2011-07-28

Apple plants Thunderbolt in display, Macs

SAN JOSE, Calif - A day after releasing record financialresults,Apple Wednesday rolled out a 27-inch display for the Thunderbolt interconnect,updated versions of its MacBook Air notebook, and Mac mini desktop withThunderbolt and an upgrade of its Mac OS.

The Apple Thunderbolt Display is the first display and oneof the first major peripherals to ship using Thunderbolt, a dual 10 Gbit/sbi-directional link developed by Intel and first used in February on an AppleMacBook Pro. Hedging its bets on Thunderbolt, the new display also supportsGigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, and has three USB 2.0 ports.

So far, just a handful of other companies including Canon,La Cie, Promise, and Western Digital have said they will ship external storagedevices and cameras using the link. No other major OEMs have announced plans touse the technology.

The PCI Special Interest Group announced in June plans for acabled version of PCI Express 3.0 aimed at similar applications as Thunderbolt.

The display also includes an integrated charger, an embeddedApple FaceTime camera and a 2.1 audio speaker system. It will be available in60 days at a retail price of $999.

Apple also put a Thunderbolt port on new 11- and 13-inchmodels of its MacBook Air notebook. The systems also have two USB 2.0 ports,use a range of Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, and sell for prices rangingfrom $999 to $1,599 depending on configuration.

The company also planted a Thunderbolt port on two new Macmini models using Intel Core i5 processors and selling for $599 and $799. Thesystems also sport four USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI port, and a FireWire 800 port.

In addition, Apple released Lion, the eighth version of itsMac OS, as a $29.99 download on its Mac App Store. Lion sports 250 new featuresincluding new multi-touch gestures, integrated access to the Mac App Store andintegrated peer-to-peer wireless networking.

This story was originally posted by EE Times.
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Apple plants Thunderbolt in display, Macs

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