Thunderbolt 4 cable

When it comes to peripheral connectivity on modern PCs, you’ll probably find at least two of these three ports: USB-A, USB-C, and Thunderbolt. Of course, some PCs will have different combinations of all three, but today we’ll focus on Thunderbolt, which in its current iteration is sold as Thunderbolt 4.

Thunderbolt 4 can be most simply described as the port that ends all ports. It is an evolution of Thunderbolt 3 that still uses the USB Type-C connector. Like previous iterations, it supports PCIe, DisplayPort, and USB signaling over a single cable (up to 2 meters long). In addition, Thunderbolt 4 is backwards compatible with all previous versions (although you will need adapters for the original Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2) as well as all previous USB standards.

Intel officially announced Thunderbolt 4 in early 2020 and began shipping it on Core-based 11th generation laptops later that fall (and early 2021). Compared to the previous Thunderbolt 3 interface, Thunderbolt 4 increases the minimum PCIe link bandwidth requirement from 16 Gbps to 32 Gbps and adds support for dual 4K displays (60 Hz) using the DisplayPort 1.4 protocol. Other advancements over Thunderbolt 3 include the ability to wake PCs from sleep, support for accessories with up to four Thunderbolt ports, and Intel VT-d DMA (direct memory access) protection for virtual machines.

CABLETIME Thunderbolt 4 supports up to 40 Gbps bi-directional bandwidth, making it an ideal interface for PC-to-PC data transfers, best-in-class SSD storage solutions and external GPU docking stations such as the Razer Core X. Another benefit for laptops is that there must be at least one Thunderbolt 4 capable of charging the device. This strikes at the heart of the “one cable to rule them all” mantra, eliminating the need for proprietary charging solutions from individual laptop OEMs.

This universal compatibility extends to support all current and previous USB standards, including USB 4. USB 4 peripherals also use USB-C type connectors and can be plugged directly into Thunderbolt 4 ports and run at full speed (20 Gbps). Thunderbolt 4 can also accommodate older USB peripherals using USB Type-C or Type-A connectors (via an adapter or docking station).

Thunderbolt 4 ports can currently be found on Intel-based desktops and laptops, as well as Apple’s latest Macs and iPad Pros.

If you want to learn more, please click here.