Thunderbolt Technology – MacBook Pro’s Advantage Over Rivals

MacBook Pro

The MacBook Pro of Apple Inc will definitely have an advantage with the current crop of notebooks due to the Thunderbolt technology.

The Thunderbolt technology, which was developed by Intel, was initially introduced way back in 2009 under the name Light Peak. It reportedly has the capability of data transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps. In comparison to the Thunderbolt technology, the USB 3.0 is only capable of 4Gbps, the Firewire 800 has a speed of up to 800Mbps while the USB 2.0 is limited to 480 Mbps.

At this speed it will only take minutes to download large files or transfer files from one storage to another. According to Mooly Eden, PC Client Group general manager over at Intel, the Thunderbolt technology will facilitate the work of a number of people, especially those who work with HD media.  The Thunderbolt technology will make their work faster, be it HD movie file or large music files. It allows faster transfer of files between devices.

Thunderbolt Technology

The Thunderbolt technology was initially called Light Peak a name change was necessary since it did not utilize fiber-optics, rather the Thunderbolt technology utilized copper wires in the original designs. But in the future it may be possible for the Thunderbolt technology to use fiber-optics.

The Thunderbolt technology is compatible with majority of link protocols however it is rooted on the PCI Express technology. Data transfers in the Thunderbolt technology utilizes the PCI Express in communicating between devices while DisplayPorts are utilized for displays.

The real potential of the Thunderbolt technology cannot be measured yet due to the lack of other Thunderbolt-compatible devices however LaCie is already offering an external hard drive which utilizes the Thunderbolt technology.

The advantage of the MacBook Pro over other devices with regard to the use the Thunderbolt technology may continue until 2012 when other manufacturers are set to unveiled devices which will use the technology even as Intel has indicated that Apple does not have an exclusive right to the technology. According to Intel other manufacturers can create their own design for devices that will utilize the Thunderbolt technology at any time that they want.