[Macworld]

Post your comments for How to connect to Thunderbolt here

[tfrogh]

Do both generations of 2011 MacBookPro have the sames chipset?

Any Caveats for using Thunderbolt under 10.6?

[rloyola]

If you are using Snow Leopard, Apple late yesterday released Thunderbolt Software Update 1.1. According to Apple:

This update addresses an issue that causes some users of the Apple Thunderbolt Display to experience intermittent black screens. It also includes stability improvements for Thunderbolt devices.

System Requirements
10.6.8 + Thunderbolt Software Update 1.0

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1476

[NovaScotian]

The real problem with Thunderbolt is the scarcity of adaptors for legacy devices: esata external drives, for example.

[tony_d]

Quote: " Right now, Thunderbolt cables are available only from Apple for $50."

I'm under the impression that Sony has Thunderbolt on some of their new 13.1-inch VAIO Z. So if someone bought that, they'd have to buy an Apple cable? Or is Sony using USB 3?

[rloyola]

tony_d, on 18 November 2011 - 09:33 AM, said:

I'm under the impression that Sony has Thunderbolt on some of their new 13.1-inch VAIO Z. So if someone bought that, they'd have to buy an Apple cable? Or is Sony using USB 3?

From PCWorld's review of the Sony Vaio Z, which implements Thunderbolt:

Though many people have called the media dock port a Thunderbolt connector, it isn't one. Thunderbolt is the port that eventually emerged from Intel and Apple based on the company's Light Peak technology, but with a few changes. Light Peak was going to come to market using a USB port and an optical cable, as in the VAIO Z, but it underwent some tweaking before its designers settled on a mini-DisplayPort connector and copper cable. So Sony's implementation, though it uses very similar technology to Thunderbolt, will be incompatible with Thunderbolt devices. It is essentially a proprietary dock connector, but it also serves as a USB 3.0 port, so there's no wasted space.

[rloyola]

tfrogh, on 18 November 2011 - 08:42 AM, said:

Do both generations of 2011 MacBookPro have the sames chipset?

Apple has confirmed that Early 2011 and Late 2011 MacBook Pros use the same Thunderbolt controller.

[Strawtag]

I'm confused about why a thunderbolt display has both a thunderbolt port and a built-in thunderbolt cable. Knowledge Base article HT4744 plainly states that the display must be at the end of the thunderbolt chain. I'm clearly no expert on thunderbolt connectivity, but I would consider the description "built-in" as applied to the cable to mean that it is attached to the display through some means other than through use of the thunderbolt port. Does that mean that the display is equipped so that it can be connected to a display source and/or next-to-last member of a thunderbolt chain which is equipped with its own built-in thunderbolt cable and can't receive the built-in cable from the display?

[Strawtag]

Though I've reloaded this page several times, my reply didn't appear yet. But I'm not giving up, so if it appears twice, that's why.

I have to say that it just occurred to me that I've assumed that the term "Mini DisplayPort display" is used to designate all displays that connect through that type of connector be it either the thunderbolt port or its predecessor (you know, the way all squares are rectangles). If that term isn't inclusive of both types, then I think a term of reference that carries inclusion for both is very much needed.

This post has been edited by Strawtag: 18 November 2011 - 12:34 PM

[rloyola]

Strawtag: As you have figured out, "Mini DisplayPort display" does not include Thunderbolt displays. I'm not aware of any term that is inclusive of both types of displays.

[jaydahba]

this tunderbolt is becoming more and more of a hoax...

[jaydahba]

50$ for a cable that currently connects to, WOW, three harddrives...i understand the whole "creating a new interface"thing, but seriously....
Lacie Little Bigs are great BECAUSE they are bus powered RAIDS....and now i can get a T-Bolt Little Big, but it needs EXTERNAL POWER...?!
seriously?
and the next generations mac book (soon no longer) PRO will have kicked the last FW port on favor of this sofar quite useless interface....

no bus power = no good...

[Biallystock]

This brilliantly simple solution is yet another example how Apple "Just makes it work!"

Not long ago after listening to the staff at our AppleStore spruiking the "benefits" of Thunderbolt I questioned the availability and cost of Thunderbolt cables, to be dismissed (as an obvious moron) with "They're readily available upstairs".

Upstairs I spent an hour waiting and being stuffed around by staff who repeatedly offered the wrong cables. I eventually concluded it was just a brush off lie, there were no Thunderbolt cables, the staff were totally clueless and Apple didn't care because it is only a sales pitch like many others. When I returned downstairs the staff were repeating the same bull to another customer.

[Macmojo]

How about a TB Hub