Originally Posted By: honestone
Originally Posted By: joemikeb
Originally Posted By: artie505
I suspect that it's just plain expensive technology to begin with, and since it's proprietary Apple property it's probably extremely over-priced, particularly from non-Apple vendors.

Thunderbolt is NOT an Apple proprietary product. Like USB it is an Intel product. In fact Thunderbolt 3 and USB C (used on the new MacBook) use the same connector. Apple has always been an early adopter of new technologies and that inevitably has implications for cost and risk. I am confident that by the time PCs have adopted Thunderbolt and prices have come down, Apple will have moved on to still newer technologies. If you want cheap, buy Dell not Apple.


Thanks for the clarification. Yet, since Apple is the only company that has, so far, adapted it, it will remain expensive. Interesting that no other companies (that I am aware of) adapted Firewire 800, which was expensive for some time. Wonder if Thunderbolt will follow the same pattern?

DisplayPort is extremely common among the PCs where I work. Perhaps 85% or more of the 3,500 windows boxes here are attaching to their monitor with the full-size displayport connector. (looks a lot like a locking HDMI) But not thunderbolt, not yet. The PC laptops are using mini displayport though, when they don't use HDMI or mini HDMI. So many video connectors! And HDMI / Displayport don't adapt easily either. (finding a way to hook an AppleTV to a projector with a DisplayPort connector is a pain!)

I work for the Department of Redundancy Department