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Intel to debut Light Peak alongside Apple's new MacBook Pros Thursday - Page 2

post #41 of 50
2/23/11 at 4:16am
Hardmac reports that the new MBPs will sport Light Peak and that the Apple implementation of Light Peak will be called Thunderbolt.
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post #42 of 50
2/23/11 at 5:05am
Back in 2008, there was a lot of clamor for an "upgradeable" box from Apple that was cheaper than the Mac Pro. Also, there was a significant delay in releasing the updated Mac Mini. At that time, there was some speculation in the market that Apple would do "upgradeable right" - and come out with a stackable Mac Mini, which would allow components to be purchased and added at any point in time, with a proprietary bus architecture allowing all these components to interface with the main system at extremely high speeds.

However, back then such a bus architecture did not exist - because Intel had not yet released LightPeak. The spec was ready, but the commercial implementation was not ready. So Apple went ahead and released the Mac Mini - smaller, sleeker, and unibody. And Apple backed away from a proprietary standard, because of the costs, and adoption issues with such a standard.

Now that LightPeak is ready, the next iteration of the Mac Mini will be a comprehensive upgrade - should allow Apple to release a stackable Mini, where each component can be upgraded independent of the others - for instance, you can dynamically add hard disk space, graphics cards, audio cards, TV Tuner cards, etc. to the system - without having to open the box.

Apple is likely to license this to interested third party vendors, so that we will see an entire ecosystem of components that can be used to extend the functionality of your computer. Of course, there will be very strict specs on appearance, dimensions, electrical standards, etc - to maintain a streamlined look across all these components.

Intel's implementation of LightPeak would be 10Gbps over cable, while Apple will likely target 100Gbps - because there will not be any long cables - these components will be hardware interlocked to each other, so there wont be the same issues that Intel has to deal with over cables, etc. While the basic LightPeak technology would be licensed from Intel, Apple's proprietary connector would be specifically licensed directly from Apple.

This is also one of the reasons why Apple removed the external power brick and moved it inside the Mac Mini. This would allow AC power to be daisy chained to all the components directly across the same hardware connector - and so there wont be any external power cables, bricks, etc.

Would be the best possible implementation of an upgradeable computer, and even your grandma would find it easy to upgrade such a system. And Apple would still be able to retain its margins because all the components would involve a licensing fee to Apple.

This is the sort of model that can destroy the PC industry as it exists currently! Of course, such an implementation would be massively patent protected by Apple.
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post #43 of 50
2/23/11 at 8:06am
This is disappointing. I was looking forward to the leap to fiber.
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post #44 of 50
2/23/11 at 8:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by allmypeople View Post

FiNALLY!

One connection type to RULE! Please catch on and make our lives easier!!!!!!!!!! Die, die, die, hurry up and die: USB, Firewire (i still love you), 30pin connector, Display port, HDMI,etc!

Please!!!

not gonna happen

trying to come up with a connector to replace them all actually only adds another connector to the list. There's too much invested in hdmi, for example, for it to just go away
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post #45 of 50
2/23/11 at 11:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonamac View Post

Alas the past 10 years have been a morass of patent litigation. It's not always clear what a patent will actually mean on the ground these days. MagSafe may be patented but it'd be interesting to see what would actually happen if someone decided to create their magnetic power cord. It's such a simple idea, it might not be a safe patent (I'm no lawyer, just pondering). To take it to the nth degree (I thought I'd best leave the 'th' in there as I have chewed all my lead for the day), you couldn't really patent the wheel because it's just too obvious.


"It's such a simple idea" -- really?!?

Well of course it is, which is why it took roughly some 20+ years of mobile computers being on the market for someone at Apple to come up with that simple idea?

And I'd also like to know why the inventors and manufacturers of portable radios, record players, boomboxes, etc. that go way back before the "luggable" computers first came on the market also never bothered to think of "such a simple idea."


And I'm sure the ancient Egyptians would agree that the wheel is such an obvious invention. Well except for the fact that they were too busy building the pyramids to come up with the idea...
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post #46 of 50
2/23/11 at 12:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpamSandwich View Post

Light Peak for ALL Apple products, please. I'd love to have the iPhone and iPods update in seconds for once.

Apple's committed to the One Charger effort in the EU. And that's centred around micro-USB. If they do put this on the iPhone, iPods and the iPad, I wonder how their committment to that effort will be impacted.

That said, still excited to see this technology enter the mainstream (well hopefully...).
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post #47 of 50
2/23/11 at 12:45pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jetz View Post

Apple's committed to the One Charger effort in the EU. And that's centred around micro-USB. If they do put this on the iPhone, iPods and the iPad, I wonder how their committment to that effort will be impacted.

That said, still excited to see this technology enter the mainstream (well hopefully...).

One connection to rule them all, and with Light Peak, bind them.

Proud AAPL stock owner.

 

GOA

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Proud AAPL stock owner.

 

GOA

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post #48 of 50
2/23/11 at 4:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by tmhisey View Post

"It's such a simple idea" -- really?!?

Well of course it is, which is why it took roughly some 20+ years of mobile computers being on the market for someone at Apple to come up with that simple idea?

And I'd also like to know why the inventors and manufacturers of portable radios, record players, boomboxes, etc. that go way back before the "luggable" computers first came on the market also never bothered to think of "such a simple idea."


And I'm sure the ancient Egyptians would agree that the wheel is such an obvious invention. Well except for the fact that they were too busy building the pyramids to come up with the idea...

A truly stupid comment.

Ever heard of chariots? http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/chariots.htm

They role remarkably well with their triangular wheels!!

Just because something's simple, doesn't mean it doesn't need someone to think of it or be the first to implement it when the technology reaches a level where it can made practically and affordably. My contention was merely that perhaps it's too simple for someone to effectively protect a patent covering the broad notion of magnetism in a cable connector.

Use the forums to discuss, not attack anyone with anything but reverence for all things bearing the Apple.
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post #49 of 50
2/23/11 at 4:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by macarena View Post

Back in 2008, there was a lot of clamor for an "upgradeable" box from Apple that was cheaper than the Mac Pro. Also, there was a significant delay in releasing the updated Mac Mini. At that time, there was some speculation in the market that Apple would do "upgradeable right" - and come out with a stackable Mac Mini, which would allow components to be purchased and added at any point in time, with a proprietary bus architecture allowing all these components to interface with the main system at extremely high speeds.

However, back then such a bus architecture did not exist - because Intel had not yet released LightPeak. The spec was ready, but the commercial implementation was not ready. So Apple went ahead and released the Mac Mini - smaller, sleeker, and unibody. And Apple backed away from a proprietary standard, because of the costs, and adoption issues with such a standard.

Now that LightPeak is ready, the next iteration of the Mac Mini will be a comprehensive upgrade - should allow Apple to release a stackable Mini, where each component can be upgraded independent of the others - for instance, you can dynamically add hard disk space, graphics cards, audio cards, TV Tuner cards, etc. to the system - without having to open the box.

Apple is likely to license this to interested third party vendors, so that we will see an entire ecosystem of components that can be used to extend the functionality of your computer. Of course, there will be very strict specs on appearance, dimensions, electrical standards, etc - to maintain a streamlined look across all these components.

Intel's implementation of LightPeak would be 10Gbps over cable, while Apple will likely target 100Gbps - because there will not be any long cables - these components will be hardware interlocked to each other, so there wont be the same issues that Intel has to deal with over cables, etc. While the basic LightPeak technology would be licensed from Intel, Apple's proprietary connector would be specifically licensed directly from Apple.

This is also one of the reasons why Apple removed the external power brick and moved it inside the Mac Mini. This would allow AC power to be daisy chained to all the components directly across the same hardware connector - and so there wont be any external power cables, bricks, etc.

Would be the best possible implementation of an upgradeable computer, and even your grandma would find it easy to upgrade such a system. And Apple would still be able to retain its margins because all the components would involve a licensing fee to Apple.

This is the sort of model that can destroy the PC industry as it exists currently! Of course, such an implementation would be massively patent protected by Apple.

Try to avoid wording speculation as if it were factual information to which you were privy.

You should also be aware that PCIe is capable of LightPeak speeds. That was never the problem.
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post #50 of 50
2/23/11 at 5:22pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sheilae View Post

How 20th century!

What happened to Ultra-Wideband?

Power needs to get to the device somehow. So if you need cables anyway, why not run data on them?
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