The end at the beginning: if I were to get a disk drive for the new used Mac, it would be the less-expensive USB 3.0 rather than Thunderbolt. The reasons are below.
The theoretical fastest protocol for data transfer is Thunderbolt or, on some new Macs, Thunderbolt 2. However, practical considerations such as rotation speed of the disk mean it doesn't achieve its theoretical potential.
(Ed: so what?)
A USB 3.0 disk is about 60% of the cost of a Thunderbolt disk for just about the same real-world performance (as opposed to mathematical maximum). If you need a disk drive, that means spending $300 or less for USB 3 vs $500 or more for Thunderbolt so I'd say that counts.
USB 3.0 is twice the speed of Firewire 800 which makes it of high interest to many Mac users, particularly those doing any video processing.
If HD and 1080p haven't been enough of a world of pain for you in video processing due to the enormous file sizes, 4K should do the trick as Thunderbolt 2 is specifically because Thunderbolt cannot deliver 4K video fast enough. Yesterday I whined about an 8 GB video file but 4K videographers would laugh at something so small.
So, people doing 4K videography need to pay attention to Thunderbolt 2 but it's really not significant for anyone else. Thunderbolt 2 is currently available on Mac Pro systems, the iMac 5K Retina, and possibly some MacBook Pro laptops.
4K is not a concern for me. I could make it a concern if I had $20K to $30K to spend for computers, cameras and hardware (seriously) but I don't believe that will be necessary for filming the Fort Worth Rockhouse.
The theoretical fastest protocol for data transfer is Thunderbolt or, on some new Macs, Thunderbolt 2. However, practical considerations such as rotation speed of the disk mean it doesn't achieve its theoretical potential.
(Ed: so what?)
A USB 3.0 disk is about 60% of the cost of a Thunderbolt disk for just about the same real-world performance (as opposed to mathematical maximum). If you need a disk drive, that means spending $300 or less for USB 3 vs $500 or more for Thunderbolt so I'd say that counts.
USB 3.0 is twice the speed of Firewire 800 which makes it of high interest to many Mac users, particularly those doing any video processing.
If HD and 1080p haven't been enough of a world of pain for you in video processing due to the enormous file sizes, 4K should do the trick as Thunderbolt 2 is specifically because Thunderbolt cannot deliver 4K video fast enough. Yesterday I whined about an 8 GB video file but 4K videographers would laugh at something so small.
So, people doing 4K videography need to pay attention to Thunderbolt 2 but it's really not significant for anyone else. Thunderbolt 2 is currently available on Mac Pro systems, the iMac 5K Retina, and possibly some MacBook Pro laptops.
4K is not a concern for me. I could make it a concern if I had $20K to $30K to spend for computers, cameras and hardware (seriously) but I don't believe that will be necessary for filming the Fort Worth Rockhouse.
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