Thunderbolt received a shot in the arm today when Apple announced today the release of the the "world's first" computer monitor using a Thunderbolt display port. Thunderbolt, formerly known as Light Peak, is a new short range device connection technology developed by Intel. Since it's introduction last February, it's been fighting with USB 3.0 to determine which technology will replace the ubiquitous USB 2.0. Read more:

Apple has refreshed its line of Macbook Pro's today. The biggest change that came to the new Macbook Pro's is the addition of a Thunderbolt port that uses Light Peak technology. It looks like Intel actually ditched the Light Peak name and went with Thunderbolt according to their website. The port is able to transfer data at up to 10GB per second and will support many different peripherals.

Apple says that the Thunderbolt port brings PCI Express speeds to the external of the computer for consumers to use RAID technology, Display Port which supports HDMI, DVI, etc.

Thunderbolt delivers PCI Express directly to external high performance peripherals such as RAID arrays, and can support FireWire and USB consumer devices and Gigabit Ethernet networks via adapters. Thunderbolt also supports DisplayPort for high resolution displays and works with existing adapters for HDMI, DVI and VGA displays. Freely available for implementation on systems, cables and devices, Thunderbolt technology is expected to be widely adopted as a new standard for high performance I/O.

Other changes include a faster processor in the 13-inch model with Intel dual Core i5 and i7 chips up to 2.7GHz and Core i7 Quad-core at 2.3 GHz on the 15-inch and 17-inch models. Also new Radeon HD cards with up to 1GB onboard memory which should allow for stunning graphic and gaming.

A patent has been found that indicates that Apple may use Light Peak technology in their next Magsafe adapter. Although the patent was originally filed a year prior to Intel's announcement of Light Peak technology. Light Peak allows you to connect all peripherals with a single cable. The bandwidth on the cable will start at 10 gbps and has the possibility to move up to 100 gbps in the future. Light Peak technology could revolutionize the computer world by removing unnecessary extra cables.