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You are here: MacNN Forums > Hardware - Troubleshooting and Discussion > Consumer Hardware & Components > Intel hopes there will be 100 Thunderbolt devices by the end of 2012

Intel hopes there will be 100 Thunderbolt devices by the end of 2012
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Eug
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Apr 24, 2012, 02:11 PM
 
Intel aims for 100 Thunderbolt devices by year end | Macworld

The number of Thunderbolt devices in the market will grow as the connector technology expands from Apple computers to Windows PCs, said Kirk Skaugen, corporate vice president and general manager of Intel’s PC Client Group, at an event in San Francisco that was webcast.

“We have 21 Thunderbolt devices in things like storage and displays in the marketplace. We have a hundred targeted by the end of the year, and hundreds of Thunderbolt devices targeted by the middle or end of next year,” Skaugen said.


Somehow that doesn't seem particularly impressive to me, considering that the end of 2012 will be almost 2 years.
     
Big Mac
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Apr 24, 2012, 03:30 PM
 
New connectivity standards take a lot of time to catch on.

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olePigeon
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Apr 24, 2012, 03:56 PM
 
USB took quite a while to be adopted. Wasn't until the iMac was released that products really started to be produced.
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Eug  (op)
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Apr 25, 2012, 09:15 AM
 
True, but Thunderbolt Macs are everywhere these days. Thunderbolt devices? Not so much.

Meanwhile, USB 3 devices are everywhere, despite the fact that USB 3 Macs don't even exist.
     
Big Mac
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Apr 25, 2012, 11:28 AM
 
USB 3 for Macs doesn't exist, but USB 3 for PCs has existed for quite some time. You're going to be disappointed if your expectation for Thunderbolt is to have the device support that USB 3 has. It never will, if only because it's a more expensive niche bus. Very similar to Firewire in many respects but without a killer app like miniDV video cameras to drive its adoption.

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Eug  (op)
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Apr 25, 2012, 11:49 AM
 
Well, that was the point of my post. I suspect the adoption of Thunderbolt by 3rd parties will remain poor, for the reasons you cite. This is Firewire 800 all over again, without the boost to FW800 that FW400 provided, and Intel's prediction of 100 devices by the end of 2012 seems to be an early confirmation of this.

P.S. I wonder how high the Thunderbolt tax will remain on devices. It's not too consumer-friendly to have to pay a premium of $100+ for a Thunderbolt drive enclosure, and then spend more for the cable.
     
Big Mac
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Apr 25, 2012, 12:00 PM
 
I see. So what you were driving at, I think, is that you were hoping to see Thunderbolt supplant USB. That's the only way it could have overtaken USB - by subsuming it. And that wasn't going to happen when Sony (it was Sony right?) got rebuffed by the USB consortium for trying to piggyback Thunderbolt on the USB connector.
( Last edited by Big Mac; Apr 25, 2012 at 12:10 PM. )

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CharlesS
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Apr 25, 2012, 02:07 PM
 
Originally Posted by Eug View Post
P.S. I wonder how high the Thunderbolt tax will remain on devices. It's not too consumer-friendly to have to pay a premium of $100+ for a Thunderbolt drive enclosure, and then spend more for the cable.
$100? Where did you find an enclosure for that cheap? I haven't found any that cost less than than $300 so far.

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Eug  (op)
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Apr 25, 2012, 02:19 PM
 
Originally Posted by Big Mac View Post
I see. So what you were driving at, I think, is that you were hoping to see Thunderbolt supplant USB. That's the only way it could have overtaken USB - by subsuming it. And that wasn't going to happen when Sony (it was Sony right?) got rebuffed by the USB consortium for trying to piggyback Thunderbolt on the USB connector.
Not quite. I'm just hoping to see better adoption than FW 800 got, but so far it doesn't seem so promising... and FW800 is essentially dead outside the high-end pro market.

Originally Posted by CharlesS View Post
$100? Where did you find an enclosure for that cheap? I haven't found any that cost less than than $300 so far.
Well, I was just guessing that the added premium for Thunderbolt would be at least about $100 for now, but you could get a Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter for $100, plus extra for the Thunderbolt cable. The Seagate GoFlex USB 3.0 adapter is $18.
     
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Apr 25, 2012, 02:40 PM
 
Originally Posted by Eug View Post
This is Firewire 800 all over again
I certainly hope so!

Firewire 800 is *awesome* for the audio/video industries. If Thunderbolt sees anything *near* the adoption of Firewire 800, there will be a loooot of very happy campers.

Consumers probably couldn't give a shit. But then, it's not wireless, so why should they?
     
amazing
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Apr 25, 2012, 03:34 PM
 
I have more faith in Apple's wishes bearing fruit than in Intel's...
     
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Apr 25, 2012, 03:37 PM
 
Personally I am just pleased that Thunderbolt exists for those of us at the higher end to make DTR boxes from lesser Macs than the MPs.

I agree it may never "take off" as a standard - - unless is gets placed integral to an idevice. That would be game-changing.

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Spheric Harlot
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Apr 25, 2012, 03:38 PM
 
Originally Posted by SierraDragon View Post
I agree it may never take off as a standard - - unless is gets placed on an idevice.
Which won't happen unless iDevices sport intel processors at some point, or intel decides to support ARM processors (yeah, right).
     
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Apr 25, 2012, 03:52 PM
 
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Apr 28, 2012, 01:30 PM
 
     
mduell
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Apr 28, 2012, 02:01 PM
 
Tbolt is unnecessarily fast and too power hungry for iDevices.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Apr 28, 2012, 03:38 PM
 
Originally Posted by mduell View Post
Tbolt is unnecessarily fast and too power hungry for iDevices.
That, and:
Originally Posted by Spheric Harlot View Post
Which won't happen unless iDevices sport intel processors at some point, or intel decides to support ARM processors (yeah, right).
     
mduell
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Apr 28, 2012, 04:26 PM
 
Apple is welcome to pair Port Ridge with their next ARM concoction.

iDevices could switch to Intel x86, but it's irrelevant to the Tbolt issue and unlikely due to Apple's desire for control.
     
Spheric Harlot
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Apr 28, 2012, 05:15 PM
 
The other thing is: who would want Thunderbolt on an iDevice? It adds to the cost, and it ain't wireless...
     
mduell
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Apr 28, 2012, 07:21 PM
 
No, thus my first comment.
     
   
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