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Seagate has quietly updated its accessory page with a GoFlex Thunderbolt adapter. The add-on now lets any of Seagate’s mobile GoFlex drives use the 10Gbps interface on a Mac or upcoming PCs. The storage designers claim that it’s about 20 times faster than USB 2.0, although only if the drive itself can maximize the bus speed.

Thunderbolt’s support for power lets it run the entire portable drive through its data cable. Seagate is already taking orders and charges $50 for yesterdaycoolquick3low the adapter, although it doesn’t include the Thunderbolt cable that often costs a similar amount.

Having an adapter significantly expands the number of drives available on Thunderbolt, which despite some pre-built drives just arriving is still short on options. It also gives an upgrade path for those who might have an older Mac now but don’t want to replace their external hard drives to take advantage of Thunderbolt when they upgrade. [via Macworld]

New Gartner data breaking down European computer market share has shown poor fruity loops for mac. results for almost every computer builder outside of Apple. Continent-wide, both market leader HP as well as Acer, Dell, and Toshiba were all dropping market share. Only ASUS (up 1.5 points) increased share based solely on its own merits among the top five; Lenovo’s gain was inflated by its acquiring Medion last June.

While not in the top five for all of Europe, Apple was visibly cutting into others’ share on a country-by-country basis. The Mac designer overtook Acer in dramatic fashion, jumping from 6.2 percent to 9.1 percent in one year. Acer, meanwhile, had shipped nearly two thirds’ fewer PCs and collapsed from 16.7 percent to 7.8 percent of the British market. Apple was todaygoodquick2low now within striking distance of Toshiba’s 10 percent.

A similar pattern emerged in France, where Apple established itself in the top five at 8.2 percent and only oovoo for mac. second-place ASUS was making inroads. Apple was again out of the top five in Germany, but the space was unusual as flash player fo rmac. Dell made a rare gain to take fifth place. Even Lenovo, which was supposed to be taking advantage of Medion’s home market, lost a slight amount of share.

Overall, the entire European computer market dropped 16 percent, with its highlight being the still-grim 8.2 percent decline in Germany and the UK’s 19.6 percent being its worst in five years.

The analysis made a consistent point of blaming both ongoing economic troubles as well as tablets, led by the iPad, for triggering the widespread drops. Having ultrabooks at the end of the year gave Windows PC builders a “desperately needed” injection, research head Ranjit Atwal said, but hadn’t come in time. Smartphones and e-readers were also likely affecting rivals.

Such declines help explain continued Windows revenue losses beyond what Microsoft was willing to state. While attributing it to a mix of ecnoomics nad newer form factors, the European data show just how much the decline was attributed to falling PC sales and the possible conversion of many buyers to the iPad and, to a lessser extent, Android.