Earlier quoted context omitted.
Best part is all USB 3 ports get to be rebranded as USB 3.3 as well.
I'm honestly surprised that they haven't rebranded USB 2 into USB 3.2 Gen 0 and USB 1 into USB 3.2 Gen -1.
USB4 Specification Announced: Adopting Thunderbolt 3 Protocol for 40 Gbps USB
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Re: USB4 Specification Announced: Adopting Thunderbolt 3 Protocol for 40 Gbps USB
#22Does this also mean that soon every computer will be making noise/radiating waves around 40GHz? Can someone with more depth in this area shine some light on this?
Re: USB4 Specification Announced: Adopting Thunderbolt 3 Protocol for 40 Gbps USB
#23Re: USB4 Specification Announced: Adopting Thunderbolt 3 Protocol for 40 Gbps USB
#24Here's an idea, let's make different connector shapes depending on the cable/connector's capabilities, lets do one for connectors that support display, one for power, one for thunderbolt, that way they're easy for the average consumer to identify! Oh wait that's the issue USB was supposed to solve in the first place....
Re: USB4 Specification Announced: Adopting Thunderbolt 3 Protocol for 40 Gbps USB
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
Article says "The USB4 specification will be based on the Thunderbolt protocol that Intel has contributed to the USB Promoter Group. The new interface will use USB Type-C connectors and will maintain backwards compatibility with USB 2.0, USB 3.2, and Thunderbolt 3 interfaces ", so bet on probably . But maybe not, they might only mean that a USB4 computer can use a TB3 device. I expect they'll continue the trend of in…
or port color. We've used blue and red at least, guess it is time for green (in which case, confusion for the Razer Blade users).
Re: USB4 Specification Announced: Adopting Thunderbolt 3 Protocol for 40 Gbps USB
#26Not USB 3.2 Gen 2x2x2?? Come on, consistency people!
Re: USB4 Specification Announced: Adopting Thunderbolt 3 Protocol for 40 Gbps USB
#27I had to look up what the point of 40Gbps was, and the industry evangelization site https://thunderbolttechnology.net/ explains that it will allow driving one 5k display or two 4k displays, which is not possible with the 20Gbps offered by USB 3.2 or Thunderbolt 2.
This also helps external GPUs, where TB2/USB3.2 is the equivalent of 2.5 PCI-e 3.0 lanes, while TB3/USB3 is 5.
With that, it seems the goal is to be a viable alternative to PCI-e and HDMI, rather than just improve on today's USB3 speeds for existing device classes.
Re: USB4 Specification Announced: Adopting Thunderbolt 3 Protocol for 40 Gbps USB
#28Does this also mean that soon every computer will be making noise/radiating waves around 40GHz? Can someone with more depth in this area shine some light on this?
One more question. Does this also mean that soon every computer will become software defined radio up to 40GHz?
Additionally, the cables are twisted pair, which among other things minimizes emission. And high-speed cables are also supposed to be shielded.
Re: USB4 Specification Announced: Adopting Thunderbolt 3 Protocol for 40 Gbps USB
#29As someone who knows next to nothing about how USB actually works and just uses it, what goes into making each USB generation faster? At the physical layer, is it the materials in the cables are getting better? Or new ways of using the same materials? At the protocol layer, is it newly developed computer science theory being applied or is it just old fashioned pragmatic engineering iteration, looking at usage and mak…
Yes, and more expensive on that. Laptop makers totally hate usb 3.0+ for that.
The industry standard for internal digital connectivity was the FPC - flexible printed circuit board, a very economical and ergonomic solution, but then came USB 3.0.
Regular polyimide FPC can't reliably handle the high frequency signalling. Still, many laptop makers still use it, to regrettable results.
The few solutions left are the micro coax cable, running twisted pair inside the case, or passing it over a hard pcb bridge. All are very expensive, and hard on assembly lines.
This is why in most budget laptops manufacturers do a following trick – they put all usb 3.0 ports on one side, and 2.0 on the opposite. This way they only have to run the low frequency, low lane count usb 2.0 to other side of the laptop.
Only very recently, there came an FPC maker that makes custom cabling with some proprietary dielectric that can handle 3.0. And they charge more for it than for hard pcb bridge.
Even if the cable material issue is solved, you still have to find way to connect it to PCB. High frequency connectors are not cheap either.