Seems like companies are unwilling to sell Thunderbolt devices at a reasonable 30% profit margin. Nah since it's thunderbolt, they gotta double their money.
This is probably a dumb statement, but I wonder how TB pricing will be affected by 10GbE pricing in the coming years. Right now to get RJ45-compatible 10GBE devices, you're looking at $300-600 for a NIC and $500-3,000 for a switch. Seems like if you want to get above the 1GbE speed limit, you need to spend considerably more for either LAG-enabled devices, 10GbE devices, or TB devices. Even (good) 802.11ac equipment has been pretty expensive compared to 802.11n.
This is not ethernet, you can establish p2p communication via USB 3 as well, but unlike ethernet, you cannot have neither long cables, nor multiple hosts. It is an alternative for "fast connection between two PCs" but certainly not an alternative to "10 gbit ethernet", more like it sounds like a "cheap" way to connect two PCs without investing in 10 gbit network hardware.
Yeah, and 10 meters of the optical TB2 cable costs 330$... 330$ for the cable only? For this money, you can get an actual 10 GbE adapter... I don't even want to know how much 200 ft will cost...
I can see the logic involved in their pricing. Basically the only people with Thunderbolt functionality are Mac owners, who are accustomed to paying very healthy margins for their hardware. It's extremely high-quality hardware, no doubt, but the margins on it are high. That being the case, they can be reasonably expected to pay the same margins on supporting hardware as well, especially relatively-rare items like Thunderbolt (2) devices.
If they would lower prices it would become more mainstream. Its a vicious cycle. One of two factors has to break for it to go mainstream.. Price or Availability.
this is why I bought the oft maligned DroboMini. It's not the fastest DAS solution. But it is the cheapest one that connects via Thunderbolt. And unlike a lot of other TB products, it has USB 3.0 as well. If Drobo can release a TB raid box at $600 (then drop it to $350!) There really is no excuse for these $3000 boxes. For crying out loud at that price I can fill a dumb (non raid) TB2 box with SSDs. EG the OWC Thunderbay IV.
only the 24tb version is using the 6tb drives. So what is the excuse for the high price on the lower capacity models? There is no bleeding edge tech to TB2 that makes it more expensive than TB1. Even firewire was never this expensive. I think these products seek to capitalize on Mac Pro users that use FCP X, Avid or Premiere to edit content. The post and broadcast market is used to overpaying for products.
What irks me are the number of products that are only available with disks included as well; while I'm sure a diskless version would be stupidly expensive too, they're adding pretty huge markups onto the disks they give you as well.
It's not even as if the performance is all that great; maybe it'd be better with SSDs swapped in, but in reality a lot of these devices are using seriously bad RAID controllers too.
Things are better in the wider RAID storage world, but even so I've opted to build my own RAID box. I had intended to use a Thunderbolt adapter but annoyingly the company that made them (DATOptic) has stopped selling them. This leaves me stuck with USB3 or an expensive Thunderbolt to eSATA hub ($200 for a piece of crap hub with a cheap external power supply), not a great situation to be in. At least with my choice of RAID controller the disadvantages of USB3 aren't quite so bad, still not ideal though.
Intel needs to just open the standard up and lower or remove licensing costs. Intel was a part of the original USB spec so they should know how to get products out there. I think intel is trying to keep TB in high end devices or they won't budge on its margins.
Basically the only people with Thunderbolt functionality are Mac owners, who are accustomed to paying very healthy margins for their hardware. It's extremely high-quality hardware, no doubt, but the margins on it are high. http://s6x.it/l521
I came to see crazy prices and I was not disappointed. USB3.0 is fine for me. I'm glad I'm not in the situation of needing a lot of external storage nor have to access the information in real-time for work.
Well if that G-tech product isn't an obvious nod to users of the new Mac Pro, then I dunno what is.
Anyway, use Thunderbolt products on my Macbook Pro at work and love it. Only reason why I haven't bought my own Thunderbolt peripherals is because is because the price point for entry hardware on the Windows side is still too high. Just can't swallow the $400 for the Gigabyte motherboard with TB2 ports.
I know Intel intended Thunderbolt to be the high-end peripheral connection. But price of these products makes me feel like Intel is charging an unreasonably high licensing fee.
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Morawka - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
Seems like companies are unwilling to sell Thunderbolt devices at a reasonable 30% profit margin. Nah since it's thunderbolt, they gotta double their money.Tray Price is $10 for TB 2.0.. come-on guys
nathanddrews - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
This is probably a dumb statement, but I wonder how TB pricing will be affected by 10GbE pricing in the coming years. Right now to get RJ45-compatible 10GBE devices, you're looking at $300-600 for a NIC and $500-3,000 for a switch. Seems like if you want to get above the 1GbE speed limit, you need to spend considerably more for either LAG-enabled devices, 10GbE devices, or TB devices. Even (good) 802.11ac equipment has been pretty expensive compared to 802.11n.ddriver - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
The two don't really compete, so why would it affect 10 GbE pricing? Did USB 3 affect it? Even though it is 5 gbit?nathanddrews - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
Because Intel is marketing TB as a 10GbE alternative:http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/04/intel-expan...
ddriver - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
This is not ethernet, you can establish p2p communication via USB 3 as well, but unlike ethernet, you cannot have neither long cables, nor multiple hosts. It is an alternative for "fast connection between two PCs" but certainly not an alternative to "10 gbit ethernet", more like it sounds like a "cheap" way to connect two PCs without investing in 10 gbit network hardware.457R4LDR34DKN07 - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
but unlike ethernet, you cannot have neither long cableshttp://www.corning.com/opcomm/OpticalCablesbyCorni...
200ft is pretty long.
ddriver - Saturday, April 12, 2014 - link
Yeah, and 10 meters of the optical TB2 cable costs 330$... 330$ for the cable only? For this money, you can get an actual 10 GbE adapter... I don't even want to know how much 200 ft will cost...ddriver - Saturday, April 12, 2014 - link
Also, the 100 ft cable is 660$. 30 meters of cable at the price of two 10 GbE adapters... how very "neat" and "competitive".Black Obsidian - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
I can see the logic involved in their pricing. Basically the only people with Thunderbolt functionality are Mac owners, who are accustomed to paying very healthy margins for their hardware. It's extremely high-quality hardware, no doubt, but the margins on it are high. That being the case, they can be reasonably expected to pay the same margins on supporting hardware as well, especially relatively-rare items like Thunderbolt (2) devices.Morawka - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
If they would lower prices it would become more mainstream. Its a vicious cycle. One of two factors has to break for it to go mainstream.. Price or Availability.WinterCharm - Tuesday, April 22, 2014 - link
WD is selling a really nice 4TB RAID drive that's thunderbolt only for about $400. Not bad at all, since you can fully configure the RAID.CalaverasGrande - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
this is why I bought the oft maligned DroboMini.It's not the fastest DAS solution. But it is the cheapest one that connects via Thunderbolt. And unlike a lot of other TB products, it has USB 3.0 as well.
If Drobo can release a TB raid box at $600 (then drop it to $350!)
There really is no excuse for these $3000 boxes.
For crying out loud at that price I can fill a dumb (non raid) TB2 box with SSDs.
EG the OWC Thunderbay IV.
ganeshts - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
These $3000 boxes have 6TB HDDs.. Have you found them in the consumer market yet? The last time I searched, the HGST He drive was $800+ per drive.CalaverasGrande - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
only the 24tb version is using the 6tb drives.So what is the excuse for the high price on the lower capacity models?
There is no bleeding edge tech to TB2 that makes it more expensive than TB1.
Even firewire was never this expensive.
I think these products seek to capitalize on Mac Pro users that use FCP X, Avid or Premiere to edit content. The post and broadcast market is used to overpaying for products.
Haravikk - Monday, April 21, 2014 - link
What irks me are the number of products that are only available with disks included as well; while I'm sure a diskless version would be stupidly expensive too, they're adding pretty huge markups onto the disks they give you as well.It's not even as if the performance is all that great; maybe it'd be better with SSDs swapped in, but in reality a lot of these devices are using seriously bad RAID controllers too.
Things are better in the wider RAID storage world, but even so I've opted to build my own RAID box. I had intended to use a Thunderbolt adapter but annoyingly the company that made them (DATOptic) has stopped selling them. This leaves me stuck with USB3 or an expensive Thunderbolt to eSATA hub ($200 for a piece of crap hub with a cheap external power supply), not a great situation to be in. At least with my choice of RAID controller the disadvantages of USB3 aren't quite so bad, still not ideal though.
HisDivineOrder - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
Thunderbolt 2 is still around? Intel, give it a rest. Just let it die. By the time it might matter to much of anyone, ePCIe will be here.hpglow - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
Intel needs to just open the standard up and lower or remove licensing costs. Intel was a part of the original USB spec so they should know how to get products out there. I think intel is trying to keep TB in high end devices or they won't budge on its margins.StevenXMay - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
Basically the only people with Thunderbolt functionality are Mac owners, who are accustomed to paying very healthy margins for their hardware. It's extremely high-quality hardware, no doubt, but the margins on it are high. http://s6x.it/l521CalaverasGrande - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
We have several Asus Laptops we use for location shoots that have TB.There are also a few PC motherboards out there from Gigabyte and Asus.
MojaMonkey - Tuesday, April 15, 2014 - link
There's no windows laptops with thunderbolt 2 currently afaik?Have you heard of any being announced?
toyotabedzrock - Friday, April 11, 2014 - link
It seems funny how the Mac Pro looks like a trash can and gtech went and designed their storage to also resemble a trash can.etamin - Saturday, April 12, 2014 - link
yeah no kidding, flip up lid and all.Subyman - Sunday, April 13, 2014 - link
I came to see crazy prices and I was not disappointed. USB3.0 is fine for me. I'm glad I'm not in the situation of needing a lot of external storage nor have to access the information in real-time for work.RagnarKon - Sunday, April 13, 2014 - link
Well if that G-tech product isn't an obvious nod to users of the new Mac Pro, then I dunno what is.Anyway, use Thunderbolt products on my Macbook Pro at work and love it. Only reason why I haven't bought my own Thunderbolt peripherals is because is because the price point for entry hardware on the Windows side is still too high. Just can't swallow the $400 for the Gigabyte motherboard with TB2 ports.
I know Intel intended Thunderbolt to be the high-end peripheral connection. But price of these products makes me feel like Intel is charging an unreasonably high licensing fee.