Intel Unveils New Upgradeable Connection Standard: Thunderbolt

Intel has pulled the wraps off their new USB killer, Thunderbolt. Anyone who has a home network knows that sending huge files like video around the home can take forever, especially when doing it over wifi. Thunderbolt can copy a DVD-size image from one computer to another in about ten seconds. And here’s the best part: It’s both backward and forward compatible.

By moving the chips into the cables and out of the actual hardware, you can use one plug — one standard — to feed any number of connections; and even better, you can feed them all at the same time. No more worrying about HDMI revisions: one plug, one device, and you can chain them all together. Better yet, the feed is bi-directional, so as you can see in the video below, you can suck down different pieces of a video from a server, assemble them in a computer, and spit them back out to a display on the same wire.

Will it catch on? Well, the ports are debuting in the new line of MacBook Pros, and Apple doesn’t exactly have a good history of debuting new connection standards that stick. Assuming that the current performance claims hold true, though, Intel may finally be onto something.

Via: [Intel]