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Topic: Mobility

Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

Summary: The first pricing for Thunderbolt add-ons is out and it ain't pretty. Fast as it is, is it worth $200?

Robin Harris

By for Storage Bits |

The first pricing for Thunderbolt add-ons is out and it ain't pretty. Fast as it is, is it worth $200?

Pro video apps Matrox makes graphics, imaging and video add-ons: break-out boxes; codec accelerators; IP video; vision systems and add-on cards. They aren't a consumer company: their products start at about $450 for a card and go way up from there.

Fine for indie film makers but not for Miss Jan Q. Public.

Pricing They've released pricing for some Thunderbolt products. One product, a Thunderbolt adapter - Thunderbolt to the Matrox proprietary interface - is listing for $299.

For the Matrox MX02 family of video connectivity and encoding Thunderbolt-native versions: an added $200 per box.

The Storage Bits take The Thunderbolt chips are new, fast with only one large customer: Apple. Matrox is only the first vendor to announce Thunderbolt pricing. They aren't getting the best pricing from Intel.

And for the Matrox target market - video pros - the fat uplift may not matter much. The ability to run the same quad-core Mac in the field as in the studio may be savings enough.

But in the consumer market $200 is a lot of green - especially for I/O. Look at FireWire - and it was never near $200.

Yes, vendors want to earn back their engineering investment in Thunderbolt ASAP, but if they want a long-term revenue stream from the consumer market they'll have to do better than this.

Comments welcome, of course. CalDigit has a Mac PCIe eSATA/USB 3.0 card for $139. Who would pay $339 for a Thunderbolt version?

Topics: Mobility, Hardware

About

Robin Harris has been messing with computers for over 30 years and selling and marketing data storage for over 20 in companies large and small.

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55 comments
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  • As you said

    Matrox is not a "consumer company". It makes products for video "professionals" who know what they need and can pay the extra to get it and write it off as a business expense.
    oncall
    Reply Vote

    • Thunderbolt's speed is (10 + 10) + (10 + 10) = 40 Gbit/s, which miles away

      @oncall: from slow USB 3.0, so some professional people who able to buy Sony TV studio monitors for $27000 (!) of course will spend $200 more for faster products.
      DDERSSS
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      • RE: Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

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        alasiri8
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      • RE: Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

        Thank you. And now there are two products as expected. The offers have doubled. LOL. Seriously, another year will be different and will be implemented on computers. Then be interesting to see if people think it's worth the adaptation of the removed (or not). <a href="http://howtomakemoneyblogging.net/">how to make money</a>
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      • RE: Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

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      • RE: Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

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      • RE: Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

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        don't waste your money for something like this,The pricing and the tunes of why people need that kind of speed will begin to change.
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      • RE: Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

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    • RE: Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

      @oncall Asking this question in a year when all of Apple's Macs have ThunderBolt equipped and the PC manufacturers have begun would make more sense. The pricing and the tunes of why people need that kind of speed will begin to change. That's like asking a PC person back in 1998 how they're enjoying USB?
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      • RE: Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

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      • RE: Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

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    • RE: Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

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      casper01
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  • No, I would not

    but I am probably not their target market.
    Economister
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

      @Economister
      I am - at least partly - and I'll have to think hard about it.
      Robin Harris
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      • RE: Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

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      • RE: Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

        @Robin Harris
        You don't have to think hard, its pretty simple, you are the consumer, if the product meets your requirements and you think it would be useful to you then think of those $200 as an investment in some asset.
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    • RE: Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

      Thuderbolt is a Phone by HTC... calling this new technology a name already used by another popular device is just silly. It would be like calling the thing an iPhone port. Confusing... right? Sounds specialized for a certain device... I know it isn't, but normal consumers are confused as can be and who can blame them? Light Peak was at least a unique name for this thing...<a href="http://spas-sanfrancisco.com">San Francisco Spa</a>
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      • RE: Would you pay $200 for Thunderbolt?

        @lasvegasbacon

        I was able to use different type of phones already and my HTC phone is not what i like most of them. i'd still go for blackberry or iphone. But I still might check out this thunderbird. <a style="text-decoration: none; color: black;" href="http://www.pacquiaovsmarqueztickets.org/buy-pacquiao-vs-marquez-3-tickets-online/">pacquiao vs marquez 3 tickets</a> <a style="text-decoration: none; color: black;" href="http://www.pacquiaovsmarqueztickets.org/">pacquiao vs marquez tickets</a>
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