Thunderbolt is finally here! On the heels of a small software update Monday night, Apple has started selling their own $49 cable as well as Promise Pegasus R4 and R6 RAID systems available in capacities ranging from 4TB all the way up to 12TB.
Apple has quietly released a few new products to their online store Tuesday morning, but they’re big news for MacBook Pro and iMac early adopters who have been waiting for something to connect to those new Thunderbolt ports.
First up is the $49 Apple Thunderbolt Cable -- it may not be the sexiest release the company has ever pushed out, but it’s definitely a necessary one. In addition to making the connection between Thunderbolt devices, Apple says the cable “can also be used for Target Disk Mode between two Macs that support Thunderbolt” as well as for using a 2011 iMac as a display for a 2011 MacBook Pro.
Perhaps more exciting is the first appearance of RAID systems to take advantage of Thunderbolt. The Promise Pegasus comes in two flavors -- the four-bay R4 or the six-bay R6, and there are two models of each available, starting at $999 for the 4TB R4 and maxing out at $1,999 for the whopping 12TB R6. Each model features a pair of Thunderbolt ports and support for RAID 0, 1, 5, 50, 6 and 10 as well as hot-swappable bays for easy drive access.
Those prices may be a bit more than current non-Thunderbolt RAID storage systems, but that’s the cost for being on the bleeding edge of technology. So who’s ready to sink their cash into Thunderbolt and get some screaming fast storage? After all, they're all showing shipment within 24 hours...
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