Thunderbolt

ZDNet has benchmarked the latest Thunderbolt-equipped iMac with a Promise Pegasus RAID with Thunderbolt and came away pretty impressed. Because out-of-the-box Thunderbolt RAID experience on new iMacs leaves a lot to be desired due to constrained RAM, author Robin Harris set himself up with a 16GB iMac. This isn’t a common scenario for average consumers, of course, but heavy-duty apps like Final Cut Pro benefit from as much memory as possible.

Harris used Blackmagic’s Disk Speed Test to pit a quad-core 2.66 GHz Mac Pro equipped with a 300GB 10k Velociraptor drive, 1GB ATI Radeon 5770 graphics card and 12GB RAM against a built-to-order 3.4 GHz Core i7 iMac with a 1TB hard drive, the standard 1 GB AMD Radeon HD 6970M video card and 16GB RAM. Both computers were benchmarked against a 4-drive Promise Pegasus Thunderbolt RAID that had both an empty array and more than a third full. The RAID performed pretty nice in both configurations…

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MacRumors noticed that Apple placed images of their new LED Cinema Display on their website yesterday. The leaked display looks identical to the current model, but will have a Thunderbolt port on the back to easily connect with Apple’s latest Thunderbolt machines: iMacs, MacBook Pros and Mac Pros, MacBook Airs, and Mac minis in the very near future. You can tell that these are new displays based on the unreleased model number, previously thought to be a new White MacBook that they are attached to and by the OS X Lion wallpaper.

The differentiation is important because, as Apple has warned in a previous KB article, the CD no longer has to be the end of a Thunderbolt chain of devices.  For instance, you could have an external hard drive array connected to your monitor permanently rather than having to plug into another device which would terminate at the monitor.  For MacBook Air/Pro users, this would allow the ‘power-USB-Thunderbolt’ cable to do everything, yet again.

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As with just about any new Apple product release, iFixit has torn apart the Thunderbolt cable. Why a boring cable?  iFixit has revealed that the new Thunderbolt cable actually has active chips inside, making transfers  faster.

We found two Gennum GN2033 chips in the connector, one on each side. They were flanked by other, much smaller chips that surely added to the cable’s cost: two chips labeled S6A 1JG on one side, and chips labeled 1102F SS8370 and 131 3S on the other. Of course, there were tons of little resistors (providing impedance as needed) all around the larger chips.

Thunderbolt’s release on MacBook Pros and iMacs should be followed by new Macs coming soon. Inside the cable chip housing below
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Apple’s new MacBook Air line has been expected for weeks now, with evidence supporting a refresh coming by way of constraints at global retailers and most recently at major Apple reseller BestBuy.com. Although this refresh has been expected, a well-sourced and specific launch time frame is yet to emerge. Now, we’ve been told that Apple is gearing up to launch their upgraded line of ultra thin notebooks in mid-July.

The rumors regarding what the new laptops will feature have been conservative, and according to a person who has seen the new MacBook Air, exterior changes (if any) were so minute that they were not noticed. In other words, don’t expect to be able to tell this mid-2011 MacBook Air apart from the late-2010 model. That is, except for the Thunderbolt logo that sits in place of the Mini Display port logo.

Also, as expected, these new models will pack Intel’s Sandy Bridge processors and are likely the models that Intel recently made available for thinner notebook lines:

• Core i7-2677M: 2 cores, 1.8GHz (turbos to 2.9GHz), 4MB cache, 17 watts, $317
• Core i7-2637M: 2 cores, 1.7GHz (turbos to 2.8GHz), 4MB cache, 17 watts, $289
• Core i5-2557M: 2 cores, 1.7GHz (turbos to 2.7GHz), 3MB cache, 17 watts, $250

In addition, the new notebooks, launching in mid-July, come with OS X Lion pre-installed. Apple shipping out their next-generation operating system with these new Macs would also mean a mid-July launch for 10.7 Lion. An exact release date for both products is yet to be pinpointed, but we’ve been hearing rumblings about July 14th, which is a Thursday.

Also, Apple is holding their financial results conference call on Tuesday, July 19th. Apple typically releases products during the days leading up to the financial results announcement (so they have something interesting to talk about). iPhones and iPads often are released the Friday before earnings, which would be the 15th.

Of course, Apple’s traditional product launch day is Tuesday, which would be the 12th or the 19th. In any case, we’re looking at Lion and new MacBook Airs in about 2-3 weeks. We are also looking, according to recent reports, at new Mac minis and Mac Pros soon after these upgraded MacBook Airs.

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Following the Thunderbolt firmware update for Macs, Apple has published three new support documents pertaining to the new $49 Thunderbolt-to-Thunderbolt cable released Monday, using Thunderbolt with Boot Camp and Windows 7 and some tricks to get the best performance from Thunderbolt. Here’s what you need to know…

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As we broke last night, Apple is now carrying Thunderbolt parts. The Pegasus RAID units just showed up but we noticed something a little odd:

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Interesting combo.  Currently the Mac Pro doesn’t have a Thunderbolt port.

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So yeah, Apple art team either jumped the gun, used the wrong equipment, or pre-announced the new Mac Pros.  We were hoping for a slight redesign which doesn’t look to be the case (see what I did there?)…
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Apple is set to release their own accessory for data transfers and display connections between Thunderbolt Macs. The accessory is coming in the form of a cable with both ends featuring connectors for the Thunderbolt I/O port. As we already know, this port is the same size as the Mini Display ports on current and past generation Macs.

These Thunderbolt cables are perfect for data migration between Thunderbolt Macs (currently the iMac and MacBook Pro) as well as for display connections. Although Apple’s LED Display supports Thunderbolt Macs, this new cable might be a hint at a new Apple LED Display with a Thunderbolt port. Perhaps today’s Thunderbolt update has something to do with the new cord.

Additionally, this new cable comes ahead of new MacBook Airs, Mac minis, and Mac Pro with Thunderbolt I/O in the coming weeks.

Thanks, Mr. X!

Update: Apple has officially released the new cable. It’s $55 AU, £3,9.00 in the UK, and… $49 in the U.S.

Thunderbolt technology supports blazing-fast data transfer with two independent channels of 10Gbit/s each. Use the Apple Thunderbolt cable to connect your Thunderbolt-equipped peripherals to your new iMac or new MacBook Pro.

Apple Thunderbolt cable can also be used for Target Disk Mode between two Macs that support Thunderbolt, or to use a new iMac as a display for a MacBook Pro equipped with Thunderbolt.

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It looks like the report that Apple has a lock on Light Peak technology for a year was wrong.  Sony has gone ahead and announced their first Light Peak product in Europe and perhaps most interestingly, it contains an External GPU.  TIMN summerizes:

The vertically standing peripheral (pictured above) uses Intel’s Light Peak (yes, the same thing as Apple’s Thunderbolt) via a proprietary port and USB 3.0 socket to connect to the laptop. And not only does it provide an AMD Radeon HD 6650M with 1GB of VRAM, but also allows you to connect up to three additional displays via its HDMI and VGA ports.

One of the promises of Thunderbolt was External GPU video cards.  Imagine hooking your Thunderbolt-equipped, Sandy Bridge MacBook Air (with crappy integrated Intel GPU) to an external Thunderbolt GPU which drives a few 27-inch screens?

I like where this is going.

More shots below:
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If you have a Thunderbolt Mac, you’ve got an update waiting for you in Software Update.  We’ve done some rummaging around in the update files (thanks Pacifist!) and as you can see below, only 3 machines get update.  Nothing from the future just yet.
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CNET’s Brian Tong claims that Apple is gearing up to launch a revamped Mac Pro and an upgraded Mac mini in either late July or early August – more likely in August. Details are scarce on what this “next-gen” Mac Pro holds, but if what 9to5Mac has previously been told is showing up in these 2011 models, we’ll be seeing a smaller, rackmountable design that can hold multiple solid-state-drives. Lending credence to the report are shortages of the Mac Pro server model.

EXCLUSIVE: My sources tell me ALL NEW Next-Gen Mac Pros and Mac Minis will launch either end of July first week of August.

The Mac minis are said to be receiving the Thunderbolt I/O and Sandy Bridge Processor treatment, which the MacBook Pro and iMac families received earlier this year. Summer 2010 was the scene of a major Mac mini redesign, so those hoping for an all new Mac mini should wait a couple of refreshes. Mac minis (and Mac mini servers – on Amazon as well) are currently short on supply (thanks, Mr. X!). Separately, we’ve been hearing independently that Apple is gearing up to release upgraded MacBook Airs – we should have our own details on that soon.

August more likely, Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt on both. NO details for specs or configurations given. DO NOT BUY! WAIT for the new Macs!

Tong’s tweets also say that these upgraded Macs will be packed with Lion at first boot. Tong says that the source of the new Mac Pro and Mac mini information is the same source that correctly predicted an early May launch for the new iMacs. The iMac ended up being updated on May 3rd with Thunderbolt ports and faster Sandy Bridge processors from Intel.

Also in the pipeline are new AirPort Extremes and Time Capsules.

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Third-parties are prepping new Thunderbolt products ahead of the upcoming Final Cut Pro X release. Japanese site Macotakara.jp got a chance to play with Blackmagic Design’s UltraStudio 3D, a Thunderbolt-enabled 3D capture and playback for SD, HDMI and analog. Although BlackMagic’s site lists the device as having one Thunderbolt port, the unit on display has two ports. Engineers apparently haven’t yet made the final decision on that. The above clip shows a cool portable editing solution consisting of an early-2011 17-inch MacBook Pro, an UltraStudio 3D box, a Promise R6 Pegasus RAID and a Video-422 deck controller.

The rig works in perfect harmony, allowing for video recording to the Pegasus RAID with real-time previews on an external display and real-time video effects in 2K and 3D. The same site noted Tuesday that Final Cut Pro X would be available next week. Apple announced the video editing suite revision back in April at the NAB show, confirming that the software would be available in July via the Mac App Store at a reduced price of just $299.

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Sources have told 9to5Mac that Apple will be holding one of their retail store overnights on Tuesday. Since Apple has a flurry of upcoming product releases, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what Apple will be releasing – if anything, on Wednesday, June 15th. We first heard about this last week and figured it was OS X Lion related, but now that new chatter has arisen and now that we know Lion is coming in July, we feel it is the right to time to rundown Wednesday’s new possibilities.

The first item on the list would be new MacBook Airs with Sandy Bridge processors and Thunderbolt I/O. Digitimes and CNET have said that the new Airs are coming in either June or July and ChronicWire says they are coming this Wednesday. We have since heard from a source that there are still some current generation MacBook Airs shipping to retail stores across the world into the next couple of weeks. Because of our own independent information, we doubt a new MacBook Air launch for Wednesday. It does make sense though based on the scheduled retail overnight.

Next would be servers. We were first to report that Mac Pro and Mac mini server models are at the constraint stage for supplies, and since then we have been told that supplies have diminished even more with no more current generation models coming through to retail channels. Also, Time Capsules and Airport Extremes are showing the constraint status.

Additionally, sources tell 9to5Mac that Tuesday’s overnight may be related to Apple removing parts of their rumored-be-disappearing software wall. At this point, we are unsure of what is exactly going down Wednesday. It could be new MacBook Airs, Mac minis, Mac Pros, Servers, AirPorts, Time Capsules, or absolutely nothing related to a major product release. We’ll let you know when we hear more.

Update: Wednesday could be related to Apple’s annual Back to School promotion.

Update 2: Another source says that some of the new visuals pertain to the Teach for America Foundation. This is the same foundation that Apple is promoting the donation of iPads toward. This “teaching” theme may or may not confirm the start of the Back to School promotion on Wednesday.

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If you thought linking an external storage to a Cinema Display over a single Thunderbolt cable was cool, check out Thunderbolt edition of LaCie’s Little Big Disk. This nice-looking drive would pass as an everyday external storage if it weren’t for its Thunderbolt interface that Apple and Intel jointly developed. You can daisy-chain five of these via Thunderbolt, link them to a high-end display and still move data in and out at breakneck-speeds. Slashgear reports about a little demo LaCie showed off at Computex:

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Apple’s custom-built A5 chip currently powers iPad 2 and is expected to make its way into next-gen iPhone, iPod touch and Apple TV

Japanese blog Macotakara, which accurately outlined some of the iPad 2 features, in its latest story claims that an A5-powered MacBook Air with Thunderbolt I/O is being tested in Apple’s labs. The machine could be manufactured by Quanta Computer, the story has it. The article quotes a source who allegedly saw an early prototype:

According to this source who saw live A5 MacBook Air actually, this test machine performed better than expected. Though it’s not clear which Mac OS X or iOS is pre-installed on this A5 MacBook Air, iOS seems to have difficulty to use features of Thunderbolt without Finder. And even if Mac OS X is installed, developer should spend time to support A5 on Universal Binary Applications. As considering these situation, this A5 MacBook Air seems to be made just for experiment.

The rumor aligns well with a recent SemiAccurate speculation that Apple will transition their portables lineup to custom-built chips with ARM-based processing cores. Not that Macotakara’s hit-and-miss record is anything to go by, but we have to ask ourselves what benefits – if any – the iPad 2’s A5 chip would bring to Apple’s ultra-thin notebook. Here’s the big picture…

Pictured above: a clamcase iPad case

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Chip maker Intel had stressed they, not Apple, own all Thundebolt trademarks. Even though Apple and Intel collaborated on this high-speed I/O technology featured on the 2011 MacBook Pro and iMac families, the confusion arose when Patently Apple discovered that Apple filed for the Thunderbolt brand name trademark, their third since the technology debuted on the new MacBook Pro family in February of 2011. Few were convinced Apple owns the trademark, including Cult of Mac’s Ed Sutherland who asked, “Who the heck owns Thunderbolt, Intel or Apple?”

Deciding enough is enough, Intel has now made claims it owns the Thunderbolt trademark. Responding to an inquiry from Theo Valich over at Bright side of news, Intel’s senior communications manager Dave Salvator provided this statement:

As part of our collaboration with Apple, they did some of the initial trademark filings.  Intel has full rights to the Thunderbolt trademark now and into the future. The Thunderbolt name will be used going forward on all platforms, irrespective of operating system.

[UPDATE May 20, 2011 3:15am Pacific] Intel’s representative has contacted the publication with additional clarification. To make a long story short, Intel and Apple have agreed that the iPhone maker will transfer their Thunderbolt trademark to the semiconductor giant. Valich explains:

Apple filed for the original trademark and is now transferring that trademark to Intel. At the same time, Apple will continue to have unrestricted use of the technology. 3rd party implementations such as Sony’s desire to use USB Connector instead of DisplayPort and the eventual change of technology branding (Sony’s IEEE1394 a.k.a. Firewire implementation was named i.LINK) will have to be ironed out as the time passes by.

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As expected, new MacBooks Airs are going into production later this month for a June or July launch month. The news from Digitimes says that Apple’s updated ultra-thin notebooks will pack Sandy Bridge processors – that recently launched in the new MacBook Pros and iMacs – in addition to Apple and Intel’s new Thunderbolt I/O platform. Apple’s current line of MacBooks Airs include both 11.6 and 13.3 inch models. Because the current design was released late last year, we believe that the new models will simply be an internal specification upgrade and nothing more.

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Computer maker Hewlett-Packard isn’t impressed with Thunderbolt, a high-speed I/O technology Apple and Intel co-developed as a new industry standard meant to replace a plethora of slow and incompatible connection standards in use today. Speaking to PCWorld yesterday, HP’s worldwide marketing manager for desktops Xavier Lauwaert said the company did look into the technology but walked away unimpressed.

We did look at Thunderbolt. Were still looking into it. Haven’t found a value proposition yet. On the PC side, everybody seems to be content with the expansion of USB 3.0. Do we need to go into more fancy solutions? Not convinced yet.

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Previous-generation iMacs were able to drive both the internal and an external display at the same time, but the newly released iMacs are capable of driving two external displays simultaneously – in addition to the built-in display – thanks to the inclusion of Thunderbolt ports. Apple confirmed to GigaOM’s Darrell Etherington that the new 27-inchers’ two Thunderbolt ports (21.5-inch models only have one) can drive a dual external display setup.

Now, using two Mini DisplayPort adapters plugged in to the 27-inch iMacs Thunderbolt ports, users can simultaneously output to two monitors in addition to the main built-in screen of the iMac. It won’t necessarily clog up your Thunderbolt ports, either, since the tech supports daisy-chaining. That means you should be able to connect to Thunderbolt-compatible storage and then on to a display after that, too, without any loss of quality.

Macrumors was able to verify that the Thunderbolt ports can still make the iMac an external display for Blu-ray or video gaming or a cable box.

An Apple sales representative has confirmed to us that the new 27-inch models do continue to support the feature through the new Thunderbolt ports.

Engadget tested out a dual external monitor setup, seen below.

Apple also offers touchpad options allowing you to replace the included MagicMouse with either a Magic Trackpad or a wired Apple Mouse or go with both wireless MagicMouse and Magic Trackpad for $69 extra.

Also, MacStories explain that you can order a solid state drive in the second drive bay that will boot your operating system.

If you configure your iMac with both the solid-state drive and a Serial ATA hard drive, it will come preformatted with Mac OS X and all your applications on the solid-state drive. Then you can use the hard drive for videos, photos, and other files.

(we’re doubting Apple is supporting symbolic links to the hard drive for media – but maybe in Lion?)

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After weeks of rumor mongering and days of dried up channel inventory, Apple on Tuesday finally refreshed its iMac family. The signature aluminum and glass design remained unchanged, but a look under the hood reveals the latest Intel Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 processors from Intel, the new high-speed Thunderbolt I/O interface developed in co-operation with Intel, a FaceTime HD camera and storage upgrades across the board.

• Apple iMac Core i5 Quad 2.5GHz 21.5″ Desktop for $1,199
• Apple iMac Core i5 Quad 2.7GHz 21.5″ Desktop for $1,499
• Apple iMac Core i5 Quad 2.7GHz 27″ Desktop for $1,699
• Apple iMac Core i5 Quad 3.1GHz 27″ Desktop for $1,999

The 21.5-inch models have one Thunderbolt port and 27-inchers have two. Apple says the new processors deliver up to 70 percent faster performance while AMD graphics with “a powerful new media engine for high-performance video encoding and decoding” is responsible for a threefold jump in performance over the previous generation.

The release quoted Apple’s marketing honcho Phil Schiller:

Our customers love the iMac’s aluminum enclosure, gorgeous display and all-in-one design. With next generation quad-core processors, powerful new graphics, Thunderbolt technology and a FaceTime HD camera, we’ve made the world’s best desktop even better.

The new FaceTime HD camera supports high-def video calling between all FaceTime HD-enabled Macs and standard-resolution calls with iPad 2, iPhone 4, the current-generation iPod touch and other Intel-based Macs. This refresh has brought the quad-core performance of the Intel Core i5 processors to the entire family, with an option to upgrade to a Core i7 chip up to 3.4GHz.

Four new SKUs have replaced the previous models with two 21.5-inch and two 27-inc computers, beginning with the $1,199 entry-level 2.5GHz 21.5-incher and all the way up to the flagship $1,999 27-inch iMac with a 3.1GHz processors. More information and the official press release right after the break.

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All current signs point to an iMac refresh sometime next week. The rumors started a few weeks ago when an unsourced report claimed that refreshed iMacs are en route to the United States for a late April or early May launch. Then, just last week, our sources across the globe backed up these claims, saying that iMac shipments and components are very constrained. Yesterday, our colleague Mr. X told us to expect new iMacs the week of May 2nd as Apple will officially stop shipping iMacs to resellers this week (week of April 25th).

Since Apple tends to release new products on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, the likelihood of new iMacs with Thunderbolt I/O and Intel’s latest Sandy Bridge processors is high for May 3rd or 4th. Now, a reader tells us that Apple has delayed his order for an iMac from the Apple online education store. The order was not completely cancelled but simply delayed to the week of May 2nd. A May 2nd ship date is a possible new iMac release day but also would give Apple enough time to make a May 4th delivery date.

Due to an unexpected delay, we are unable to ship the following item(s)
by the date that you were originally quoted:

Z0JP, IMAC 27\”/5750/SD
will now ship on or before
May 02, 2011

Thunderbolt interconnect, a technology jointly developed by Apple and Intel which debuted February 24 on the new MacBook Pros, will become widely available to third-parties this quarter via the official development kit, Intel said yesterday. This is important for Mac users eager to take advantage of this technology.

Even though pundits had initially slammed Intel for limiting Thunderbolt to the new MacBook Pros, even saying this would spell doom for the new technology, the early release of an SDK means we can expect a lot of Thunderbolt-enabled products by the year’s end. In addition to Mac notebooks, Intel is working with other players to embrace Thunderbolt. At NAB 2011 several video and storage companion products from AJA, BlackMagic, Matrox, Sonnet, G-Tech, Promise and La Cie are being demoed.

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