Intel’s Thunderbolt initiative coming soon on a PC near you

Acer, Asustek, Lenovo expected to begin adopting Thunderbolt this spring and are expected to initially have this connector on their proposed ultrabook devices. All three PC makers are expected to introduce new Ultrabooks incorporating Intel's Ivy Bridge platform with support for Thunderbolt.

Intel's next Ivy Bridge chip platform, the successor to Sandy Bridge, includes native support for USB 3.0, but does not support Thunderbolt across the board. Support for Thunderbolt increases the cost of PCs by more than $20.

As a result, Thunderbolt is only expected to be adopted among high-end notebooks or desktops in 2012. The new Intel-driven standard for PCI Express data paired with DisplayPort video is however expected to be fully standardized by 2013.

Apple aggressively rolled out support for Thunderbolt last year, adding it to all of its Mac product lines apart from the Mac Pro, which already has PCI Express slots. Thunderbolt hard drives and other devices have started to trickle into the market behind Apple's own Thunderbolt Display, with docks and external PCIe slot enclosures being shown at CES last month.

HP states that it doesn’t see the value proposition of the Thunderbolt Technology and intends to exclusively support USB 3.0.

DigiTimes reported Tuesday that Thunderbolt and its 10Gbps data connection speed could "greatly affect" adoption of the competing USB 3.0 port in the future. It said that in addition to Apple, which added Thunderbolt to its latest line of MacBook Pros, Sony is also said to be considering adopting the technology into its high-end notebooks.

Last Spring, Intel publicly said it planned to support USB 3.0 alongside Thunderbolt. But sources reportedly said that Intel is simply hedging its bets by adding USB 3.0 support to its next-generation chips, code-named "Ivy Bridge."
"Sources believe Intel's strategy of adopting both technologies into its next generation products is to minimize the risks of placing all the eggs into one basket," the report said.

People in the PC industry reportedly believe that USB 3.0 is a "transitional product" with legacy support for older USB devices. Thunderbolt, on the other hand, is viewed as the true next-generation successor.

Formerly code-named "Light Peak," Thunderbolt has data transfer speeds that are 20 times faster than the current market standard, USB 2.0. Thunderbolt's 10Gbps speeds are also twice as fast as the USB 3.0 specification.
For comparison, a FireWire 800 port is 800Mbps, while an Express Card slot has bandwidth of 2.5Gbps.

Thunderbolt's speeds are accomplished with copper wire, though previous versions of Light Peak were demonstrated with fiber optic strands allowing speeds of up to 100Gbps. Thunderbolt was co-developed by Intel and Apple.

HP giving up on WebOS…

I never saw much hope in the WebOS devices succeeding for HP anyway but they sure dropped this product quicker than I expected. I am now seeing this tablet available from BestBuy on Fire Sales for $99.99 and $149.99 respectively for the 16 and 32GB versions. I was half tempted to pick up the 16GB version but thankfully thought better of throwing money down the drain like that. I really don’t need another museum piece.

Adding to HP’s woes is their discussion of spinning off their consumer PC business as well because of the low profitability. I have read that their margin is a low 5.7%.

Take a look at these links to learn more:

• Hewlett-Packard gives up on webOS - GigaOM — Tech News, Analysis and Trends
• HP will 'discontinue operations for webOS devices', may spin off Personal Systems Group – Engadget
• HP washing its hands of webOS: discontinues tablets, Pre phones - Ars Technica

HP Announces HP TouchPad Availability for United States, Europe and Canada

Product Announcement: June 9

The HP TouchPad should be available Starting tomorrow July 1. It will be coming to mixed reviews with some touting it’s great multi-tasking capabilities and support for Flash as among its biggest assets. It will be available in 16GB and 32GB version for $499.99 and $599.99 respectively. However, without the add-on support from App developers I question whether this product is or will be a good buy. HP announced that it will be partnering with AT&T to introduce a connected version of HP TouchPad later this summer.

Optional accessories for HP TouchPad include the HP Touchstone Charging Dock, the HP TouchPad Wireless Keyboard and the HP TouchPad Case (sold separately). Speaking of accessories, that is another thing that we may not see for a long time for this product. Third Party manufacturers will probably wait to see how many of the these units actually make it into consumer’s hands before ramping up to product compatible add-on products.

It will be interesting to see in the next few months what happens but I don’t think HP’s Name is enough to cause the industry to jump on board as quickly as you would see an Apple product gain support.

More information about HP TouchPad, including product features and specs, is available at www.hpwebos.com/us/products/pads/touchpad.

Laptops with Spill-Proof Keyboards

HP is finally joining the ranks of manufacturer’s that will be providing a laptop with a keyboard drain. This is something that other manufacturers, notably Lenovo, have been building into their notebooks for years. How simple is is to provide drain holes designed to allow the flow of liquid back out of you keyboard if you accidentally spill liquid into it.

One thing that has been mentioned on the Lenovo design is to not tilt the laptop until it has completed the draining process. If you tilt the notebook, you will run the chance of shorting out the machine. Just turn it off and wait. You will want to put some absorbing material underneath especially if you are resting on service that could be damaged by liquid, or you could just move it to the sink!

While this design is great, the long term result of the spill can still be stickiness and reduced function because of that. At least you haven’t burned out the system…

The new HP unit’s launch will be coinciding with the release of Windows 7, so expect to see them become available after October 22nd. Prices will start around $799. The models to look for are the 5445b and 6545b.