The number of options available for Mac users to buy Thunderboltcables from outside Apple is growing, with companies announcinglonger and competitively priced cables that will also work withupcoming Windows PCs with Thunderbolt ports. StarTech announced a Thunderbolt cable that is three meters long,which is the longest copper cable available yet. The cable isavailable for backorder on the UK-based company's website for 56.99 (US$90 as of Monday). The first Thunderbolt ports were introduced in Apple's Maccomputers in February last year, but customers were earlierrestricted to buying a $49 two-meter cable from Apple. Theexclusivity broke when Elgato in April announced a 0.5-meterThunderbolt cable for $59. Kanex said Monday that this week it would start shipping atwo-meter cable for $59.95. Sumitomo is already offering a two-meter cable in Japan for 4,500 (US$56). But Apple's Thunderbolt cable remains acheaper option compared to Kanex and Sumitomo. Thunderbolt is a high-speed connector technology that shuttles databetween computers and peripherals. Co-developed by Apple and Intel,Thunderbolt offers data transfer speeds of up to 10 Gbps (gigabitsper second), making it a faster alternative to USB 3.0. Thecompanies claim a high-definition movie can be transferred from anexternal storage device to a laptop in less than 30 seconds. Thetechnology also allows daisy-chaining up to five peripherals, so alonger cable run can make it easier to attach more devices to asingle Thunderbolt port. StarTech's three-meter TBOLTMM3M cable will carry power, reducingthe need for some peripherals such as storage devices to connect topower outlets. The three-foot cable will transfer data at the full10Gbps over the cable. The current Thunderbolt cables are based on copper, and fasteroptical cables are expected in the future. Sumitomo has shown a20-meter optical cable, though it has not said when it will ship.While copper cables can carry power, optical cables cannot carrypower and will require peripherals to connect to power outlets. Lenovo, Acer and Asus have already announced laptops withThunderbolt ports, though products are not yet available. The portswill also appear in ultrabooks, a form of thin-and-light laptopsbacked by Intel. Intel is soon expected to announce new chips basedon the Ivy Bridge architecture for ultrabooks, which will bettersupport the Thunderbolt interconnect. Agam Shah covers PCs, tablets, servers, chips and semiconductorsfor IDG News Service. Follow Agam on Twitter at @agamsh . Agam's e-mail address is agam_shah@idg.com. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Mochi Maker Machine , China Moon Cake Machine for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Mochi Maker Machine.
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