Apple released its Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter Wednesday morning, giving MacBook Pro with Retina Display owners a way to connect FireWire drives to their laptop. The company had promised to ship the adapter in July, and in the end missed its self-imposed deadline by only a few hours.
Apple’s Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter
The adapter includes a single FireWire 800 port and supplies 7 Watts of power for bus-powered devices. It requires OS X 10.7.4 or higher and is compatible with any Mac sporting a Thunderbolt port.
Apple introduced the adapter during its annual World Wide Developer Conference in June along side the MacBook Pro with Retina Display. The new laptop is thinner than any other MacBook Pro model, and while it sports a substantially higher resolution display, it isn’t thick enough to include larger ports like FireWire 800.
The Thunderbolt to FireWire adapter is priced at US$29. Apple’s online store shows between one and three days shipping times for the adapter.