Intel's Thunderbolt vs AMD's Lightning Bolt

Everything is fast now, we have super-fast processors, SSD hard-disks that can read up to 1GB/s, faster GPU’s, but what is the best technology when we want to transfer data from a PC to another or from a storage device? Day by day our data amount getting bigger, I still remember my first PC had only 1GB hard disk, but now I have 16X more memory on my data traveller. USB technology is the most famous and most efficient method we used to use in the earlier days, and then the USB 2.0 which can handle up to 480Mbps, some cameras and storage devices came with FireWire connectors which is almost twice as fast as USB 2.0 (the FireWire 800 version). Currently the fastest port you find is USB 3.0; it can transfer data in 5Gbps. But finally updated Apple devices have a port called Thunderbolt which is implemented by Intel; recently Intel demonstrated this port at CES 2012 and promised it will be available for Windows users soon. Thunderbolt port can deliver 10Gbps of data plus it can transfer display signal through a single cable.

The ThunderBolt port needs an extra cable, Apple calling it “smart cable” because the cable has to chips inside the cable, according to ifixit that chip is “Gennum GN2033”. Bad side of this Thunderbolt technology is, it costs lot of money, this cable only cost 50$ and you can expect this posts only in high end motherboards.

AMD recently showed off a data transfer technology at CES 2012 it’s called “Lighting Bolt”. This technology can transfer data, display signal plus power. Lightning Boltuses the mini DisplayPort connectors with extra two pins. AMD claims Lighting Bolt transfer rates are similar to USB 3.0 and the interesting thing about this technology is the cost, AMD claims multiplexor on the laptop should cost no more than $1. Write your suggestions as a comment below.