How Thunderbolt Changed The Way We Do Business

Now that most people prefer digital photography, we print shop owners have to invest in high speed computers to process huge photo files our customers request for printing. Of course, we do a little retouch before printing the photos as an added service to our customers, aside from the other printing requests and print products that we have. Being in the graphics business, I have always preferred to use Mac products because of its reliability, just like most print and photo shops do. The only concern that we have with using digital files is the cost of the investment that we have to shell out to accommodate our clients.

As mentioned, since most people nowadays use digital cameras and the output of that would be in digital form, we need fast and powerful computers to be able to convert those files into print. The concern nowadays is how to cut time when transferring files from the source, in this case a digital camera, to the computer. USB cables that could be easily purchased or the cables that come with the camera do the job, but we would surely welcome improvements especially in cutting the time of file transferring. So when Apple announced Thunderbolt technology, it did create the buzz that the company was hoping it would.

We knew that it was time to purchase some new computer hardware, so we opted to try one of the Macs that already had a built-in Thunderbolt port. Boy, we did not regret the decision, even if we shelled out a rather large amount of money compared to if we bought a PC with similar specs. Good thing that the computer set came with a Thunderbolt cable already.

The only downside of this setup was that the cables are quite expensive compared to regular USB or Firewire cables. So when Apple announced that they would be reducing the prices of these cables, it was the news we definitely welcomed. Now, the cost of transforming our network to be Thunderbolt ready just got cheaper. The possibility of converting all external storage and computer peripherals to be able to make use of the Thunderbolt technology is now possible. The only thing that we would have to consider when shopping for new hardware would be the availability of the items.

One of the great things that the Internet brought is that you can now shop for items that are not readily available in your area. This was how we were able to source most of the things that we need. Kanex Live was one of the online vendors that were able to supply most of the equipment we needed for our shop. They provide a wide array of connectivity solutions for networks that rely heavily on Apple products. We were able to get the Thunderbolt cable that we needed together with the other items that we deemed useful for our network. Finding connectivity solutions is now a click away and you can check out their website for other paraphernalia aside from cables that would help you utilize the Thunderbolt technology.