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Thunderbolt 3 embraces USB Type-C connector, doubles bandwidth to 40Gbps

arstechnica.co.uk

11–20 of 198 posts

Re: Thunderbolt 3 embraces USB Type-C connector, doubles bandwidth to 40Gbps

#11

Can someone explain whether I should care that they are still using DP 1.2 rather than 1.3? I had thought 1.3 was needed for non stitched 4k 60hz, but this should have plenty of bandwidth, so I'm now not sure what the issue with 1.2 vs 1.3 is.

I was disappointed in the lack of 1.2a, having access to adaptive sync would be a nice feature for gaming.

Re: Thunderbolt 3 embraces USB Type-C connector, doubles bandwidth to 40Gbps

#12

And finally, the future has arrived. If the iPhone 7 (doubt the 6S) sports USB-C as well, there will be a truly universal connector. Imagine screens, laptops, TVs, phones, mp3 players, docks, hard drives and toasters all using the same plug (well, maybe not the last one). There will be a painful time of transition until we are there, but hopefully it will be the last one. (Conveniently this also saves Apple on the ne…

Apple using a standard connector, dream on.

Apple replaced its proprietary MagSafe with USB-C for the latest MacBook, so there's precedent.

(Aside: but I wonder if magnetic connectors are even appropriate for a cable that can transmit data as well as power. With MagSafe, if the cable was disconnected, the laptop battery would take over and you'd be fine, but with thew new MacBook you'd potentially have data loss if you had a hard drive daisy-chained in. So perhaps that's a factor in why they got rid of magnetic connectors?)

Re: Thunderbolt 3 embraces USB Type-C connector, doubles bandwidth to 40Gbps

#13

And finally, the future has arrived. If the iPhone 7 (doubt the 6S) sports USB-C as well, there will be a truly universal connector. Imagine screens, laptops, TVs, phones, mp3 players, docks, hard drives and toasters all using the same plug (well, maybe not the last one). There will be a painful time of transition until we are there, but hopefully it will be the last one. (Conveniently this also saves Apple on the ne…

On the balance, having one connector and hand-waving everything else as "it's all software" is probably better than the bewildering combination of ports and protocols we have now. But it will come with its own new and interesting issues as well.

For example, when can/can't you plug your USB-C webcam into your USB-C monitor and expect your computer to detect it? If I plug my USB-C toaster into a USB-C computer, will it power up? Does a USB-C hub (like the ones we use with USB-A when you don't have enough ports) necessarily support every possible protocol, or can you only plug a subset of computer peripherals into it? Will all USB-C cables have the amperage ratings to safely power my laptop from the wall, or will there have to be different cable types for different uses?

Re: Thunderbolt 3 embraces USB Type-C connector, doubles bandwidth to 40Gbps

#14
Hmm, I don't understand the description fully - does that mean that it can happen that I can get a device with USB-C plug, plug it into computer and it won't work because the device uses Thunderbolt 3 and the computer isn't an Apple?

Or will all Thunderbolt 3 devices be able to scale back and communicate with devices over USB if the controller is not available? How will that work with displays over USB-C connectors? Is there a possibility that now instead of just checking for a USB port, we'll have to read the list of controllers/protocols available in devices connecting over USB-C ports?

Re: Thunderbolt 3 embraces USB Type-C connector, doubles bandwidth to 40Gbps

#16

And finally, the future has arrived. If the iPhone 7 (doubt the 6S) sports USB-C as well, there will be a truly universal connector. Imagine screens, laptops, TVs, phones, mp3 players, docks, hard drives and toasters all using the same plug (well, maybe not the last one). There will be a painful time of transition until we are there, but hopefully it will be the last one. (Conveniently this also saves Apple on the ne…

> they can now have both USB A and USB C ports without it being weird I’m expecting them to kill off USB type A ports entirely on future laptops. We’ll see what happens to Magsafe, HDMI, and SD card slots. I wouldn’t be too surprised to see a Macbook Pro with 4–6 USB type C (Thunderbolt 3) ports, a headphone jack, and nothing else. > Imagine screens, laptops, TVs, phones, mp3 players, docks, hard drives and toasters…

I could even see them ditching the head phone jack eventually. I can't imagine it will be long before someone starts making USB C headphones.

Re: Thunderbolt 3 embraces USB Type-C connector, doubles bandwidth to 40Gbps

#17
When Thunderbolt was first released it caused a lot of confusion in my office for people with DisplayPort who couldn't hook up to Thunderbolt monitors, bought for them by our IT group that really didn't understand the difference. I see this problem coming on strong AGAIN with this. This port is just USB-C while this other port is USB-C and Thunderbolt... That sounds like a load of confusion waiting to happen.

Re: Thunderbolt 3 embraces USB Type-C connector, doubles bandwidth to 40Gbps

#19

Seems to be trading all our different ports with the problem of having all levels of different cables? This port is going to be very expensive for the manufactures. If it does everything I'm going to need a bunch. Does anything stop OEMs making a row of identical ports that only 1 charges my laptop, only a couple take can use the fastest cable and I'm sure all sorts of potential shenanigans,

Is there any word on whether the cables will be different? I suspect the cables will match, but the protocols the port support will be determined by the controller chipset.

Re: Thunderbolt 3 embraces USB Type-C connector, doubles bandwidth to 40Gbps

#20
post #18

Ugh Intel. We just fixed the USB problem of "I can't figure out which way to plug this thing in", why do you have to go and add the complication of "Wait, is this a Thunderbolt or USB C device/port?" This is why we can't have nice things.

Not really. This is a smart move. Why can't the hardware can't support both? If it did, you wouldn't need to know which protocol was in use.
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