When you buy a new computer, have you been dizzy by various interfaces? Don't worry, today we will talk about those dazzling interface technologies: Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3, USB4 and USB 3. Learn how they differ and you'll be able to make a more informed choice the next time you upgrade your device.
Comparison of Thunderbolt 4 vs Thunderbolt 3
Thunderbolt is a unique technology that was developed by Intel with Apple involvement. It's more of a brand name than a specification, and Intel has been pushing the technology in Ultrabooks since 2011. Thunderbolt 4 has completely replaced Thunderbolt 3 after its launch in 2020, and it supports USB4 specifications, DisplayPort 1.2, and PCIe. Thunderbolt 4 is compatible with almost all other devices, including all Thunderbolt versions and USB.
Thunderbolt 4 continues to rely on a flexible USB-C form factor and has 40Gbps of bandwidth. It already surpasses Thunderbolt 3 in many of its features and minimum performance levels.
Thunderbolt 3 has improved minimum video support compared to Thunderbolt 4, and the new standard now supports at least two 4K displays running at 60Hz or one 8K display running at 30Hz.
PCIe bandwidth requirements are doubled, increasing Thunderbolt 4 from 16Gbps to 32Gbps for Thunderbolt 3. If you use removable storage regularly, you should be able to theoretically increase the transfer speed to about 3,000MB/s with Thunderbolt 4.
The best Thunderbolt 4 docking stations can provide up to three downstream Thunderbolt 4 ports and are protected by Intel's virtualization technology for Direct Memory Access (DMA) to help combat threats.
USB4 is a high-performance USB standard
USB4是最新通用串行总线(USB)标准,由USB-IF命名。 之前的USB版本经历了USB 3.1 Gen 1到USB 3.2 Gen 1(5Gbps),USB 3.1 Gen 2到USB 3.2 Gen 2(10Gbps)。
There's also a newer USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 standard with speeds of up to 20Gbps and hardware support.
USB4 is now backwards compatible with USB 2.0.
USB4 is built on the foundation of Thunderbolt 3, so it has many of the same capabilities.
USB4 benefits from Intel essentially giving up the license to use Thunderbolt 3. USB4 is built on top of Thunderbolt 3, so many of their features are similar. The best version of USB 3.0 reached a speed of 20Gbps, and USB4 had the same speed as Thunderbolt 3 and 4, both at 40Gbps. USB4 only strictly uses the USB-C interface.
The previous USB version split the bandwidth among all connected devices and relied on the separation of data and video with no crossover. USB4 allows for on-demand sharing of lanes, allowing you to reach bandwidth caps, such as with the best laptop docking stations, USB4 can handle dual 4K displays or single 5K displays, and up to 100W of charging power, the same as Thunderbolt 3.
The main conclusion is that USB4 wants to unify the ports between devices. It's time to switch everything to USB-C, which is on par with Thunderbolt 3 performance.
What is the difference between Thunderbolt 4 and USB4?
There are four different versions of the latter standard, although the ones we see mainly are USB4 Gen 2x2 and USB4 Gen 2x3, called USB4 20Gbps and USB4 40Gbps, respectively.
USB4 requires only 20Gbps and does not need to support a minimum display resolution, with data at least 10Gbps via USB 3.2, while Thunderbolt 4 guarantees 10Gbps and 32Gbps PCIe performance over USB 3.2.
USB4's port power requirement is reduced to a minimum of 7.5W, while Thunderbolt 4 guarantees 15W.
Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 are compatible with each other, but Thunderbolt 4 guarantees a certain level of performance.
THUNDERBOLT 5在望
Thunderbolt 5 is expected to arrive in some devices in 2024, and it brings even greater improvements than the previous generation. Intel outlines the expected improvements in the chart below.
The biggest change is the huge increase in bandwidth, with Thunderbolt 5 doubling the 40Gbps capacity of Thunderbolt 4. The new standard is 120Gbps with flexible bandwidth and can handle up to 80Gbps bidirectional transmission or 120Gbps transmit and 40Gbps receive simultaneously.
Thunderbolt 5 can provide more external display support, with up to three external displays running on a single cable with high resolution and refresh rate. Thunderbolt 5 can also handle up to 240W of charging power back to the host PC, easily exceeding Thunderbolt 4's current 100W limit. This should make it more suitable for power-intensive gaming laptops and workstations.
Thunderbolt 5 will allow easy connection with external GPUs. Even if you don't have an AI PC, you can connect a discrete GPU (which is also great for gaming).
Thunderbolt 5 is USB4 compatible and will be backwards compatible with older Thunderbolt standards (although performance will be reduced when connected to a PC without Thunderbolt 5).