 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/23/2011LaCie Brings (more) Affordable Thunderbolt Storage to Macs with Little Big Disk, Available in Retail
At IDF I met with LaCie and got a quick demo of its Little Big Disk Thunderbolt storage solution. The heavy metal chassis is home to two 2.5" drive...
17 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/20/2011LaCie's Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Chassis at IDF
I met with LaCie this morning to talk about its upcoming Little Big Disk Thunderbolt storage solution. Unlike the Promise Pegasus R4/R6, the Little Big Disk only accommodates two...
6 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/15/2011Tons of Thunderbolt Peripherals at IDF
We've been asking for more Thunderbolt devices and it looks like we're seeing the first examples of that today at IDF. Check out the gallery below for a bunch...
10 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/13/2011Meet the 2012 Thunderbolt Controllers: Cactus Ridge
Image Courtesy iFixit Thunderbolt has seen limited use this year - the standard has only been implemented by Apple and Sony, the rest of the PC market will have to...
16 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/13/2011The Thunderbolt Devices Trickle In: Magma's ExpressBox 3T
Intel's Thunderbolt interface is frustratingly fast. The frustration comes from the fact that there just aren't many Thunderbolt devices out on the market today, not to mention that the...
17 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 9/7/2011Sonnet Announces Thunderbolt to ExpressCard/34 Adapter
Sonnet announced a Thunderbolt to ExpressCard/34 adapter today. The exact name of the product is the Echo ExpressCard/34 Thunderbolt Adapter and it is simply a box with an...
6 by Kristian Vättö on 8/25/2011Village Instruments CEO Promises Graphics Card Enclosure for Thunderbolt
Village Instruments CEO Hubert Chen wrote an open letter to Facebook last week, attempting to gague customer interest in an external PCI Express graphics card enclosure for Thunderbolt. He...
19 by Andrew Cunningham on 8/3/2011Eagle Ridge: The Cheaper, (optionally) Smaller Thunderbolt Controller
If you've seen any of the new Thunderbolt Macs torn apart you will recognize the piece of silicon above. That flip-chip package is Intel's first Thunderbolt controller, codename: Light...
20 by Anand Lal Shimpi on 7/28/2011PROMISE Shows Off Pegasus R6 For The Camera (Professionals)
Our R6 review left us with a lingering question: who was this speed for? Now we know. Adobe and PROMISE demonstrated just how good their Thunderbolt equipped Pegasus R6...
3 by Jason Inofuentes on 7/27/2011Apple Updates Cinema Display, It's a Thunderbolt Display Now
Along with today’s MacBook Air and Mac mini updates, Apple has also updated their 27” Cinema Display. The display now goes by a new name: the Apple Thunderbolt Display...
94 by Kristian Vättö on 7/20/2011