Bandwidth remains unchanged from Thunderbolt 3, though executives said to expect new types of docks and longer cables. AMD, which has traditionally never associated Thunderbolt with its Ryzen platforms, pooh-poohed Thunderbolt demand but said it meets the spec’s security restrictions. Thunderbolt 4 will debut later this year as part of Intel’s “Tiger Lake” CPU platform, as Intel originally announced during CES in January. We now know it will support 40Gbps throughput, but with tighter minimum specs. Thunderbolt 4 will guarantee that a pair of 4K displays will work with a Thunderbolt dock, and require Thunderbolt 4-equipped PCs to charge on at least one Thunderbolt port. Thunderbolt PCs will be able to connect to either “compact” or “full” docks with up to four Thunderbolt ports. Longer Thunderbolt cables will be possible, too. One thing that might not change is Thunderbolt’s exclusivity. Intel developed Thunderbolt with Apple, and perhaps not coincidentally, OEM systems based on rival AMD’s CPUs have never had this technology. AMD officials dismissed the need for Thunderbolt, even though officials indicated that they could ship Thunderbolt controllers without the need to integrate them. The Thunderbolt technology that Intel and Apple designed originated with Intel’s “Light Peak” technology prototype at 2009’s Intel Developer Forum. Intel’s still pitching Thunderbolt as a single standard to rule them all, but the reality up to now has been complicated. You still have to squint hard at that USB-C-shaped port to determine which of the multitude of USB specifications it meets, including whether it’s a USB4 connection that happens to support Thunderbolt. To muddy things further, Thunderbolt also encompasses PCIe, DisplayPort, and USB Power Delivery standards. Intel’s informal message is “just look for the Thunderbolt.” The small lightning-bolt icon means that port will support everything from USB 3.2 to USB4, and a high-speed Thunderbolt 4 cable will cover all of your bandwidth. Though Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 share the same underlying protocol, Thunderbolt 4 includes more compatibility requirements than USB4 does. That makes Thunderbolt 4 the “complete version of USB-C,” according to Jason Ziller, the general manager for Client Connectivity for Intel, in a presentation to reporters. Thunderbolt has long aspired to clean up the mess that is the various USB standards, all using USB-C as a physical interface.
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