Thunderbolt vs. USB, HDMI, PCIe Cable: How does it compare?

[Brink]

Intel's high-speed communications technology is pitted against strong incumbent interfaces -- and the nascent PCI Express Cable could provide more competition.

Read more at:
Thunderbolt vs. USB, HDMI, PCIe Cable: How does it compare? | Business Tech - CNET News

 

[Dave76]

Interesting choices ahead, we'll have to wait and see which of the new ones will rise to the top.

 

[Thaliur]

And again, my computer upgrade plans have been delayed...

Could tech companies stop introducing new standards for a while so I can actually wait which of them get adopted in the long run? Not that I don't like these new technologies, mind you, but this reminds me of the Compact Flash memory card bet I lost a while ago...

 

[lkgriffith]

And again, my computer upgrade plans have been delayed...

Could tech companies stop introducing new standards for a while so I can actually wait which of them get adopted in the long run? Not that I don't like these new technologies, mind you, but this reminds me of the Compact Flash memory card bet I lost a while ago...

But that is the way all casinos work. You are supposed to win just enough so you will keep coming back and spend more money. Most of which will go into the casino's pocket and you end up with rapidly obsoleting eJunk.

I have been working in the computer casino for almost 50 years. Early on, your bets were in the $5000 region for small stuff back when money was still real. Now its likely $10 to $60 of highly inflated phony money. As it is, I would much rather pay $60 phony money for two gig of ram than five $K real money for one K of core.

 

[King Arthur]

Ironic that USB was supposed to put an end to the so-called Bus War, I think USB needs a renaming to something more suitable.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
the best doesn't always win --Betamax / VHS spring to mind.

remember the external micro pci card --that's gone the way of the dodo on new laptops -- some older ones still have a slot for it.

USB3 doesn't seem to have appeared on many laptops yet.

FIREWIRE is dead and buried.

USB2 devices are ubiquitous everywhere -- including mobile phones and the transfer rate is good enough to be "fit for purpose" from things like laptops / small portable devices.

Even if something new does come in -- it will be YEARS before USB2 is phased out.

The emphasis these days is on laptops and mobile devices -- only a few DIY hobbyists and serious gamers actually bother with desktop type machines so the market would be quite small anyway.

I'd like to see more emphasis on improved battery times - especially on smart phones and SOLAR-POWERED mice. Logitech already does an excellent solar powered keyboard K750

cheers
jimbo

 

[Thaliur]

I'd like to see more emphasis on improved battery times - especially on smart phones and SOLAR-POWERED mice. Logitech already does an excellent solar powered keyboard K750

I like the idea of solar-powered wireless input devices, but I'm not sure if a solar-powered mouse would work well, since it's covered by the user's hand most of the time. A solar powered battery base might work well, though (with a LiPo battery in the mouse, like toy helicopters).

And again, my computer upgrade plans have been delayed...

Could tech companies stop introducing new standards for a while so I can actually wait which of them get adopted in the long run? Not that I don't like these new technologies, mind you, but this reminds me of the Compact Flash memory card bet I lost a while ago...

But that is the way all casinos work. You are supposed to win just enough so you will keep coming back and spend more money. Most of which will go into the casino's pocket and you end up with rapidly obsoleting eJunk.

I have been working in the computer casino for almost 50 years. Early on, your bets were in the $5000 region for small stuff back when money was still real. Now its likely $10 to $60 of highly inflated phony money. As it is, I would much rather pay $60 phony money for two gig of ram than five $K real money for one K of core.

That is true, the situation has greatly improved. For now though, I think i will follow jimbo45's indirect advice and wait which standard will... well, become the new standard.

 

[enigma1944]

I just checked this out and to me this appears to be another advanced ripoff for the consumers. Although with 10Gbps transfer speed, the max length for NOW is 3 meters at a price of $89.99, A REAL BARGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[lkgriffith]

At least the manufacturer of the system no longer has to spend $0.69 for an extra SATA port. That means they can save $69.00 of the reduction in profit that represents. After all, the customer doesn't know they have a times ten multiplier on the cost of materials added to the final price. The interesting thing is that this will work until the competition discovers they can more than make up for the difference by charging the end customer $40.00 less. Soon the savings will become negative because the customer base will discover value delivered can be had at a much lower price.

That is how it is possible that we can buy a four pound portable battery powered super computer for under $500 that can blow away a multi mega dollar super computer of a decade ago.

The moral to this story is to wait a generation of technology and then buy a second level system. Leave the top of the line on the table. You don't need it. If your ego does, be prepared to spend through the nose for equipment that will become obsolete in less than six months.

This message is created on an eight year old computer with expanded memory taken from old and burned out computer equipment, a for year old low cost graphics card plugged into its second system, and a three year low cost 500 gig ATA drive also plugged into its second system. Running a $50 Windows 7 Home Premium OS also on its second system. The last out of pocket expense was the $50 for Windows 7 at introduction. It works great for my purposes.

Viva la competition!

PS: Windows 8 release preview won't install on my hardware. No problem. I don't want it clogging my system and wouldn't use it if I were able to. I do have it installed as a second partition OS on a four year old laptop for evaluation. It won't be used as a production system.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

What happened to esata. Maybe this is a portable only comparison but I find that my WD mybooks and Seagate freeagent runs wicked fast on esata. Have you all seen the prices for Thunderbolt stuff? Of course it will fall in price but wow......
Ah I'm just thinking hard drives and not all the other toys.

 

[Dave76]

Agree, eSATA is the best way to go for external HDD.

Thunderbolt's first hurdle is cost, if too expensive the vast majority of users won't pay for it given a choice, the second is cost vs productivity increase which is subjective.
For my personal laptop/desktop the speed increase won't justify the cost at this time.
For a small percentage of business laptops/desktops it may be viable.
It does have potential for improving SSD performance.

If the cost is reduced and it becomes a standard, bringing the cost down further, it has a shot.
As far as a technological performance increase it's a great idea.

 

[Layback Bear]

Their are two markets.
1. If its faster I want it.
2. If its faster and I need it I want it.
Number 2 being the larger.

 

[Phone Man]

Looks like Thunderbolt is going mainstream.

ASUS P8Z77-V Premium

Click on the video. Its long winded but interesting.

Jim

 

[jimbo45]

At least the manufacturer of the system no longer has to spend $0.69 for an extra SATA port. That means they can save $69.00 of the reduction in profit that represents. After all, the customer doesn't know they have a times ten multiplier on the cost of materials added to the final price. The interesting thing is that this will work until the competition discovers they can more than make up for the difference by charging the end customer $40.00 less. Soon the savings will become negative because the customer base will discover value delivered can be had at a much lower price.

That is how it is possible that we can buy a four pound portable battery powered super computer for under $500 that can blow away a multi mega dollar super computer of a decade ago.

The moral to this story is to wait a generation of technology and then buy a second level system. Leave the top of the line on the table. You don't need it. If your ego does, be prepared to spend through the nose for equipment that will become obsolete in less than six months.

This message is created on an eight year old computer with expanded memory taken from old and burned out computer equipment, a for year old low cost graphics card plugged into its second system, and a three year low cost 500 gig ATA drive also plugged into its second system. Running a $50 Windows 7 Home Premium OS also on its second system. The last out of pocket expense was the $50 for Windows 7 at introduction. It works great for my purposes.

Viva la competition!

PS: Windows 8 release preview won't install on my hardware. No problem. I don't want it clogging my system and wouldn't use it if I were able to. I do have it installed as a second partition OS on a four year old laptop for evaluation. It won't be used as a production system.

Hi there

true to a point -- but why not get the best of BOTH worlds
shell out for a 120 GB SSD which you can move to another machine when you need it -- and that old clonker of yours will race again !!.

SSD's will improve almost ANY system --often the improvement is dramatic on OLDER equipment --it's very rarely lack of processing power that causes poor performance on home computers.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[Phone Man]

Interesting review of Apple display with Ethernet, Firewire and USB ports feed by one Thunderbolt cable. The display has ETH, FW and USB controllers built in and uses the PCIe feed of Thunderbolt. The screen uses DisplayPort over Thunderbolt.
The display acts as a docking station for Laptops so you only need one port to run your external devices.
Apple had a 1 yr exclusive on Thunderbolt but that has expired.

AnandTech - The Apple Thunderbolt Display Review



Jim

 

[Tarka Dal]

Intel's high-speed communications technology is pitted against strong incumbent interfaces -- and the nascent PCI Express Cable could provide more competition.

Read more at:
Thunderbolt vs. USB, HDMI, PCIe Cable: How does it compare? | Business Tech - CNET News

This has no bearing on HDMI that I can see!

 

[Phone Man]

Intel's high-speed communications technology is pitted against strong incumbent interfaces -- and the nascent PCI Express Cable could provide more competition.

Read more at:
Thunderbolt vs. USB, HDMI, PCIe Cable: How does it compare? | Business Tech - CNET News

This has no bearing on HDMI that I can see!

The current setup of Thunderbolt has DisplayPort channel which competes with HDMI.

Jim

 

[Tarka Dal]

So instead of having 2 cables to your HD tv you have one.