Thunderbolt Coming to PCs in April 2012

thunderboltDigiTimes reports that Intel has notified partners that the company will "fully release" its Thunderbolt technology in April 2012. Intel is reportedly preparing to launch Thunderbolt-supported motherboards, notebooks and desktop PCs at that time.

Intel and Apple originally partnered on the new technology which has become standard across Apple's MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini, and iMac. Digitimes reports that the cost of Thunderbolt technology is expected to drop in the second half of 2012, allowing more widespread adoption.

While Apple does offer Thunderbolt across most of its product line, the first Thunderbolt products have been limited to relatively high end devices. More widespread adoption should help drive adoption by accessory makers that will benefit both Mac and PC users that use Thunderbolt.

Intel has always said that they see both USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt as complementary technologies and plans to support both in their 2012 motherboards.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features

Tuesday May 27, 2025 9:10 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of May 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X ...
iOS 26 Mock Rainbow Feature

No iOS 19: Apple Going Straight to iOS 26

Wednesday May 28, 2025 11:56 am PDT by
With the design overhaul that's coming this year, Apple plans to rename all of its operating systems, reports Bloomberg. Going forward, iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS will be identified by year, rather than by version number. We're not going to be getting iOS 19, we're getting iOS 26. iOS 26 will be accompanied by iPadOS 26, macOS 26, tvOS 26, watchOS 26, and visionOS 26...
Whatsapp Feature

WhatsApp Teases Long-Awaited iPad App

Monday May 26, 2025 10:23 am PDT by
The popular messaging app WhatsApp has teased a long-awaited iPad app, which would be offered alongside its existing iPhone and Mac apps. The official WhatsApp account on X today reacted with an eyes emoji to a post saying that WhatsApp should release an iPad app. This could be a hint that Meta is gearing up to release WhatsApp for iPad, which has already been available for beta testing via...
WWDC 2025 Banner

WWDC is Just Two Weeks Away: Here Are the Biggest iOS 19 Rumors

Monday May 26, 2025 8:12 am PDT by
WWDC 2025 is just two weeks away as of today, with Apple's opening keynote scheduled for Monday, June 9 at 10 a.m. Pacific Time. During the keynote, Apple is expected to announce iOS 19, iPadOS 19, macOS 16, watchOS 12, tvOS 19, visionOS 3, and other software updates, along with new Apple Intelligence features. In some years, there are also hardware announcements at WWDC, but there are no...
HomePod With Screen Feature

Apple's Rumored Smart Home Hub Has Faced a Disappointing Setback

Monday May 26, 2025 7:18 am PDT by
Apple has scrapped some of the features that it had planned for its long-rumored smart home hub device, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "I'm told that Apple has pulled some bolder features from the device that could reappear in subsequent models," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter this week. However, he did not reveal any of the specific features that were pulled. Apple made...
iPhone Top Left Hole Punch Face ID Feature 2

Apple Rumored to Redesign the iPhone Every Year Through to 2027

Tuesday May 27, 2025 5:17 am PDT by
Apple is reportedly preparing to implement significant iPhone hardware redesigns each year for the next three generations. According leaks from the Chinese supply chain disclosed by Weibo user "Digital Chat Station," Apple plans to carry out a series of phased industrial design changes affecting different parts of the iPhone across three consecutive years: 2025, 2026, and 2027. The changes...
Emergency SOS via Satellite iPhone YT

Report: Apple Planned to Offer Starlink-Like Home Internet Service

Tuesday May 27, 2025 7:08 am PDT by
Apple had plans to offer a Starlink-like satellite home internet service in collaboration with Boeing, The Information reports. Starting in 2015, Apple held discussions with Boeing about "Project Eagle," a plan to launch a service to provide wireless internet services to iPhones and homes. The companies would have launched thousands of satellites into orbit around the Earth to beam internet...
iCloud General Feature Redux

Apple Raises iCloud+ Prices in Three Countries

Monday May 26, 2025 1:45 pm PDT by
Apple recently raised prices for its iCloud+ plans in Brazil, Chile, and Peru, according to a support document updated last Thursday. The table below outlines the price changes in each country. Country Old Prices New Prices Brazil 50GB: R$ 4.90 200GB: R$ 14.90 2TB: R$ 49.90 6TB: R$ 149.90 12TB: R$ 299.90 50GB: R$ ...

Top Rated Comments

gullySn0wCat Avatar
175 months ago
Finally! Hopefully we get some cheap TB gadgets soon:D
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jwdsail Avatar
175 months ago
I did a search for UltraCock (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=UltraCock), but none of the NSFW hits had anything to do with computers. ;)

Sorry 'bout that, autocorrect substituted my superhero name for the product name...
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AidenShaw Avatar
175 months ago
In the meantime ... http://www.magma.com/thunderbolt.asp

...according to your link:

In general interoperability with Windows is more straightforward than interoperability with MacOS. The MacOS driver for the PCIe card must be modified/updated to be ‘Thunderbolt Aware’. No changes to drivers are required for support under Windows.
...
There is an interoperability issue with MacOS using graphics (GPU) cards externally through Thunderbolt. Unfortunately, external graphics solutions for MacOS X do not work and we do not expect a resolution from Apple in the short term.

It looks like "the world's most advanced OS" needs some work to match the world's most popular OS.... ;)
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sushi Avatar
175 months ago
Makes sense:
* USB 3 for keyboards, mice and occasional fast transfers like thumb drives.
* Thunderbolt for monitors, and applications requiring fast external HHD/SSD times, etc.


Sounds good. :)
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AidenShaw Avatar
175 months ago
So, maybe by April 2012, someone will finally take my money and sell me an updated WiebeTech UltraCock drive dock and/or an updated NewerTech Voyager that adds Thunderbolt (with daisy chaining) to the FireWire and eSATA on the current versions.....

I did a search for UltraCock (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=UltraCock), but none of the NSFW hits had anything to do with computers. ;)
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Slix Avatar
175 months ago
I want to see cheaper hard drives and the like for Thunderbolt soon. :D
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)