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What the hell is up with Thunderbolt accessories?


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What the hell is up with Thunderbolt accessories?
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Ryan
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Promise Land of Trustafarians
 
2012-08-22, 22:47

For the first time since I started using a Mac I find myself without a Firewire port. Since I've always had FW to fall back on I haven't paid any attention to Thunderbolt until today as I'm staring at my two ancient Macally drive enclosures cursing Apple for charging $29 for their Thunderbolt-to-Firewire adapter.

Also, why is it that only Apple seems to make any of this stuff? None of the usual suspects—from my research—have really gotten into the Thunderbolt game. I expect Apple to charge a lot for these sorts of things which is why I've always gone third-party in the past. I appear to have lost that option.

I can't find a *single* manufacturer of barebones Thunderbolt HDD enclosures, just a few insanely high-priced units with their own drives.

Firewire accessories were always more expensive than their USB brethren. Smaller market, higher power/computing requirements on the device itself. I understood *why* those items had a premium. Does anyone have an explanation for the a) ridiculous price and b) utter lack of options when it comes to Thunderbolt? Hasn't Apple been using this for about a year now? Is there something fundamental about Thunderbolt that causes these high prices?

In the end I'll just drive to the Apple Store tomorrow and shell out for the adapter since I need to restore my old files from Time Machine but I'm a bit perplexed as to why Thunderbolt appears be a big step backwards in terms of options for the end user.

That said, I'm perfectly willing to accept the explanation that I totally overlooked some treasure trove of TB drive enclosures. Any takers?
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Maciej
M AH - ch ain saw
 
Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-08-22, 23:04

I think its mostly because manufacturers have to buy controllers from Intel, and Intel's Thunderbolt controllers are still pretty expensive.
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PB PM
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Join Date: Oct 2005
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2012-08-23, 00:42

It also has something to do with the fact that third party venders didn't have access to Thunderbolt until this spring, when Intel finally released a chipset to support it. A few high end PC boards have it now, and most venders have said they are going to support TB down the road.

If you look around Apple is shipping the cheapest TB cables, at $50 vs $60-70 from other venders (so much for the Apple tax).
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Matsu
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Join Date: May 2004
 
2012-08-23, 09:40

This is why I refuse to buy a new Mac without USB3. Don't get me wrong, I think TB is superior in almost every way, but USB3 will probably have better availability and support for most day to day things.

.........................................

Last edited by Matsu : 2012-08-24 at 09:37. Reason: Duh, TB not FW...
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Ryan
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Join Date: May 2004
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2012-08-23, 09:44

Thanks guys. I figured there was an explanation.

I'll pick up an adapter today but I sure would love to grab a few Thunderbolt enclosures...
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PB PM
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2012-08-23, 10:18

There are no stand alone TB enclosures (driverless), right now and I haven't seen any sign of any coming soon. TB is better for multi-drive RAID enclosures, which is generally what is out right now. There are some single drive options, but the prices are way to high to justify getting at this point.
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