News - PCI Express to take on Thunderbolt

[HEXUS]

New 32GBit PCI-E standard proposed.

Read more.

[baius]

Why do PCI-E feel the need to do this? If it's for licensing revenue, then wouldn't they still get some from ThunderBolt? I thought that was said to use PCIe Technology?

I see fragmentation of standards for peripherals as being a bad thing, personally.

[Biscuit]

i agree although i think i prefer the idea of a PCI-E standard over thunderbolt. Could this finally lead to PCI-E external graphics cards for laptops?

[baius]

Could this finally lead to PCI-E external graphics cards for laptops?

Can TB not manage this?

[Biscuit]

I think sony have already used TB for this however it only works with its specific laptop. I would have thought it would be easier for manufacturers to build on a PCI-E standard if non-proprietary cards start coming out.

[Funkstar]

Can TB not manage this?

All Thunderbolt does it add a wrapper protocol to PCIe and DisplayPort, adds the ability to daisy chain devices and a few other bits and bobs. Why not just miss out the middle man and make a native PCIe interface that can match Thunderbolt and bypass the licensing, restrictions and everything else that comes from the Apple and Intel joint venture?

Put Thunderbolt -> PCIe bridge on the end of a cable, plug any existing PCIe graphics card (or any other card) into it and it will work just as though it was inside the system as the Thunderbolt interface is transparent to the host OS.

[chrestomanci]

All Thunderbolt does it add a wrapper protocol to PCIe and DisplayPort, adds the ability to daisy chain devices and a few other bits and bobs. Why not just miss out the middle man and make a native PCIe interface that can match Thunderbolt and bypass the licensing, restrictions and everything else that comes from the Apple and Intel joint venture?

Sounds sensible.

Apple managed to kill firewire back when it first came out 15 years ago by charging to much for licensing and slapping trade mark restrictions all over it, and thanks to them the technical inferior USB won the standards war (a bit like VHS over Betamax). It now looks like they will be doing the same for Thunderbolt. I read recently that they want $50 for a bog standard cable!

Put Thunderbolt -> PCIe bridge on the end of a cable, plug any existing PCIe graphics card (or any other card) into it and it will work just as though it was inside the system as the Thunderbolt interface is transparent to the host OS.

That has technically been possible since ExpressCard came out 5 years ago.

The reason it has not relay happened (at least for graphics) is that under windows the graphics card drivers are embedded so deeply into the kernel that it is not possible to hot-plug a graphics card and switch displays while the computer is running.

(Laptops that have two graphics chips internally, one for power saving, and one for games, load both sets of drivers on boot, and switch outputs between them.)

I have seen other external express card devices. A few years back someone posted to hexus a PCI break out box that had space for 4 PCI cards, that you could plug into your laptop via an ExpressCard on the end of a cable.

[Funkstar]

That's all true, but I think all the external boxes that have been released have been proprietary and very limited by cable length, flexibility, etc.

I presume this standard would be a simple and relatively inexpensive cable to connect it all together.

[chrestomanci]

I have seen other external express card devices. A few years back someone posted to hexus a PCI break out box that had space for 4 PCI cards, that you could plug into your laptop via an ExpressCard on the end of a cable.

I found the link to the break out box:

http://www.virtuavia.eu/shop/express...ox-p29858.html

[baius]

All Thunderbolt does it add a wrapper protocol to PCIe and DisplayPort, adds the ability to daisy chain devices and a few other bits and bobs. Why not just miss out the middle man and make a native PCIe interface that can match Thunderbolt and bypass the licensing, restrictions and everything else that comes from the Apple and Intel joint venture?

Your argument is most compelling. You've changed my mind.

chrestomanci, that breakout box is really cool.

Trouble, methinks, is that the new laptops I see seem to be skipping the expresscard slot for the lofty goal of sleekness; form over function, as it were. However, the laptops I look at constitute the lower end of the market - price-wise. I get to £700 and I stop looking, as clients usually can't "afford" any higher.

[Funkstar]

I've only ever briefly used the PCMCIA and then the ExpressCard slots in my last three or four laptops. My netbook has an ExpressCard slot and I once or twice used it for a gigabit ethernet card to fill the drive up with videos and music. Never really used it since. Just use the built in ethernet and let is copy data over night.