First Thunderbolt Peripherals Arrive To Market

MojoKid writes "Promise Technology recently launched the first Thunderbolt-compatible devices; the company's Pegasus RAID R4 and R6 storage solutions can now be ordered from the Apple Store. There's a catch, however. In order to use either storage array, one must first purchase a cable directly from Apple. The company has priced the two-meter cable at $50. As it turns out, Thunderbolt uses what's called an active cable. Inside the cable there's a pair of Gunnum GN2033 transceivers. The GN2033 is a tiny, low power transceiver chip designed to be placed inside the connectors at either end of a Thunderbolt cable, enabling dual bidirectional 10Gb/s concurrent links over narrow-gauge copper wires. The cable's $50 price may be justified, but it's also a further reminder of why Thunderbolt may follow FireWire's path into obsolescence. Apple is the only company currently selling Thunderbolt cables."

Comments

or maybe

[Anonymous Coward]

or maybe, once production is ramped up, prices will go down. Since that's what generally happens with new technology.

Re:or maybe

[Serenissima]

That's crazy talk. This is Slashdot. Where anything remotely related to Apple or Microsoft must be met with derision! There's no need to bring logic or common sense into the discussion!

Re:passive was too hard.

[toQDuj]

Well, as they say in the linux help forums: If you can think of a better way to do it, feel free to make and implement your own.. I am of the opinion that thunderbolt has potential and will wait a while before making opinions. I also think that there are a slew of engineers who have worked on this, and it seems to me a bit insulting to them to hear people here go "why did you not just do A or B". Do you really think they did not think of this thing you just thought up in 5 minutes? The hubris of the unwashed masses..