A single Thunderbolt cable could bring Gigabit Ethernet, Firewire 800, high-speed mass storage, external audio and display to an otherwise IO-deprived MacBook Air.Īt a high level, Thunderbolt is pretty easy to explain. As it derives most of its revenue from mobile, Apple wasted no time in bringing its Thunderbolt Display to market. Apple’s 2011 Macs were the first to enjoy Thunderbolt, an interface co-developed with Intel that carries PCIe and DisplayPort over a single cable.