Intel first revealed Thunderbolt 4 during its CES 2020 presentation earlier this year. The firm didn’t share any major particulars for Thunderbolt 4 during the event. But immediately, it has officially revealed every little thing there’s to learn about this next-gen port that may come with most laptops within the following years.
First, What’s new in Thunderbolt 4? How is it totally different from Thunderbolt 3? Are we going to see insane velocity boosts?
As has been rumored for the past six months, Thunderbolt 4 is basically the same as Thunderbolt 3 however with some minor enhancements sprinkled on top. First up, there’s no speed increase. Intel already revealed this again at CES 2020, saying that Thunderbolt 4 is 4 times quicker than the present USB standard, i.e USB 3.2 Gen 2.
The USB 3.2 Gen 2 port operates at a max speed of 10Gbps. This means the new Thunderbolt Four ports will supply a maximum of 40 Gbps, which is similar to the previous-gen Thunderbolt 3. Intel states that Thunderbolt 4 is constructed upon the Thunderbolt 3 standard, thus, it’s not a significant improvement.
In addition, Intel has doubled the minimum video and information requirements with this new port. It now supports as much as two 4K displays or a single 8K display. The port supports the same protocols, together with USB 2.0, USB 3.2, USB 4, DisplayPort, and PCIe (PCI Express), like its predecessor. It additionally requires a minimum data transfer rate of 32Gbps via PCIe and 3,000Mbps for storage switch speeds.
The chipmaker is now attempting to spice up the adoption of Thunderbolt 4 ports by laying down some certification requirements. This consists of PC charging on a minimum of one among these ports, wake up the computer just by touching the mouse/ keyboard once you’re linked to a dock, and Intel VT-d (virtualization technology) based DMA safety is required.
Intel calls Thunderbolt 4 probably the most complete and future-proof model of USB-C port
As for the accessory side of things, “Thunderbolt 4 will offer docks with up to four Thunderbolt ports and universal cables up to 2 meters in length.” This will embrace one upstream and three downstream ports and the 40Gbps bandwidth might be split amongst linked accessories utilizing the new Thunderbolt 4 controller 8000 series.
When will we see Thunderbolt 4 port baked into units? The press release says that Thunderbolt 4 laptops and equipment will make their debut later this year. Intel will first introduce it with the upcoming 10nm ‘Tiger Lake’ mobile processors. The devkits and certification testing for Thunderbolt 4 are actually available.
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