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  • Is Thunderbolt Ever Going to Take Off for Windows Machines? (p.2)
2013/12/02 11:44:28
StarTekh
Anderton to answer your question:  Is Thunderbolt Ever Going to Take Off for Windows Machines.
 
Yes ,but the market is limited, thus there supporting USB3 for now . as for the Apollo I emaild the company and asked them ..what's the deal was with their thunderbolt interface..They did not respond, thus they loose ..
 
Apollo's Thunderbolt Option Card is not supported on Windows systems....its their interface
 
I have an ASUS G55VW with thunderbolt which I connect my Saffire Pro 24, so we know it works !
 
Thunderbolt 2 is now out double data rate/transfer, and for what were doing is the only way to go !
 
some good reading : http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/io/thunderbolt/thunderbolt-technology-developer.html
 
 
2013/12/02 13:14:09
Splat
One thing to note, Thunderbolt + Saffire will not be faster than firewire + Saffire. I emailed Focusrite about that months back.
Cheers..
2013/12/02 14:47:56
StarTekh
Alex: enlighten me as to what they said ...(Thunderbolt + Saffire will not be faster than firewire + Saffire)... should not be the case...
2013/12/02 14:50:57
Splat
I just asked them if there was a performance benefit with thunderbolt and they said no, it's just compatibility. They didn't get into the detail but one assumes the Safire interface itself (I/O) is only capable of processing firewire speeds.
2013/12/02 16:07:48
guigz2000
Hello,
 
I don't think so...
 
2 reasons:
1..Thunderbolt is very expensive: Mainboard with thunderbolt are not very common and are expansive. HDD Enclosures are expensive. Even cables are very expansive (approx. 40euros for just one cable), and PCIe thunderbolt card will be expansive when they'll be available. Another example!: The Thunderbolt card for UAD Appolo is 500euros (what the f*&ck!!!).
 
2.. USB3 bandwidth should be sufficient for most of applications, even audio..it's 4.8Gb!!..I can stream 150MBytes/sec with an external SSD on USB3
Most USB soundcards are USB2.0 and more than 1 year after USB3.0 is out,it's just weird. I just don't understand why makers stick to Firewire or USB2.0 interfaces when they can get a LOT better bandwidth with USB3.0. Even for audio, USB3 bandwidth should be enough(RME UFX is USB2.0 and it seems to have no problems with USB2.0,even with 30 I/Os).Maybe USB will just be frozen in misconceptions (it's slow), just like windows (which seems to be unstable since windows 98) or PC's which are low quality.The fact is USB3.0 is not as shiny as Thundrbolt, but it's cheap,available on every computer, and it should be sufficient most of time.
 
Why stick with obsolete or overpriced technology, that's the question.
2013/12/02 16:32:41
Splat
I just don't understand why makers stick to Firewire or USB2.0 interfaces when they can get a LOT better bandwidth with USB3.0.
 
They are waiting to see what is going to become mainstream. Firewire is superior to USB 2 when it comes to bandwidth so that's why that is still around.


The reality is people who have firewire boxes are praying that thunderbolt will be mainstream (so they can keep their firewire devices) as well as liking USB3, Apple is promoting thunderbolt like the clappers, and people with USB 2 devices could not care less about thunderbolt for the reasons you've already explained.
 
And they want to shift a lot more USB2 and Firewire boxes first so they can sell you the same product again later with a different interface. Funny how they are all doing it though? (Cartel?)
2013/12/02 16:38:25
John T
I think it might be a solution looking for a problem, myself. Is anyone running into bottlenecks with firewire or USB? I mean, sure, I can conceive of use cases where you would, but they're hardly mainstream ones, even in a professional context. I think it's going to remain fairly fringe for a while, possibly permanently.
2013/12/02 16:48:36
slartabartfast
Thunderbolt was pretty clearly envisioned as a way to move real-time video data. As others have pointed out, there is little benefit to audio data over cheaper and more widely supported protocols, and for the average computer user no benefit at all. The other possible utility would be in linking multiple computers for parallel processing, but users who need that kind of power are more likely to go for the cheaper and certainly easier alternative of buying an equivalent parallel processing computer, rather than trying to get all the desktops in the building working together.
 
Still given the history of computer technology being marketed the way muscle cars used to be promoted, I would have expected the manufacturer's to have jumped on the bandwagon just so they could sell to the power mad. Unfortunately, thunderbolt has come along at a time when most users are realizing they do not need a real computer at all to decorate their FaceBook wall or follow the tweets of their favorite celebrity. When the most popular computer does not even have a USB port, there is little reason to hope to sell an expensive and useless idea to the masses. And given the troubled history, and doubtful future, of Firewire I think it is not too likely that Thunderbolt will ever appear in most general purpose Windows machines. 
 
Although motherboard manufacturer's might be tempted to market a few products to the crazy gamer community, the future of purpose built computers based on a small market for specialized motherboards is itself in doubt. Many off-the-shelf gamer machines will now satisfy the needs of that community. The serious video editing community is a still smaller market. The occasional very high priced specialty workstation may be available with thunderbolt, but the general market will probably not support its adoption as any kind of standard component. And without a general implementation of Thunderbolt, the return on investment in peripherals to connect to the few machines using it will create a death spiral.
2013/12/02 16:55:44
Splat
Although motherboard manufacturer's might be tempted to market a few products to the crazy gamer community
 
Makes sense, only cheap laptop I could find with thunderbolt the other day involved the compulsory purchase of Dr Dre Beats headphones.
2013/12/02 17:23:52
jscomposer
Anderton
there don't seem to be a lot of peripherals, and some of these are "faux Thunderbolt"...basically FireWire with a Thunderbolt connector.



 
I use one of these http://store.apple.com/ca/product/HA676ZM/A/lacie-256gb-rugged-usb-30-thunderbolt-series-ssd-hard-drive
 
It's connected to my Mac T-Bolt, but can also be used if a PC has the port. It is stupid fast, and I use it for my larger sample libraries when I'm on the road (ie; EW Hollywood Strings). Compared with FW 800 and USB3, it is lightning fast.
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