For those wondering why Thunderbolt is a bit pricey

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/07/why-thunderbolt...

As the article says, Thunderbolt is doomed to remain a niche technology as long as the price of cables remains so high. USB3 has to be a better choice for most consumers, something that Apple has now recognised.

In reply to a post by AEP:

As the article says, Thunderbolt is doomed to remain a niche technology as long as the price of cables remains so high. USB3 has to be a better choice for most consumers, something that Apple has now recognised.

Agree - Thunderbolt does allow for some interesting things though - such as docking stations with high performance graphics cards built in (think Apple Thunderbolt Display 2 !) or for the new Gigabit Ethernet adaptor for the new Air or Pro with Retina Display.

USB 3 is good for storage devices but apparently still can't support gigabit ethernet to full performance (due to USB needing CPU) but USB 3 does stamp all over firewire.