05/22, 7:15pm
No pricing, availability dates released; expected at Computex
MSI and Asus have announced and detailed their first Thunderbolt-equipped motherboards. The companies have released specifications for their Ivy Bridge boards, both using Apple's Mini DisplayPort implementation of Thunderbolt, rather than Sony's custom Light Peak adaptation. Neither company has announced pricing and availability. Both boards are expected to make their debuts at the Taipei Computex show in two weeks.
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05/12, 6:20pm
MSI Z77A-GD80 laboratory tested by Anandtech
Following Apple's introduction of Thunderbolt on commercial systems with the Macbook Pro 2011 line in February of 2011, it was expected that Thunderbolt would soon be supported on Windows. The first motherboards with integrated Thunderbolt are starting to see the light of day just now, more than a year after the initial introduction of the technology. Anandtech recently had the opportunity to test the first draft motherboard from manufacturer MSI featuring Thunderbolt -- the MSI Z77A-GD80.
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04/27, 1:05pm
NI announces new REAKTOR instrument
Elgato has announced the upcoming launch of a new Thunderbolt cable designed specifically for mobile use. The flexible 50cm cable supports the full data transfer speeds of up to 10Gbit/s on both channels, and at the same time can provide power to devices. The Elgato Thunderbolt Cable will be available on May 3 at a cost of $60. Additionally, Elgato will be including a free cable with every Thunderbolt SSD purchased from the online store before May 6.
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04/18, 2:00am
Enables two external monitors for mobile Macs
Matrox has refined its DualHead2Go product that lets Mac notebook users add a second external monitor to now incorporate MiniDisplayPort or Thunderbolt in the DualHead2Go Digital Mac Edition (ME). The breakout box enables a single port to now run two external DVI-based displays at up to 1920x1200 resolution. The unit comes bundled with PowerDesk software to help users manage and arrage multi-display setups and supports Lion's full-screen application mode.
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04/16, 2:40pm
Blackmagic shows new gear with Thunderbolt ports
Blackmagic Design at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show outed three new products for professional video editors. The Universal Videohub Editing Interface has a Thunderbolt interface with four ports and four reference signal inputs. It plugs into the company's Universal Videohub 72 and 288 models.
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04/16, 1:05pm
Fast, external drive for video editors ships
The G-RAID Thunderbolt drive introduced in the fall of last year is now shipping. The external drive houses two 4TB, 7,200RPM Hitachi Deskstar hard drives and offers a 10Gbps connection through Intel's Thunderbolt connection, making it suitable for use with Macs and upcoming Windows PCs. It's also the largest external drive of its kind that has RAID 0 striping.
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04/15, 9:05pm
Autodesk Smoke 2013 reworks
Autodesk reworked its video editing and post-shot visual effects tool specifically for Mac users. Smoke 2013 brings a new, unified interface that mixes traditional, editorial track-based editing with Autodesk's own interface elements. A node-based compositing tool, ConnectFX, lets editors insert advanced effects without having to jump to a separate interface.
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04/13, 11:05pm
Aimed at TB-enabled Macs, future PCs
ATTO Technology has unveiled the beginnings of a full lineup of Thunderbolt breakout boxes that allow TB-enabled Macs and future Windows or Linux systems that incorporate Thunderbolt to use devices that leverage SAS/SATA storage, Fibre Channel and even 10Gb Ethernet to increase the adaptability and flexibility of Intel's high-speed bi-directional connector. The company will be showcasing the products at the upcoming NAB conference.
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04/12, 12:40am
More evidence of near-term Mac refreshes?
Intel is now shipping second-generation Thunderbolt controllers, previously referred to as "Cactus Ridge," that could accompany a possible refresh of some Mac products in the near future. The controllers are shipping just ahead of the recently-updated April arrival of "Ivy Bridge," the next version of the Core iX family of processors, as well as new Intel "Panther Point" logic board designs that include support for PCIe 3.0 and USB 3, reports specialist site VR Zone.
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04/05, 8:30pm
LaCie eSATA Hub lands, offers daisy chaining
The LaCie eSATA Hub Thunderbolt series external drive has hit the market. First seen at CES 2012, the new drives give users the added flexibility of using its eSATA port to connect existing eSATA drives over Thunderbolt. LaCie say that the eSATA Hub will boost transfer speeds and will allow users to daisy chain the drive with other Thunderbolt peripherals.
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03/16, 2:15am
Seagate tackles external Thunderbolt storage
Seagate has continued to expand its GoFlex hard drive system, which features interchangeable interfaces for interoperability between various connection types. The company's latest adapters enable users to upgrade their existing GoFlex drives with a Thunderbolt interface to take advantage of fast transfer speeds on Apple's latest Macs and a number of upcoming Windows machines. In our full review, we'll take a closer look at the Thunderbolt adapter for GoFlex portable drives.
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03/15, 10:20am
WD My Book Thunderbolt Duo reaches stores
Western Digital acted on a two-month promise by shipping its range-topping MyBook Thunderbolt Duo drives. The desktop external disks use the headroom of the 10Gbps spec, along with RAID, to supply speeds faster than most individual internal drives, even on a system like a MacBook Air. In a hands-on (above) with a RAID 0 stripe, we saw real speeds of 750MB per second in reads and 640MB per second in writes, rendering it faster than a high-end solid-state drive.
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03/13, 1:15pm
NPD credits iPhone 4S for rise in data speeds
New NPD data has credited the iPhone 4S as the primary factor behind the adoption of 4G or pseudo-4Gon smartphones. Where just six percent of devices had support for HSPA+, LTE, or WiMAX at the end of 2010, about 35 percent had it during the newest iPhone's fall launch. Even though it only had two months to sell, Apple's hardware became the most popular HSPA+ phone in the US for all of 2011.
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03/12, 8:45pm
Intel optical Thunderbolt cables coming
Intel spokesman Dave Salvator promised Monday that optical Thunderbolt cables would be coming in 2012. He didn't give a timetable to IDG or a price. Any cables would, however, work with Macs and any existing or imminent Thunderbolt implementations.
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03/11, 1:15am
270MB/s transfer speeds at a price
Although Elgato is better known for its EyeTV tuners, the company has entered the storage market with several Thunderbolt solid-state drives. The external storage devices pair flash chips with a Thunderbolt connection to enable much faster data transfer speeds than traditional disk drives. In our full review, we take a close look at how the Elgato drives stack up against similar offerings from storage industry veterans.
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03/09, 12:30pm
Intel Ivy Bridge to intro mid-tier PCIe upgrade
Intel stated Thursday to PCWorld that its Thunderbolt implementation would get a faster back infrastructure with its Ivy Bridge processor era. New Thunderbolt chipsets will use PCI Express 3.0 as its interface with the system instead of PCIe 2.0, boosting the bandwidth from five gigatransfers per second to eight. The upgrade won't change the 10Gbps external speed but will reduce any bottlenecks past the initial interface.
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03/06, 9:50am
Elgato Thunderbolt SSD in stores in a week
Elgato joined in the ranks of those shipping Thunderbolt-ready gear on Tuesday by starting shipments of the Thunderbolt SSD. Its external drive is solid-state only and takes advantage of the extra bandwidth to hit 270MB per second in peak read speeds on its single-drive array. Going to flash storage also makes it near-perfectly silent and makes it skip-proof, further helped by the all-metal body.
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02/17, 1:50pm
HTC vows Verizon, Rogers, Bell phone upgrades
HTC has expanded on its Android 4.0 upgrade plans to include more of its North American lineup, most of all Verizon's hardware. It had already included the Rezound in its plans, but it now intended as of Friday to include the Droid Incredible 2, Rhyme, and Thunderbolt among the upgrades. The exact timetable wasn't outlined.
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02/14, 6:30pm
Can be used for RAID or JBOD storage
Drive maker LaCie, having debuted its first Thunderbolt-oriented hard drive with a version of the Little Big Disk, is now expanding the line with the immediate availability of the 2big Thunderbolt series, a dual-drive enclosure that is available in 4-, and 6-terabyte capacities that can be formatted for RAID 0 or 1, or just used as two separate drives in a single housing. The company will make an 8TB version available soon.
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02/09, 2:40pm
HTC stalls some Android 4 updates despite vows
HTC had to backtrack on upgrade promises Thursday with a follow-up posting delaying most. Only the Sensation, Sensation 4G, and Sensation XE will get the new OS by the end of March. The Sensation XL would come soon afterwards, but the Amaze 4G, Desire HD, Desire S, Evo 3D, Evo Design 4G, Incredible S, Rezound, and Vivid would only get updates "later this year."
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02/01, 8:10am
Seagate GoFlex gets DIY Thunderbolt add-on
Seagate has quietly updated its accessory page with a GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter. The add-on now lets any of Seagate's mobile GoFlex drives use the 10Gbps interface on a Mac or upcoming PCs. The storage designers claim that it's about 20 times faster than USB 2.0, although only if the drive itself can maximize the bus speed.
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01/27, 6:45pm
Drives demonstrated in a daisy-chained setup
Just weeks after announcing its first Thunderbolt hard drives, Western Digital appropriately brought the offerings to show off at the Macworld iWorld expo in San Francisco. Electronista took a close look at several of the company's My Book Thunderbolt Duo drives, which were daisy chained to a Thunderbolt display.
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01/26, 8:40am
WD My Book Thunderbolt Duo gives pro speed
Western Digital gave a more formal debut to its first Thunderbolt-equipped drive at Macworld|iWorld on Thursday. The My Book Thunderbolt Duo uses the fast 10Gbps port to feed two 3.5-inch hard drives at speeds that would be impractical for FireWire 800. On a 6TB Thunderbolt Duo, peak transfer speeds can hit over 250MBps (2Gbps), making the only bottleneck the drives themselves.
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01/25, 9:30pm
Can cross-convert 720p to 1080PsF
Pro video hardware maker AJA Video Systems is now shipping a professional I/O box called the Io XT with dual Thunderbolt ports, 10-bit up-, down- and cross-conversion in hardware, uncompressed capture, monitoring and mastering, eight-channel SDI audio I/O, analog component and composite output, HDMI input and output (including 3D) and 4:2:2 and 4:4:4 HD and SD formats among other features. The dual T ports allow for daisy-chaining with other TB peripherals.
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01/14, 3:20am
AMD Lightning Bolt in development
AMD is developing a parallel to Intel's Thunderbolt, the chip designer unveiled at a closed-doors demo late into CES. Conspicuously known as Lightning Bolt, what AnandTech saw would similarly use Mini DisplayPort jacks and would share both power, USB 3.0, and video over a lone cable. Unlike Thunderbolt, it would make very minor changes to the cable and cost as little as a dollar premium over a basic Mini DP connection.
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01/13, 12:40pm
Refurbished Apple products at low prices
At Apple's Online Store today save on a wide selection of refurbished products like the refurb. 27-inch Thunderbolt Display, it was $999, but is now $849 after a $150 price cut. Save $460 on this refurb. Mac Pro with a 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processor, 3GB of RAM and a 640GB hard drive, now $2039.
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01/11, 5:30pm
HD/SD interface can handle uncompressed video
MOTU, while best known for its audio hardware and software for pro audio, also makes video hardware -- and extended its product line at CES by introducing the HDX-SDI with Thunderbolt, a one rack-space sized pro video interface that enables Thunderbolt-equipped Macs or Windows PCs to capture even uncompressed HD video and features plenty of input and output for video and audio channels. The product is MOTU's first with Thunderbolt technology.
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01/09, 5:55pm
2Big drive, eSATA hub coming late winter
Drive maker LaCie has announced an expansion of its line of Thunderbolt-supporting peripherals on the eve of the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. In addition to its existing Little Big Disk Thunderbolt drive, the company will be adding a 2Big dual-disk model as well as an eSATA hub that lets users connect two eSATA external hard drives, and offers the possibility of daisy-chaining more at full eSATA 3Gb per second speeds.
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01/09, 10:40am
Dock gets pricing, late release date
Presenting at CES, Belkin has revealed more details about the Thunderbolt Express Dock, first made public last September. The dock connects via a single 10Gbps Thunderbolt cable, but substantially expands a computer's ports. Included are HDMI, gigabit Ethernet, FireWire 800, 3.5mm stereo, three USB 2.0, and two Thunderbolt (upstream and downstream) connections.
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01/06, 3:50pm
Save on refurbished Apple products.
Today at Apple's online store Save $150 on the refurb. 27-inch Thunderbolt Display, now only $849. Refurbished iPod nanos start at $109 for the 8GB configuration, or $129 for the 16GB configuration.
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12/30, 12:40pm
HTC unlocks Droid Incredible 2, Thunderbolt
HTC is continuing to unlock bootloaders for its devices this week, now adding the Droid Incredible 2 and Thunderbolt. The official program is meant to have all 2011 smartphones unlocked, depending on carriers and their permission. Despite being official, the unlock may void users' warranties.
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12/26, 11:25pm
Thunderbolt said ready to go for April
Intel's Thunderbolt for Windows PCs could arrive in April, purported insiders stated Monday night. Apple is reportedly helping Intel adopt the standard the two co-created, Digitimes heard. PC builders ASUS and Sony, as well as mainboard builders ASRock and Gigabyte, are expected to be part of the first wave.
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12/19, 1:25pm
HTC Fireball with 4G due at Verizon sometime soon
A leaked Verizon inventory screen makes mention of an upcoming HTC smartphone, the Fireball, Droid-Life learned. It would run on the carrier's 4G network, though little else is known. Its ADR6410L model number puts it in-between the Rezound and Thunderbolt, with their ADR6425 and ADR6400 model numbers, respectively. As such, features are expected to fall between these two.
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12/15, 7:05pm
Can turn Thunderbolt into many other port types
After originally announcing the product in August, Sonnet Technologies has finally made the Echo ExpressCard/34 Thunderbolt Adapter available for purchase. The device converts a Thunderbolt port into an ExpressCard slot, which in turn allows a wide variety of connector types to be available for Macs, from CompactFlash to Firewire to eSATA.
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12/12, 6:00pm
Fixes rare issue with fan noise
Late this afternoon, Apple issued a fix for a fan noise issue that affected a small number of Apple Thunderbolt Displays in a firmware update labeled version 1.1. The 942KB file launches automatically once installed in the Utilities folder and shows on-screen instructions on going through the firmware update procedure. This is the first update specifically for Thunderbolt Display devices, though an earlier patch was issued for Thunderbolt-capable Macs generally in June.
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11/25, 11:05am
Intel proposes Thunderbolt dock connector
Intel is hoping to formalize a standard for docking on ultrabooks with Thunderbolt ports, leaked internal notes demonstrate. The implementation would combine the Thunderbolt port with a wider companion dock connector to handle other forms of data, such as Ethernet or USB, VR-Zone said. To keep the Ethernet connection alive for Intel's vPro remote management or for Windows 8's Connected Standby mode, however, the docking port would need to have direct access to the Ethernet chipset inside.
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10/26, 10:30pm
Updates mostly debut or enhance Thunderbolt
Late in the day, Apple Support released a group of EFI firmware updates to recent Mac models, including the current iMac, Mac mini and MacBook Air models, along with one for the just-discontinued "early 2011" MacBook Pros and one for Lion 10.7.2 specifically. With all four EFI updates, the firmware is being modified to either support or enhance existing Apple Thunderbolt Display compatibility and Thunderbolt Target Disk Mode. In addition, the company released QuickTime 7.7.1 for Windows.
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10/25, 5:30pm
Verizon outs new Thunderbolt update with fixes
Verizon and HTC's 2.11.605.3 update issued last month for the HTC Thunderbolt caused a number of issues and has since been pulled. The two have now released an update that should resolve these, update 2.11.605.5 (PDF). It's 146.4MB in size and fixes the broken voicemail notifications and security vulnerability from the previous update.
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10/19, 8:00pm
iSuppli teardown shows same price despite 3G swap
A new cost breakdown by IHS iSuppli has given more definitive raw parts costs for the iPhone 4S. A 16GB version of the phone is estimated to cost about $188, or within 50 cents of last year's model when it was new. The switch from an Infineon (now part of Intel) chip to the dual-mode Qualcomm chip had little impact on the cellular chipset, which in total cost about $14 to $15.
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10/12, 4:50pm
AT&T will use circuit-switch fallback technology
AT&T chief executive Ralph de la Vega told CNET its 4G LTE handsets will be the thinnest on the market. The handsets are due to arrive this fall, and AT&T waited for the technology that allows them to be thing while providing a longer battery life. The exec said its circuit-switch fallback tech and relates to the handset switching to 3G coverage when its leaves the 4G coverage area.
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10/12, 11:25am
NPD finds 22 percent of Q2 phones have 4G support
During the last quarter in the US market, about 22 percent of all smartphones sold supported 4G networks, the NPD Group found. This is a huge jump from last year's quarter, which saw only three percent of all smartphones be 4G capable. The growth is no doubt due to the added number of available 4G services and devices, such as Verizon's LTE network.
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10/04, 10:40pm
UBM estimates iPhone 4S costs on unveil
UBM Techinsights gave a preliminary cost breakdown of the iPhone 4S. Based on past history and estimates, it reckoned Apple's new phone would cost $203 in pure components for a 32GB version. The most expensive component would be the flash memory itself, at $38, followed by the 640x960 display ($31) and the dual-core A5 chip ($26).
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09/29, 2:00am
Fixes intermittent display flickering
Apple has added a firmware update specific to the 24-inch LED Cinema Display that addresses an issue that can cause intermittent flickering when connected to a Thunderbolt-enabled Mac. The update, which does not yet have the normal accompanying technote, may not resolve a flickering issue if a Mini DisplayPort extender cable is used, according to the company. Users on Apple's support forums have been complaining about the flickering problem for months.
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09/28, 10:45am
27-inch Apple Thunderbolt Display torn down
Apple's 27-inch, $1,000 Thunderbolt Display has been torn down by the iFixIt team. No special tools were needed to take the screen apart, with suction cups, Torx T6 and T10 screwdrivers and spudgers all that's required. The team was impressed by the easy disassembly process and gave the monitor an 8 out of 10 repairability score.
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09/27, 1:30am
Future cables promised for next year
Thunderbolt, already the fastest interconnecting system between computers and peripherals, may get quite significantly faster when new, optical-technology-based cables arrive on the market as early as the middle of next year -- and current Thunderbolt-equipped Macs will support them, says Intel. Spokesman Dave Salvator, speaking to MacWorld added that the optical cables could be significantly longer than the current copper-based ones, as well as faster.
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09/23, 8:35pm
A high-quality monitor that works like a dock
Both PC-oriented website AnandTech and Mac-oriented portal MacWorld have recently reviewed Apple's new 27-inch Thunderbolt Display, and came to many of the same conclusions: if you're a MacBook Air owner who uses it as a primary computer, the Thunderbolt Display is a must-have accessory. For other TB-equipped Mac owners, the display makes a strong -- but not perfect -- case for a convenient dock and high-quality monitor combo for the price of a high-quality monitor alone.
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09/20, 2:25pm
LaCie Little Big Disk reaches Apple stores
LaCie finally delivered its long-promised first Thunderbolt device in the Little Big Disk. The drive is hand-portable but has enough headroom in the 10Gbps connection to supply a Mac with speed well beyond what FireWire can do. With a 240GB SSD RAID striped option, it can peak up to 634MB per second in read speeds and up to 870MB per second when two drives are daisy chained together.
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09/16, 2:40pm
MacBook Air restricted to single monitor
A new Apple support document reveals restrictions on daisy-chaining the Thunderbolt Display, which is finally shipping to online buyers. Because Thunderbolt supports speeds up to 10Gbps, the obstacle to chaining multiple monitors is less networking than the video hardware in the connected Mac. The MacBook Air can only run one Thunderbolt Display, Apple notes.
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09/14, 9:40pm
Intel Cactus Ridge for Thunderbolt outlined at IDF
Intel in one of the side notes from its Developer Forum presentations has outlined the Thunderbolt controllers that will drive computers based on Ivy Bridge processors. Cactus Ridge will mostly be a refresh of the Light Ridge and Eagle Ridge chips used in current Macs. As such, the high-end Cactus Ridge chip will have four channels that each have a symmetric 10Gbps and two DisplayPort links, while the budget version will have just two of those channels and one DisplayPort link.
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09/14, 5:45pm
Resolves Thunderbolt display, Disk Mode issues
Apple today issued updates for the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) on Thunderbolt-equipped models of the MacBook Pro and Mac mini that is said to resolve issues with Apple's Thunderbolt Display compatibility and Target Disk Mode under Thunderbolt. The updates also add Lion Recovery mode to MBP and Mini models that shipped with Lion pre-installed, which previously made re-installation of Lion unnecessarily difficult.
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