ThunderBolt Drives and Adapters For Mac

Personal computer manufacturers Intel and Apple unleashed a bleeding edge computer data interface named ThunderBolt about a year or so back. It's been slow to reach critical mass, but we're seeing ever more Mac ThunderBolt accessories technology reaching the market place. Capable of data speeds of up to Ten Gbps on each of its dual channels, it delivers twice the bandwidth of its closest competitor - the Five Gbps emerging "Super-Speed" USB 3.0 interface spec.

Mac users will find largest performance gains will be in the data storage area. A ThunderBolt HDD drive  ( visit http://www.thunderbolt-hard-drive.com ) interface promises insanely fast data transfer and backup speeds, particularly when paired with SSD flash drives. A full DVD disc of data can be copied in less than sixty seconds, an entire Terabyte backup drive worth of videos, music and pictures in just a few minutes. Expect other data intensive Thunderbolt peripherals for Mac and PC such as HDTV tuners, High-Def webcams and other high demand devices to hit the market to take advantage of the speed ThunderBolt technology provides. Keep in mind, ThunderBolt is not exclusive to the Mac platform. Intel and other PC makers will soon be shipping logic-boards with ThunderBolt interfaces built-in too.

These ThunderBolt ports are an extension of either a Mac or PC computers internal PCI Express bus. As such, it provides a very direct and multiple-lane freeway to a computer's memory and central processor. Imagine it as an expansion card slot that's just a small external port on the side of your laptop or desktop setup. This technology initially was launched on Apple's MacBook laptop and Macintosh desktop platforms as a solitary ThunderBolt port where the DisplayPort connection for video used to be. That's an important distinction to note: ThunderBolt can also drive high-resolution external LCD displays along with other ThunderBolt drive adapters that can adapt to other eSATA, FireWire, Ethernet and USB 3.0 peripherals.

A New Generation Of Mac Computer Accessories

SuperSpeed USB 3.0 is coming to Apple's Mac. It's one of those historical inevitabilities -- albeit one that's been rather deliberately delayed by Intel and Apple until they could get ThunderBolt out there and established first. However, with the release of Intel's latest Ivy-Bridge chipsets and it's inbuilt support for USB 3.0, the tide will shift rapidly as PC and Mac systems with native USB3 support ship en masse by year's end.

With Apple's World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) slated for this month, expect new product introductions that will reveal whether the Mac is going to get USB 3.0 support sooner - rather than later.

The benefits of 5GBps USB3 SuperSpeed are many: Familiar cabling, backward compatibility with legacy USB 2.0 and 1.1 speed devices, more milliamps of power for faster device charging, and more intelligent power use and management for better battery life in laptops and portable devices. With potentially up to 10-fold data transfer speeds, backing up data or synching an iGadget device will take a fraction of the time.

The benefit of SuperSpeed USB 3.0 accessories are just too compelling for the consumer. But most Mac users don't know that. What's been missing are real voices in the industry TELLING and SELLING it's benefits to the public. Without an icon like Steve Jobs telling users why they're gonna want the latest USB 3.0 enabled MacBook or iPad - the role of that will be left to Steve Cook or Phil Schiller in the months to come.