You can see similar trends in data transfer. This gives the manufacturer more flexibility in design and build, but it also makes things very confusing for the customer. So some Thunderbolt 3 ports support two displays at 4K or even one at 8K while others only support one 4K monitor. By contrast, Thunderbolt 3 is only required to support one 4K monitor. Every Thunderbolt 4 laptop supports two 4K displays or one 8K display. At least, not at first.Ĭompared to version 3, Thunderbolt 4 requires a much stricter set of capabilities to be certified. So how does adding Thunderbolt to the mix help? It doesn't. We've already established USB was originally conceived to combat connection confusion. In theory, a Thunderbolt 3 device should be able to do just about anything a Thunderbolt 4 device can do. Both share the standard USB-C connector, and both have a top speed of 40Gbps. What's the difference between Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4?Īt first glance, it's hard to tell the two apart. Although USB and Thunderbolt have adopted the Type-C connection, what they do with it can still get a little confusing. So, from Type-A to Type-C, has USB finally achieved a universal connector? Not quite.
Mini and Micro USB: Unidirectional and typically used on smaller or mobile devices.Type-B: The mostly square connection often seen on larger peripherals like printers and USB docking stations.Type-A: The thin rectangular connection is famous for two things, being the most widely used USB type and for always being upside down the first time you try to plug it in.Over the past 25 years, USB has come in a handful of connection types:
The Universal Serial Bus, or USB, set out to make connecters more, well, universal. They were packed with teeth, and you never had the cable you needed. If you were using computers before USB, you'll remember some pretty big serial connectors.