Apple MacBook Pro Upgrade Coming Soon, With Intel Light Peak?

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It’s that time of year again, folks. Apple will soon be announcing new products, new upgrades, and this time, perhaps new technologies. An upcoming MacBook Pro update will likely include high-speed connection Light Peak.

Apple has been working closely with Intel, Sony, and other companies to develop a technology that will support speeds up to 10 Gbps. While this has been in the works for more than a year now, sources say that Apple and Intel have probably finalized the design, and will include Light Peak in an upcoming MacBook Pro update (rumored to be announced this February 24th).

Apple might be using another name or branding for the technology, though, so expect something other than “Light Peak.” Still, Intel has previously predicted Light Peak to come out in devices in the first half of 2011, so Apple’s MacBooks are likely to be only the first wave.

The source also said that while the technology earlier involved fiber-optics, the initial version will likely be copper-based, to give way to practicality and current production limitations.

Light Peak was supposedly intended as a universal approach to device connectivity, which includes monitors, scanners, storage media, and the like. But Intel (and Apple) will likely limit the use to a few protocols and peripherals in the first release.