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Ask – Is Thunderbolt Ready for Prime Time?
2/13/2013
IT’S TIME FOR A NEW COMPUTER, AND I KEEP HEARING THAT THUNDERBOLT IS THE “WAVE OF THE FUTURE.” BUT IT SEEMS THAT THE SELECTION OF COMPUTERS WITH THUNDERBOLT IS LIMITED. SHOULD I WAIT, OR JUMP ON IT NOW SO I’LL HAVE A FUTURE-PROOF SETUP?
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| Universal Audio’s Apollo audio interface was the first pro audio product to support Thunderbolt. |
Jerry Strickland
Omaha, NE
via email
Hi Jerry, you didn’t
specify Windows/Mac or desktop/laptop, which may
affect your decision. So, here’s an
overview.
Thunderbolt
is in its infancy
regarding support,
but the advantages are
compelling—ultra-fast
transfer speeds, and
backward compatibility
with FireWire, HDMI,
DVI, Gigabit Ethernet,
and even PCI cards.
It’s likely to become
the pro video/audio
interface of the future,
but it’s not there
yet; also, it’s more
expensive than existing
solutions. Even the
cables are expensive,
because they’re active.
Several Apple
laptops include
Thunderbolt, and
now Windows laptops
are also appearing
with Thunderbolt.
Laptops are a great fit
for Thunderbolt, as
they can work with
powerful peripherals
to compensate for
lesser power in the
laptops themselves. For
mobile audio/video
work, Thunderbolt has
incredible potential,
but even now, many
solutions are available
and Thunderbolt can
also take full advantage
of solid-state drive
speeds for transferring
large amounts of data.
Windows desktops
with Thunderbolt
ports are becoming
available, but in most
cases, you won’t
be able to retrofit
older machines with
Thunderbolt—only
motherboards with
Thunderbolt-friendly
chip sets are eligible.
Mac Pro towers
currently don’t include
Thunderbolt (or for
that matter, USB 3.0).
Getting a good
computer with
Thunderbolt means
you’ll have a good
computer regardless
of what the future
brings, and you can
put it to use now
with Thunderbolt
peripherals. But if
widespread adoption
or lowering of prices
is important, you may
want to wait.
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