Why Apple Released Thunderbolt Too Early

Thunderbolt was introduced about a year and half ago as a partnership between Apple and Intel, yet I have not used it once. 

Thunderbolt Speed Comparison

Thunderbolt (codenamed Light Peak is an interface for connecting peripheral devices to a computer via a connection bus, similar to your USB or Firewire port. The concept turned into a reality when it was introduced commercially on Apple's updated 2011Macbook Pro series, using the same connector as the Mini Display Port. The Thunderbolt I/O technology claims to provide two channels of transfer on the same connector with 10 Gbps of speed in both directions. For comparison, this would allow you to move data to and from peripheral devices at up to 20 times faster than with USB 2.0 and up to 12 times faster than with FireWire 800. In addition, Thunderbolt allows daisy-chaining of multiple high-speed devices without using a hub or switch; in essence multitasking over a single wire. For example, you can connect several high-performance external disks, a video capture device, and even a display to a single Thunderbolt chain while performing at rapid speeds.

So how does this magic happen? According to Intel, "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." This means the mini display port still maintains functionality but the option for Thunderbolt still exists.

So here we are, a year and a half after it's conception, and as I type this message I am not using Thunderbolt yet! WHY??? Well, here's my take. The technology really isn't available at an affordable consumer price. In order to use cables that work at such an incredibly fast speed, you need drives that can keep up; solid state drives to be exact. Unlike hard drives, solid state drives have no moving parts and do not have to spin a disk to write and read information, the information is nearly instantly accessed. Unfortunately, solid state hard drives have not dropped in price, and as a result Thunderbolt hasn't really taken off.

In my opinion Apple jumped the gun and released Thunderbolt a little too early. However, as the price of solid state continues to drop and the technology continues to improve, I foresee Thunderbolt as the new standard for data transfer in the near future.