This system enables users to connect one half-length PCIe 2.0 adapter card to the Mac mini via a Thunderbolt cable, while allowing the connectionof additional Thunderbolt peripherals to the daisy-chain Thunderbolt port.
They also include Apple's new Firewire 800 technology, which allows a connection speed of up 800 megabits per second to peripherals like hard drives, video cameras and other computers.
The early-adopter set has been playing with home networking for a few years, but now the technology is spreading to mainstream consumers, who want to split the fast Internet connectionof a cable modem or digital subscriber line (DSL) among several PCs, and also share computer files and peripherals such as printers and scanners.