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Thunderbolt vs. USB 3.0
06-18-2012, 10:23 AM
Awww lordy, here we go again... Just as when Firewire faced off against USB 2.0...
On one side we have Apple's contribution: Thunderbolt. On the other: USB 3.0. Both have their pros and cons. Both have backwards compatibility.
What I find amusing about everyone's scuffle over which is better... is that Intel played major roles in the development of BOTH!!! So now I'm just wondering why all the hubub is over. Both seem remarkably similar (though Thunderbolt is admittedly ultimately intended for a display device). The only real advantage I see one having over the other is that USB 3.0 inherits 1.1 and 2.0's absurd daisy-chain abilities... while Thunderbolt can only handle six, with the seventh item being a display device.
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ok, what follows is my take on this. I may have some stuff wrong, and if I do I would appreciate being corrected.
Thunderbolt (aka lightpeak):
- Pros
* absurd transfer throughput (20Gb/sec theoretical max)
* Direct extension of the PCI-E bus, so anything that used to be on a PCI-E card can now be plugged in via a cable (yes, even a graphics card)
- cons
* cost, it requires a lot of silicon to implement. Both in the ports and in the cables (there are 12 chips in each cable *boggle*)
* Direct extension of the PCI-E bus, so someone can make a malicious thunderbolt device that could slurp the contents of memory simply by plugging it into your computer.
USB 3
- Pros
* damn cheap to implement
* fast enough for most consumer applications
- cons
* still has to use processor time if you want to transfer data (leading to performance bottlenecks)
I don't think it's going to be either-or. Apple has announced both thunderbolt and usb 3 on their most recent products. And a quick search on newegg also shows motherboards from Intel that have both ports as well.
-Terry
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"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
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What I'm expecting overall is that USB won't go away... in fact, most any application that uses USB 2 right now will likely move to USB 3, such as flash drives and external hard drives, to ensure full compatibility.
This new Thunderbolt will possibly be used as a graphics extension for the most part, specifically on laptops and "all in one" desktop designs, or as an option for system add-ons where eliminating as many bottlenecks as possible is part of the requirements, or a strong preference, such as certain types of wireless dongles and HD capable video capture devices.
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"You know how parents tell you everything's going to fine, but you know they're lying to make you feel better? Everything's going to be fine." - The Doctor
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I myself am looking at getting an ExpresCard with a single USB 3.0 port to plug into a USB 3.0 hub that daisy-chains into a 7-port USB 2.0 hub (I love this hub - got it in Japan and it has switches so you can switch off individual ports instead of unplugging them... and it has a magnetic backing so you can stick it to anything ferrous).
Yeah, I like having ports. It's even nicer still when I come home with my laptop and all I gotta do is plug in the power and just one USB port because everything else is connected through the daisy-chained hubs. Now if only I can find a 3.0 hub with a magnetic backing just like my Beast From the East hub...
