Apple launches new MacBook Pros with faster processors and Thunderbolt high-speed interface

Last September, I wrote a post forecasting that Apple would announce a new generation of MacBook Pro notebook computers in Q1 2011 using Intel's Sandy Bridge-generation processors and Light Peak high-speed interface. Today, Apple did release its new generation of MacBook Pros, which use Sandy Bridge Core i5 and i7 dual- and quad-core processors. They're also the first products to implement Light Peak, which is now called Thunderbolt.

The new MacBook Pros range from $1,199 (U.S.) for the 13-inch model with a 2.3GHz Core i5 dual-core processor, to $2,499 for the 17-inch model with a 2.2GHz Core i7 quad-core processor. For the 15" and 17" models, Apple has shifted from the NVIDIA GPUs that it previously used to AMD's Radeon GPUs. The 13" model uses the improved GPU built into the latest generation of Intel's Core processors. All models are shipping as of today.

In addition, all of the new MacBook Pros implement the Thunderbolt interface, which shares the Mini DisplayPort connector for connecting external displays. As many as six devices can be daisy-chained on the Thunderbolt interface, which has a maximum throughput of 10 Gbps--twice that of USB 3.0, and more than 12 times more than FireWire 800. The Thunderbolt interface explains why Apple didn't implement USB 3.0 in last year's models and Intel didn't incorporate USB 3.0 in its chipsets for Sandy Bridge--both companies knew that a faster interface was coming.

The lack of a high-speed interface to external storage and video capture devices has been the biggest limitation when using MacBook Pros and iMacs for data-intensive applications such as video editing. Thunderbolt eliminates that problem, although it will take some time for peripheral vendors to ship Thunderbolt-compatible devices.

Update: Intel has made its own Thunderbolt announcement, with more technical details. Media creators will be excited by the list of companies that have already signed on to support the new interface:

• External hard drives and storage arrays: LaCie, Promise Technology and Western Digital
• Audio interfaces: Apogee, Avid
• External audio processors: Universal Audio
• Video interfaces: AJA, Avid and Blackmagic Design

A clarification of my Intel Sandy Bridge and Light Peak stories

I wrote two stories on Sandy Bridge, Intel's forthcoming Core architecture, and Light Bridge, Intel's new optical interconnection technology that will compete with USB 3.0, earlier this week. EETimes Magazine then reported that while Light Peak components will ship in 2010, systems using Light Peak probably won't be available until 2012, and I updated both posts. Unfortunately, I had Sandy Bridge on the brain when I made the changes, and wrote that Sandy Bridge systems won't be available until 2012. That's incorrect. Here are the facts as best I know them (today):

• Sandy Bridge versions of Intel's Core i3, i5 and i7 processors will ship in Q1 2011, and systems using them should be available shortly after--certainly by the end of Q2 2011.
  
• Light Peak components will ship some time in 2011, but Intel doesn't expect them to be integrated into systems until 2012.

Sorry for the confusion.

Intel's Sandy Bridge...and a little Mac (and Final Cut Pro) speculation

At Intel's IDF Conference, the company provided more details about its new Sandy Bridge architecture. According to Anandtech, the first Sandy Bridge processors will be shipped for performance-level (gaming and media creation) PCs in early 2011, and will migrate to entry-level PCs in 2012. One major change in Sandy Bridge is that its GPU core should provide performance easily double that of Intel's existing integrated graphics. It won't keep NVIDIA or AMD up at night, but it should be good enough to lessen the demand for add-on graphics cards in entry-level PCs.

Sandy Bridge has an integrated MPEG2, VC1 and H.264/AVC decoder that Intel claims will use only half the processor power for HD playback as existing processors. It also has a AVC encoder/transcoder that, in a demonstration, was able to transcode a three minute 1080P 30Mbps video into a 640 x 360 iPhone video in 14 seconds, at a rate of 400 fps. This gets into the performance range of high-end, GPU-accelerated encoders. Sandy Bridge will also have an enhanced Turbo Boost feature that will allow the clock speed of individual cores to be boosted beyond the normal thermal design power (the maximum safe power dissipation of the chip) for brief periods of time.

Okay. so I said something about the Mac in the title, right? According to Anandtech, Core i3, i5 and i7 processors with Sandy Bridge architectures will ship in Q1 2011. Every MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac Pro ships today with at least a Core i3. Next, let's add Light Peak, Intel's new 10Gbps optical competitor to USB 3.0. There's no support for Light Peak in the first Intel chipset announced for Sandy Bridge, but that doesn't mean that it can't be added.

Add it all together, and it sounds like the Apple notebook and iMac product lines will be fully refreshed some time next year with a combination of Sandy Bridge and Light Peak. There goes the I/O limitations of Apple's notebooks and desktops. (Apple won't have to reengineer the Mac Pro right away--they can simply offer a PCI Light Peak card.)

Let's throw one more thing into the mix. There's been a lot of rumor and speculation surrounding the next release of Apple's Final Cut Studio, with a battle between bloggers--some saying that a new version will be released no later that NAB in April 2011, and others saying that it won't happen until 2012. The "2011" school says that the new version of Final Cut Studio will have Adobe Mercury Engine-like performance, but the "2012" school says that's not possible without major architectural changes. If Apple is writing the next version of Final Cut Studio to take full advantage of the features in Sandy Bridge, it most definitely is possible in the 2011 timeframe.

So here's my semi-informed speculation: In Q1 (perhaps late Q1), we'll see the first updated MacBook Pros with Sandy Bridge and Light Peak announced. New iMacs will follow. Then, in the April timeframe, just before NAB, Apple will announce the new Final Cut Studio that takes full advantage of the new computers ("great time to upgrade!"). Deliveries of everything will occur by the end of Q2.

Is USB 3.0 a dead end? Intel thinks it is

The Intel Developer Forum is going on in San Francisco. Prior to the start of the conference, observers thought that Intel would announce support for USB 3.0, the new high-speed version of the interface, in a forthcoming chip set. Intel agreed to support the USB 3.0 specification only this summer. However, at IDF, there's precious little USB 3.0 to be seen.

Instead, Intel demonstrated its Light Peak technology on the floor. Light Peak is a fiber-optic interconnection technology that uses ports and connectors that look very similar to, but are incompatible with, USB 3.0. Light Peak has a theoretical maximum transfer speed of 10Gbps on each port, and it can be daisy-chained from device to device. At IDF, Intel demonstrated Light Peak streaming uncompressed 1080P HD to a modified Samsung HDTV at a sustained rate of almost 770MB/second (approx. 6.16Gbps.)

Intel emphasizes the protocol-neutral nature of Light Peak. HDMI, IP. DVI, SDI and other protocols can be sent over a Light Peak connection. Consider that a single Light Peak connection could carry three 3Gbps HD-SDI signals. With the right adapters, future PCs and other devices will no longer be limited in their I/O capabilities. Intel believes that it will deliver Light Peak connections capable of 100Gbps by the end of this decade.

When Intel executives were asked whether Sandy Bridge, the next-generation Intel Core architecture scheduled for delivery by mid-2011 will support either USB 3.0 or Light Peak, they demurred, but they did go on the record saying that Light Peak will be shipping in volume next year. (Update, 16 September 2010: EETimes reports this morning that while Intel plans to ship Light Peak components in 2011, it doesn't expect to see systems implementing Light Peak until 2012. Corrected--the previous version of this sentence said "Sandy Bridge.")

Does this mean that USB 3.0 is a dead end? Not necessarily, since it has a head start in the market and is backward-compatible to USB 2.0. However, if Intel does succeed in shipping Light Peak components next year in quantity, my bet is that we'll see a major move to Light Peak for high-performance connections. Gaming and media creation systems as well as servers will likely adopt Light Peak, as component costs are likely to be high for at least the first few years, and those systems can support higher end-user costs.