Communism doesn't work because people like to own stuff - Frank Zappa
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CES: AMD shows its Lightning Bolt interface behind closed doors
CHIP DESIGNER AMD has shown off Lightning Bolt at CES, its answer to Intel's Thunderbolt interface.
AMD demonstrated its Lightning Bolt interface behind closed doors at CES as a way of transferring power, display and USB 3.0 connectivity over a single cable. According to Anandtech, Lightning Bolt will enable laptops using AMD's Trinity chipset to sport a mini-Displayport connection that serves as a Lightning Bolt interface.
Intel's Thunderbolt interface that appears in Apple's Macbook laptops was the first multi-use, single cable interface promising 10Gbit/s throughput per channel. Although Anandtech did not disclose the bandwidth of AMD's Lightning Bolt, it did say that USB 3.0 bandwidth using the interface would be lower than native USB 3.0 ports but higher than USB 2.0.
AMD claims that the Lightning Bolt multiplexor on the laptop should cost no more than $1 and a requires only a standard mini-Displayport cable with two pin changes. A break-out box that the firm claims will cost about the same as a USB 3.0 hub will act as a splitter.
Multi-use interfaces such as Intel's Thunderbolt and AMD's Lightning Bolt are attractive in mobile devices, allowing device manufacturers to reduce the number of ports needed. AMD could do itself a favour and change the name of its aggregated interface from Lightning Bolt, as it sounds like a cheap knock-off compared to Intel's interface.
AMD said its Lightning Bolt interface will not be ready for the launch of its upcoming Trinity chipset, but the chip design firm expects to release it before the end the year. µ
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""Lower speed than USB3 for a new interface is unacceptable, it's as simple as that.
You are in a competitive market and already fighting a second-best image.""
Wrong. At about 500MegaBytes/s USB 3.0 speeds are way over the speeds you will get from any non-SSD hard drive. As long it has enough bandwidth for a non-SSD hard drive to stretch its legs, say about 150MB/s it will be satisfactory. Unfortunately no hard numbers on transfer rates were mentioned in the linked article, only that it was faster that USB2.0.
There are also other things to consider, such as the upgrade to USB 3.0 was never just about higher speeds. The other very important feature of 3.0 was the MUCH lower CPU utilization compared to USB 2.0. USB 2.0 was famous for needlessly "polling" the CPU resulting in needless utilization.
One should also consider that all the current USB 3.0 chips currently on the market are made by NEC, AND unfortunately these chips have a bug that causes mass storage devices to disconnect randomly. I can personally attest to having multiple backups interrupted because of this, and it happens under both Window 7 and Ubuntu 11.04.
Love the CES coverage, but WHERE ARE THE PHOTOS OF THE BOOTH BABES? Please don't tell me the Inq has gone PC.
Lower speed than USB3 for a new interface is unacceptable, it's as simple as that.
You are in a competitive market and already fighting a second-best image.
Lightning bolt looks cool but Trinity laptop looks even beetter than previously advertised. It's all good for AMD and customers as far as I am concerned.