The brand new MacBook Airs are pretty flipping sweet, we all know that. But what we didn’t know was that the Thunderbolt in the MacBook Air was gimped—it’s smaller and less powerful than its big brother Macs.
AnandTech explains the difference as this, Thunderbolt in the 2011 iMac, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini support 4 bidirectional 10Gbps channels and support for up to two DisplayPort monitors. The MacBook Air is effectively half of that, its Thunderbolt gives you 2 bidirectional 10Gbps channels and 1 DisplayPort monitor. AnandTech, however, expects the MacBook Air version of Thunderbolt to be used by OEMs in the future because it’s cheaper and smaller. There goes my wild daisy chaining dreams. [AnandTech via Apple Insider, Image Credit: iFixit]
