What is Thunderbolt technology

You may have heard that Apple has recently refreshed their Macbook Pro product line and the latest arrival comes with a new port, known as the Thunderbolt technology.

What is Thunderbolt technology

I am sure you must have heard of and used a USB port before (unless you are still using a 486MHz PC). A USB port allows you to plug in a device to your computer and instantly access it from the system. Each USB port only allows one device (while you can use a USB hub to extend it to support multiple devices, it is still theoretically a one-one connection) and everytime you buy a new laptop, you have to wonder how many USB ports it comes with. Thunderbolt eliminates all these problems and adds a new dimension to how you connect your external devices to your computer.

Thunderbolt technology is a new breakthrough technology that work like (much better than) the USB port, but allows you to daisy chain multiple devices (up to 6 devices) together. All Thunderbolt devices use the same connector (unlike USB technology that uses a male – female type of connection), so you can connect one device to another with interoperable cables. You just need one Thunderbolt port to chain them all, and you don’t have to worry how many USB ports your computer comes with, and whether you need a USB hub or not.

Thunderbolt technology

(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)


Thunderbolt (codenamed Light Peak) is an interface for connecting peripheral devices to a computer via an expansion bus. Thunderbolt was developed by Intel and brought to market with technical collaboration from Apple. It was introduced commercially on Apple's updated MacBook Pro lineup on February 24, 2011, using the same port and connector as Mini DisplayPort. Though the Thunderbolt trademark was registered by Apple, full rights belong to Intel and subsequently led to the transfer of the registration from Apple to Intel.

Thunderbolt combines PCI Express and DisplayPort into a serial data interface that can be carried over longer and less costly cables. Thunderbolt driver chips fold the data from these two sources together, and split them back apart again for consumption within the devices. This makes the system backward compatible with existing DisplayPort hardware upstream of the driver.