[Macworld]

Post your comments for Elgato's Thunderbolt Cable now available here

[jdb8167]

What is the point of releasing a more expensive cable? Weird.

[hmurchison]

I tried to tell the "why are thunderbolt cables so expensive " crowd that $50 for an active cable isn't bad. If you were expecting USB pricing on TB cables you were just mistaken concerning the technological differences between the two. There's a chipset in each cable end which comprises most of the cost. I'm amazed that Apple delivered the cable at pricing less than $50.

[leicaman]

jdb8167, on 27 April 2012 - 10:10 AM, said:

What is the point of releasing a more expensive cable? Weird.

That's the retail price. Maybe they're going to sell for less on the street.

[cpoff]

hmurchison, on 27 April 2012 - 10:30 AM, said:

I'm amazed that Apple delivered the cable at pricing less than $50.

Apple didn't. Elgato did.

And I agree, it's an apples/oranges comparison when talking about pricing compared to USB.

-cp

[phoward8020]

cpoff, on 27 April 2012 - 10:32 AM, said:

hmurchison, on 27 April 2012 - 10:30 AM, said:

I'm amazed that Apple delivered the cable at pricing less than $50.

Apple didn't. Elgato did.

Read the article again: Apple's cable == $49; Elgato's == $60.

[dammarin]

cpoff, on 27 April 2012 - 10:32 AM, said:

hmurchison, on 27 April 2012 - 10:30 AM, said:

I'm amazed that Apple delivered the cable at pricing less than $50.

Apple didn't. Elgato did.

Apple's cable is $49, not Elgato's.

[bonesb]

cpoff, on 27 April 2012 - 10:32 AM, said:

hmurchison, on 27 April 2012 - 10:30 AM, said:

I'm amazed that Apple delivered the cable at pricing less than $50.

Apple didn't. Elgato did.

And I agree, it's an apples/oranges comparison when talking about pricing compared to USB.

-cp

<snark>I'm thinking it's more an Apples/Elgatos comparison, me thinks?</snark>

[hmurchison]

phoward8020, on 27 April 2012 - 10:46 AM, said:

cpoff, on 27 April 2012 - 10:32 AM, said:

hmurchison, on 27 April 2012 - 10:30 AM, said:

I'm amazed that Apple delivered the cable at pricing less than $50.

Apple didn't. Elgato did.

Read the article again: Apple's cable == $49; Elgato's == $60.

I read the article and my statement "I'm amazed that Apple delivered the cable at pricing less than $50" makes perfect sense now that the Elgato cable is here.
Thunderbolt is expensive technology. The ones that can deliver better pricing will likely be the large companies that can buy/produce in volume.

[TeaEarleGreyHot]

jdb8167, on 27 April 2012 - 10:10 AM, said:

What is the point of releasing a more expensive cable? Weird.

Well if you're shelling out $430 for Elgato's 120GB Thunderbolt SSD drive, you might not care about spending an extra $20 for the cable, rather than have to buy from two vendors--for some of us, each vendor requires a separate purchase order and its own nuisance paperwork.

And as was previously mentioned, some people view a shorter cable as a plus... the TB SSD is pictured on Elgato's site with a Macbook Air, implying portability. But with a 6-foot cable??? (In the photo, about four feet of the Apple cable is hidden behind the MBA, which is kind of deceptive.) Much better to have an 18-inch cable in your bag.

Also, it must have annoyed Elgato that they could sell a drive, but had to tell their customers (until now) to buy the needed cable from Apple!

This post has been edited by TeaEarleGreyHot: 27 April 2012 - 11:49 AM

[cpoff]

hmurchison, on 27 April 2012 - 11:31 AM, said:

I read the article and my statement "I'm amazed that Apple delivered the cable at pricing less than $50" makes perfect sense now that the Elgato cable is here.
Thunderbolt is expensive technology. The ones that can deliver better pricing will likely be the large companies that can buy/produce in volume.

Gotcha. I don't know Elgato's pricing history. But right now if I had to pick one Thunderbolt cable - Elgato's or Apple's - that will drop in price, my money is on Elgato.

[hmurchison]

cpoff, on 27 April 2012 - 11:51 AM, said:

hmurchison, on 27 April 2012 - 11:31 AM, said:

I read the article and my statement "I'm amazed that Apple delivered the cable at pricing less than $50" makes perfect sense now that the Elgato cable is here.
Thunderbolt is expensive technology. The ones that can deliver better pricing will likely be the large companies that can buy/produce in volume.

Gotcha. I don't know Elgato's pricing history. But right now if I had to pick one Thunderbolt cable - Elgato's or Apple's - that will drop in price, my money is on Elgato.

It's a bet. First round of Guinness is on me boyo!

;-)


I'm less worried about the cables and more worried about the peripherals. Lucky think is Larry Jordan (Final Cut Pro guru) said that his discussion with Intel about Thunderbolt
yielded that first generation parts took 6 chips for each peripheral. The upcoming Cactus Ridge stuff reduces this to 3 chips. Hopefully the cable chips get reduced as well.

[Speed_Racer]

It's taking way too long for everything Thunderbolt to stop being so stinking expensive. Hopefully, this year being the beginning of widespread adoption of Thunderbolt on Windows systems will bring peripheral prices down. But I'm not optimistic.

There almost certainly won't be an affordable way to retrofit USB 3.0 to current iMacs because the economies of scale aren't there. PCs have PCIe slots so they can install USB 3.0 expansion cards. iMacs don't have that. This year's PCs will have both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0, so again, they don't need any kind of Thunderbolt to USB 3.0 adapter. So current iMacs are stuck with expensive Thunderbolt enclosures if owners want to add external drives faster than USB 2.0. That's a darn shame because USB 3.0 enclosures cost not much more than 2.0 ones.

[pcharles]

Just look at it on a per foot basis!