Thunderbolt Technology

The advantages of Thunderbolt:

• It's much faster than USB 2.0 or Firewire "800"
  
• It's backwards compatible with the technology so there is no lost investment in displays one already owns
• Older display standards can be connected with adapters and even USB 2.0 and Firewire "800" peripherals can be connected with adapters as well, should the need arise.

There are a few disadvantages:

• In the short-term, Thunderbolt technology is more expensive than the well established USB and Firewire standards
• There are few Thunderbolt-equipped peripherals available
  
• In the long-term, although Thunderbolt is significantly faster than USB or Firewire, it only supports six daisy-chained devices compared to 127 devices (including hubs, rather than daisy-chaining) for USB and up to 63 devices for Firewire (with 16 in a single daisy-chain).