Not waiting on Intel to launch its Ivy Bridge line-up, HIDevolution.com has went ahead and put up a pre-order page for the ASUS G55VW-DS71 gaming laptop which is powered by the Core i7-3610M processor. Beside packing a 3rd-generation Core chip, ASUS' new ROG-branded mobile machine features a 15.6-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) display, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660M 2 GB graphics card, up to 16 GB of RAM, and up to three storage drives (HDD, HHD, SSD options are available).

The G55VW-DS71 also has Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, an 8-in-1 card reader, a 2.0 megapixel webcam, a HDMI output, a Thunderbolt port, one USB 3.0 connector, and an 8-cell (5200 mAh / 75 Whr) battery. ASUS' laptop runs Windows 7 (Home Premium or Ultimate) and starts at $1,475.

ASUS has plans to give several of its Z77 and H77 chipsets-based motherboards support for Thunderbolt I/O by means of an optional add-on card. Several of currently-launched ASUS 7-series chipset motherboards feature a header marked "TB_HEADER", which lets the motherboard interface with the Thunderbolt I/O add-on card. This header most likely transmits the motherboard's DisplayPort link (from the Flexible Display Interface) to the Thunderbolt I/O card. The card itself is likely based on Intel's 2-channel "Cactus Ridge" Thunderbolt controller, and connects to the system bus over PCI-Express 2.0 x4. ASUS motherboards supporting the optional Thunderbolt add-on card with the TB_HEADER include Maximus V Gene, P8Z77-V Deluxe, P8Z77-V Pro, P8Z77-V, Sabertooth Z77, P8H77-V, and P8H77-M Pro. The Thunderbolt I/O card should be available starting April 27.

Matrox Graphics Inc. today announced the launch of the DualHead2Go Digital Mac Edition (ME) external multi-display adapter, designed specifically for use with Mac systems. The DualHead2Go Digital ME, encased in a small, silver box connects to the Thunderbolt port or Mini DisplayPort video output of Mac notebooks or desktops and drives two external DVI displays each at a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1200. This easy-to-use solution, at an MRSP of $179.00 USD, is the ideal multi-display adapter for any Mac user looking to expand their desktop to see more and do more.

DualHead2Go Digital ME comes bundled with Matrox PowerDesk desktop management software that lets users configure their multi-display setups and easily maximize an application per screen. In addition, the new Desktop Divider feature enables users to further customize their desktop space and improve work flow by allowing displays to be divided into smaller sections, in each of which a program can be opened and maximized. DualHead2Go Digital ME is also fully High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) compliant and permits users to view copy-protected content on HDCP-enabled displays.

Taking a giant leap for "Mac-Kind," G-Technology is now shipping its 8 TB G-RAID with Thunderbolt drive - the extremely fast and highest-capacity, two-drive, RAID 0 external drive in the world. Incorporating 10 gigabit per second (Gbps) Thunderbolt technology by Intel and two 4 TB, 7200 RPM Deskstar hard drives, the new G-RAID with Thunderbolt drive sets a new capacity and performance standard for RAID storage.

Aimed at the professional audio/video (A/V) market, the G-RAID with Thunderbolt drive delivers blazing speed and massive capacity, helping Thunderbolt-enabled laptops and desktops morph into full-fledged video editing workstations. It features two Thunderbolt ports, enabling the connection of up to six Thunderbolt peripherals such as additional G-RAID drives, a high-resolution display and professional video capture devices. The G-RAID with Thunderbolt drive delivers up to 280 MB/sec sustained throughput for handling multi-stream compressed HD workflows, including REDCODE, DVCPro HD, XDCAM HD and ProRes 422. It can also transfer a full-length, high-definition, internet-ready H.264 movie in less than a minute.

HighPoint Technologies, Inc., an industry leading Storage HBA and RAID solutions manufacturer, will unveil a new series of Thunderbolt based Storage Controller Boards at the NAB 2012 tradeshow. This ground-breaking new product series aggregates Intel's revolutionary I/O technology, with HighPoint's extensive SAS, SATA and USB 3.0 design and manufacturing expertise, delivering innovative, highly versatile development platforms for storage solution providers.

Thunderbolt's revolutionary connectivity technology, presents great opportunities for HighPoint and solution providers the world over. For 2012, we are expanding our comprehensive product portfolio to include a new series of Thunderbolt based Storage expansion and controller boards.

MSI, the manufacturer of World's fastest mainboard and graphics card is happy to announce the availability of the new MSI Intel 7 Series mainboards for the LGA1155 socket, powered by MSI's renowned Military Class III components.

The new Intel Z77, H77 and B75 chipset based mainboards support both 2nd Generation Intel Core CPUs as well as the upcoming 3rd Generation Intel Core CPUs. Built on this basis of Quality components and technology the MSI Intel 7 series mainboards have overclocking features to match with OC Genie II. Not only does OC Genie II enhance CPU, Memory and hard-drive speed but now, in combination with Lucid Virtu MVP, also Discrete DirectX 11 Graphics performance can be boosted! Well-known for its power saving hardware features such as Active Phase Switching (APS) and DrMOS II, MSI Intel 7 series mainboards can combine its performance with best-in-class power saving. MSI's Intel 7 series mainboards are truly one of the most well-rounded mainboards ever created and will surely find its way in many PC builds.

Today LaCie announced the availability of the eSATA Hub Thunderbolt Series, its latest peripheral featuring Thunderbolt technology. This product delivers a solution for connecting eSATA hard drives to Thunderbolt-compatible Macs, making them backwards compatible. The eSATA Hub also boosts transfer speeds and even allows users to daisy chain with other Thunderbolt peripherals.

Give New Life to eSATA Drives

Consumers with new Macs who are interested in getting the best possible speeds with their existing multi-interface drives are no longer limited to USB or FireWire connections. In addition, businesses, photographers or other creative professionals that have upgraded their Macs to versions without ExpressCard/34 slots are now able to capitalize on their previous investment in eSATA hard drives.

ASUS-subsidiary ASMedia made its mark as a vendor of high cost/performance 2-port USB 3.0 SuperSpeed host controllers, 2-port SATA 6 Gb/s controllers, and PCIe-PCI bridge chips, with good adoption by PC motherboard vendors. The company now eyes the emerging Thunderbolt-IO market. Thunderbolt will begin seeing adoption by the PC market starting this year, and the adoption of the interconnect by data storage device manufacturers, particularly of fast external storage, for use in the content-creation industry.

Thunderbolt host controllers are yet to receive widespread adoption due to three factors:

• Cost of the controller. Intel is yet to bring its Thunderbolt host controllers down to an a reasonable price.
• Deficiency of alternative controller providers, high scope for price-reductions the moment there are alternative providers
• A looming transition from Thunderbolt copper-electric to fiber-optic medium, which could make current 10 Gb/s-over-copper standard obsolete

ASMedia could address at least two factors here, it could provide an alternative to Intel-made controllers, and could offer a competitive price (or at least price-performance ratio). ASMedia president Lin Che-Wei told DigiTimes that his company will be ready with Thunderbolt-compatible SATA 6 Gb/s controllers, by the second half of 2012.

Intel has reportedly discontinued one of its "Cactus Ridge" family of Thunderbolt controllers, the L3510H. This controller has relatively high TDP of 3.4W, and a low-power part in the same family, the L3510L, already exists. The L3510L has a slightly lower TDP, at 2.8W. The difference may not seem much, but could impact notebook battery life. The L3510 "Cactus Ridge" family consists of 4-channel Thunderbolt controllers, with smaller package-size (12 x 12 mm) compared to the 82523EF "Light Ridge" controller family, with its larger (15 x 15 mm) package sizes. The final samples of "Cactus Ridge" chips will reach customers only by mid-April.

Towards the end of 2012, Intel will alter Thunderbolt specification from a copper wire-based interconnect to a fiber-optic or photonic interconnect. An analysis by DigiTimes which takes into account information by industry sources, states that Thunderbolt will become standard for PCs only in 2013, and that too the optical one. This comes even as copper wire-based Thunderbolt is beginning to feature on some high-end socket LGA1155 motherboards based on Intel 7-series chipset.

Thunderbolt will get its big push in 2013, when the port will be standard on mainstream desktops and notebooks by OEM majors such as Lenovo, and several PC motherboard vendors, such as ASUS. The optical Thunderbolt IO, apart from allowing greater cable-lengths than 6 m (a limitation of copper-wire Thunderbolt), could push bandwidth greater than 10 Gbps, as a possible incentive for the industry to facilitate the transition to the optical variant.

Western Digital, the world's leader in external storage solutions, is now shipping its first external hard drive with Thunderbolt technology - the My Book Thunderbolt Duo dual-drive storage system.

The new My Book Thunderbolt Duo provides professionals and Mac enthusiasts with five primary areas of performance, double-safe data protection and flexibility; ultra-fast data transfer rates for greater work efficiency; a 4 TB/6 TB large-capacity; customized dual-drive storage system with RAID 0, 1 and JBOD options; customer serviceable drives; and dual Thunderbolt ports for daisy-chaining multiple My Book Thunderbolt Duo devices or other peripherals.

Intel's 10 Gbps Thunderbolt IO was originally pitched to be a photonic (fiber-optic) data interconnect, when it was codenamed "Lightpeak". The company managed to achieve acceptable, and comparable bandwidths over copper wire, and hence the electronic variant of the interconnect was introduced to the market in February, 2011. The copper-wire version of Thunderbolt can sustain 10 Gbps bandwidths only up to a distance of 6 meters, it was still favoured probably because electronic physical-layer PHYs are cheaper to produce than photonic ones, and that electronic cables can also transmit power (10W of it).

The fiber optic version of Thunderbolt is still taking shape, and Intel believes optical cables for Thunderbolt could be out in 2012. The fiber optic cable loses the ability to transmit power, but can sustain high bandwidths over greater distances, "tens of meters," enabling longer cables. Intel did not give out a tentative date for the launch of optical Thunderbolt, but it could be linked to several other developments, such as the propagation of PCI-Express 3.0, which provides a generous 2000 MB/s per lane of system bandwidth.

At last, we're getting to see visuals of MSI's top LGA1155 motherboard based on Intel Z77 chipset, the Z77A-GD80, featuring Intel's Thunderbolt interconnect. Thunderbolt is a unified interconnect that provides 10 Gb/s of raw bus bandwidth to connected devices, and passes through digital display. The connector itself resembles mini-DisplayPort. On the Z77A-GD80, the Thunderbolt port is located below a D-Sub connector. Naturally, is passes both 10 Gb/s Thunderbolt (which can be daisy-chained through multiple bandwidth-hungry devices), and display relayed from Intel processor-integrated graphics. Lucid VirtuMVP lets you harness the pixel-crunching power of your favourite discrete graphics card over this port, as well.

Germany-based TV and video solutions provider Elgato has today announced that it begun rolling out its CES 2012-unveiled Thunderbolt SSDs. Measuring 83 x 21 x 131 mm, these portable solid state drives feature a rock-solid metal enclosure, they include a Thunderbolt port (for both power and data delivery), and offer transfer speeds of up to 270 MB/s.

The Thunderbolt SSD line includes 120 GB and 240 GB models priced at $430 / 400 Euro and $700 / 650 Euro, respectively.

GIGABYTE today introduced an extraordinary lineup of computers that are redefining mobility and powerful performance. The U2442V is a sleek and stunning 14" Ultrabook that provides fantastic performance with a 3rd generation Intel Core i5/i7 ULV processor, while the U2442N features the same incredible form factor, but has a powerful 3rd generation Intel Core i5/i7 standard voltage processor. Both models feature an excellent NVIDIA GeForce GPU, which provides remarkable graphics performance for multimedia and games.

Other models to be introduced include the P2542G, which is a 15.6" powerful gaming notebook with an exciting race car design; and the Q2542N, an excellent 15.6" mainstream notebook that delivers terrific versatility. Also to be showcased at CeBIT 2012 is the S1081, a 10.1" powerful business slate; the Booktop T1132N, an 11.6" revolutionary 3-in-1 notebook, tablet and desktop; the Booktop M2432, a sleek 14" notebook that provides desktop graphics performance through its unique docking station; and the AC21, an all-in-one PC that simplifies the desktop experience.

Intel "Lynx Point" 8-series chipset, which will form the foundation of 4th Generation Core processors in the LGA1150 package, codenamed "Haswell", was detailed in a leaked company slide. A slightly older report this week focused on Haswell chips having DirectX 11.1 graphics, and a reorganized display output logic that sees digital display outputs being wired to the processor package, while analog display outputs being routed to the chipset. This chipset talks to the processor's embedded graphics controller over a slightly less functional Flexible Display Interface (FDI).

Lynx Point chipset is a platform controller hub (PCH), much like all the Intel client-platform chipsets released since P55. A crude way to define its function would be to call it a "glorified southbridge", which handles all the connectivity of the system, while lacking the main PCI-Express root complex of the system to which graphics cards are ideally connected, as that's relocated to the CPU package. The PCH does have a narrower 8-lane PCIe hub, but to wire out x1 and x4 expansion slots, and onboard controllers. The Lynx Point chipset connects to the processor primarily over DMI, although the slide doesn't detail the DMI bandwidth. Most likely, it's similar to Cougar Point's 4 GB/s. Lynx Point also lacks a supplementary 4 GB/s PCIe link from the processor that's found on X79 chipset.

LaCie is excited to announce availability of the 2big Thunderbolt Series. With speeds up to 327MB/s, the Thunderbolt interface delivers speeds three times faster than FireWire 800. For data transfer gurus, that means 1TB of data - that's nearly 235,000 MP3's, 750 iTunes movies, or more than 450,000 photos* - can be transferred in less than an hour! Furthermore, you can daisy chain multiple 2big Thunderbolt devices to increase overall performance.

Seagate started shipping its GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter accessory. The gadget lets you connect a SATA drive (HDD or SSD) to a host machine over 10 Gbps Thunderbolt interface, completely eliminating any bottleneck (USB 3.0 bottlenecks SATA 6 Gb/s). It works by simply sliding and locking in a SATA device to its industry-standard SATA power+data interface, and plugging the adapter to the host using a Thunderbolt cable. The Seagate GoFlex Thunderbolt Adapter is priced at US $99.99.

Western Digital, the world's leader in external storage solutions, will demonstrate the ultra-fast data transfer rates of its upcoming My Book Thunderbolt Duo dual-drive storage system at the Macworld/iWorld show (booth #401). Thunderbolt technology will dramatically improve workflow speed and efficiencies for enthusiasts and professionals dealing with large digital files such as video, audio and still photos.

Thunderbolt technology is capable of producing up to 10 gigabits per second of throughput on each of two channels in both directions. Users can experience very fast read/write speeds especially during applications such as video editing, 3D rendering, and other intense graphics projects. To put Thunderbolt's speed into perspective, HD media creators will be able to transfer a standard size full-length HD movie in less than 30 seconds, or backup an entire year of continuous music (approx. 8,600 hours of music) in roughly 10 minutes.

AMD's competitive technology to Intel Thunderbolt, called "Lightning Bolt" (codename, marketing name may differ), surfaced at CES, where AMD was showing off its upcoming "Trinity" accelerated processing units. The technology was dissected by Anandtech, revealing exactly how AMD plans to achieve its goal of providing a much lower-cost alternative to Thunderbolt, over a similar-looking interface. While Thunderbolt is essentially PCI-Express x4 over DisplayPort, Lightning Bolt is the much more mature USB 3.0 SuperSpeed over DisplayPort. It is a single cable that combines a USB 3.0 with DisplayPort (display), and power (sourced directly from the PSU).

The part that makes it affordable is that AMD has already mastered GPU technologies that allow several displays connected to its GPUs using DisplayPort daisy-chaining; while USB 3.0 controllers are getting cheaper by the quarter. Connections of DisplayPort, USB 3.0 and power converge at a Lightning Bolt multiplex, from which the actual ports emerge. Lightning Bolt will stick to established mini-DisplayPort specifications.

AMD's next-generation accelerated processing unit (APU), codenamed "Trinity", was demonstrated at CES. Trinity will make up AMD's 2012 A-Series APU lineup, and will be designed for mainstream-thru-performance notebooks, and mainstream desktops (different standards for different form-factors). Pictured below is what its notebook-specific BGA package looks like. The package has an exposed rectangular die, with a stabilizer frame around it (like with GPUs). Notebooks' cooling assembly heat pipes make direct contact with the die. Trinity packs two Piledriver modules (an evolution of Bulldozer), and DirectX 11.1 AMD Radeon HD 7000M graphics (notebook APU) or HD 7000D (desktop APU).

Shown to the CES crowd was a mind-boggling demo. The public were first shown what appeared to be an ATX desktop connected to two monitors, one monitor running a DIRT 3 DirectX 11 game demo at high-quality settings, and another screeen revealing the APU to be running GPU-accelerated video transcoding. No discrete graphics was used, it's just the embedded HD 7000 at play/work. If that alone didn't raise a few eyebrows, the AMD representative removed the lid of the ATX desktop case to which those two monitors were connected, to reveal a 14-inch laptop inside doing all the work. And there's more - the laptop's main screen wasn't idle, it was running a high-definition video playback. Whatever synthetic benchmarks end up telling about Trinity, its real world performance does impress!You have got to watch the video after the break!

MSI showed off its upcoming socket LGA1155 motherboards based on Intel's Z77 chipset, designed to accommodate next-generation "Ivy Bridge" Core processors out of the box. Like many other motherboard manufacturers with similar motherboards on display, MSI's Z77 motherboards lack the final designs of their typically fancy-looking heatsinks over the chipset and VRM, and make do with basic ones that get the job done, and more importantly, let visitors take a look at the components in use more closely. MSI displayed two motherboards, the mid-range Z77A-GD65, and premium Z77A-GD80.

The Z77A-GD80 is designed for gaming PCs with up to two graphics cards, with a strong CPU VRM. The CPU is powered by a 14-phase VRM, complete with SFC chokes, compact DrMOS, and server-grade capacitors. There are three long PCIe slots on the board, but it appears like only two of the three are wired to the CPU, the third one to the Z77 PCH. Those two slots are PCIe 3.0 capable. SATA ports include four 6 Gb/s capable ones. The USB 3.0 front-panel header is angled like the SATA ports. Other connectivity includes Intel Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, display connections that include DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI; 8-channel HD audio, GbE, and eSATA.

German TV tuner maker Elgato has today announced an external solid state drive featuring Thunderbolt connectivity. Known simply as the Thunderbolt SSD, Elgato's drive measures 83 x 21 x 131 mm, it weights 270 grams, has a 'rock-solid' metal enclosure, and is capable of transfer speeds of up to 270 MB/s.

The Thunderbolt SSD will ship next month in 120 GB ($430) and 240 GB ($700) capacities.

On site at the Storage Visions conference in Las Vegas, the OCZ Technology Group (OCZ for short) has revealed to the world its newest portable storage solution, the Lightfoot solid state drive featuring Thunderbolt support.

Encased in a metal shell (resembling that of the OCZ Enyo), the Lightfoot makes use of a Marvell controller, is capable of transfer speeds of up to 750 MB/s and is set to be available in 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB capacities. Unfortunately OCZ didn't say when Lightfoot will ship or how much it will cost.

LaCie announced its latest peripherals featuring Thunderbolt technology today at the 2012 International CES. The new 2big Thunderbolt Series delivers speed, flexibility and capacity, while the eSATA Hub Thunderbolt Series allows users to connect external eSATA drives to their new Macs. This announcement follows the unprecedented success of LaCie's Little Big Disk Thunderbolt Series and further asserts the company's commitment to deliver high-quality products featuring Thunderbolt technology.

"LaCie is proud to offer the widest range of storage solutions featuring Thunderbolt technology," said Erwan Girard, Professional Business Unit Manager, LaCie. "These products are some of the fastest and most flexible storage solutions on the market. They will dramatically accelerate the workflow of even the most demanding digital users."