Apple unveils the price of 1 enclosure Thunderbolt by accident

We found exclusive leak on the British version of the Apple online sale site asserting that Pegasus R4 Promise RAID storage unit will be sold at £ 949, approximately 1 €100 applying the exchange rate. The price seems to include four hard drives for 2TB spinning at 7,200 rpm. The page has been removed from the site of Apple, but remains available in the Google cache. Today, there are such a hard disk for €130 on average, making the price of housing to more than €600, promised taking advantage of discounts on magnetic media that it delivers to its customers. In short, it remains expensive. In comparison, is found, the RAID eSATA enclosures four bays for less than €200. The price approximates therefore professional solutions high-end.

If it is difficult to predict the price in euro, Apple is never exactly following the exchange rate, we bet on a sale price of 1 €100 in Europe, mainly because Apple Store Philippines has also been victim of an identical flight and he proposed the Pegasus R4 to 68,000 ?, or £ 970 1 €100 taking into account the current exchange rate. The price of 1 €100 seems to be on the two sites.

The Pegasus R4 of Promise was presented at the presentation of the Thunderbolt by Apple last February. Promise was one of the first to have announced support this format (see "Thunderbolt: hard disks to the Nikon reflex") and it has recently shown a functional model for the last Taiwanese salon (cf. "Thunderbolt shows at the Computex"). The performance of the R4 are still unknown. The version presented on the site of Apple is that integrating hard drives. The price of the model comes with an Intel SSD was not available on the site. It will also highlight Thunderbolt devices output seems to be falling behind. They were originally announced for the second quarter of this year, but they should not go out before July.

The leak thus confirms fears concerning the price of the Thunderbolt devices. Rumors say that controllers would be very expensive and the price of 1 €100 will limit the device to professionals who really need support offering 600 MB/s to 700 MB/s to work on videos. At that price, those who do not need flows very important will prefer a NAS that provides much more functionality, such as the possibility of creating a web server or FTP and sharing more advanced on a local network.

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+ 800 MB/s for Thunderbolt disks

LaCie introduced his Little Big Disk consisting of two SSD in RAID 0 using the Thunderbolt connections. It is the first time that a builder shows the performance of its devices. Flows have reached more than 820 MB/s read and more than 350 MB/s write. SlashGear has published a video of the presentation, says the company to have reached 870 MB/s. In comparison, an identical configuration using FireWire 800 enclosures offers 80 MB/s read and 75 MB/s write.

The tests turned on a MacBook Pro Core i7 which also could turn three videos 1080p simultaneously without any slowdown. The computer was connected to two Little Big Disk, external housings of each two SSD in RAID 0. They were chained together and the last of the media was linked to a 24 inch screen.

In addition to showing an impressive level of performance than what is achieved with some Fibre Channel solutions, LaCie has attempted to clarify the public targeted by the first goods Thunderbolt. As shown in the video, the representative of the manufacturer spoke primarily mobile post-production. Instead of working on a desktop computer, it is possible to make the Professional Edition of video and editing of film directly to the scene of the shooting.

First Thunderbolt devices should be expensive. As we discovered on the site of Apple, the Pegasus R4 of Promise is expected to cost 1 €100. It is expensive for an individual and it remains expensive for a professional, especially cables are not included, but can much more easily justify the investment. While enthusiasts still dream of having better performance, little really need more than 800 MB/s read throughput. It is very likely that over time, prices will be drawn down and will be sufficiently interesting to start to be accessible to large audiences.

The Thunderbolt is presented by Apple and Intel bus that uses a Mini Display Port port. It provides a flow of 10 GB/s and power of 10 W devices (see "Thunderbolt: 10 gigabits/s, 10 W, Light Peak").

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The 1 Thunderbolt computer without Apple

Sony has presented its new ultra portable, the VAIO Z, which has the particularity to have a Variant owner of the Thunderbolt that connects the computer to Power Media Dock containing external graphics and a Blu - ray player. The Mini Display Port port, it uses a modified USB port, but the firm explains well that it is the architecture code-named Light Peak which allows to pass four lines PCI-Express (cf. "Thunderbolt: 10 gigabits/s, 10 W, Light Peak").

The idea has merit to be interesting. Sony operates the technology of Apple and Intel has different purposes. If there is doubt that it benefits the cause of the Thunderbolt, the firm tries to Light Peak in the hands of individuals, which is not the case of compatible device manufacturers today (cf. "+ 800 MB/s for Thunderbolt discs").

Power Media Dock graphic card is a Radeon HD 6650M that has 1 GB of DDR3. The station also has a HDMI port and a VGA port. It is therefore possible to connect two screens to the dock and a screen to the computer to take advantage of four monitors if one includes the laptop with a 13.3-inch diagonal and a high resolution of 1,600 x 900. Power Media Dock also contains a USB 3.0, two USB 2.0 ports and a Gigabit Ethernet port. It weighs 685 g.

The idea of using an external graphics on the Thunderbolt is interesting, but it remains limited to entry-level models coupled with small PGI. Indeed, the port carries only four lines PCI-Express 2.0, which will be insufficient to maps above range. Nevertheless, the idea to propose a media station Blu - ray only needing only the processor and the computer software to work should seduce users seeking an ultraportable, but did not want to invest in a desktop computer to fill its gaps.

The computer to which it is connected is impressive. It integrates a Core i7-2620M running at 2.7 GHz and can climb up to 3.4 GHz in TurboBoost and Windows 7 Professional 64-bit, a Raid 0 SSD 256 GB, totaling a PGI Intel HD 3000 and the traditional modules Wi - Fi n, 3 G and Bluetooth, the two conventional USB ports and a 1.3 Mpixel webcam. It weighs 1.18 kg, which is less heavy than the MacBook Air 13 inches, reaching 1.32 kg. It is also slightly thinner with a thickness of 16.65 mm, 17 mm for the Apple model. The VAIO Z has to 7 hours depending on the constructor, but it is possible the double with an external battery just attach below the aircraft. Prices remain unknown, but Sony announced in its press release that the European release is planned for the end of July.

Apple should present an update of the MacBook Air the next month. There is no doubt that Sony has just complicate the announcement of the firm to the Apple by offering an attractive alternative.

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