MacBook Pro Thunderbolt Connector Spotted: Is It Really Light Peak?

A photo supposedly showing Apple's Thunderbolt Light Peak connector on an updated MacBook Pro has leaked. The origins of the image are unknown, but it shows a new port slotting in-between the FireWire and USB ports on the side of an Apple notebook; interestingly, it looks very practically unchanged from a Mini DisplayPort connector.

Meanwhile, Mac4Ever has acquired further shots of of the Thunderbolt logo and other supposedly promotional material from Apple, including a glimpse of a seemingly unchanged keyboard and trackpad assembly, and the promise of a dual-core Intel Core i5 processor. According to them, the port shown above is found on the side of a MacBook Pro 13-inch.

What's confusing is how Apple is using Thunderbolt. Light Peak is billed as a replacement for ethernet, display connections and data connections, like USB and FireWire, but the Thunderbolt port – if legitimate – is shown alongside all but display connectivity. It's possible, some have speculated, that the connection isn't in fact Light Peak at all, but a modified Mini DisplayPort for data use as well as graphics.

[via Twitter]