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

arstechnica.co.uk

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

#21

Post by Already__Taken »

ZenoArrow wrote: post #19
Already__Taken wrote: post #10

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.

I can't see how the cables will look much different between each other but even so they will all fit the same connector. There's already planned the 20gbps copper, 40gbps active copper and optical.

What mechanism can stop the £0.99 charge only cables people expect to plug in their portable hard drives through.

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

#22

Post by quonn »

Already__Taken wrote: post #10

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,

I think we will see symbols next to the port like the thunderbolt symbol and a charging symbol. And I guess most manufacturers will enable all of their ports at least for charging to keep things simple (and customers happy).

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

#23

Post by jkyle »

awalton wrote: 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.

I think that's the point. Only one port, multiple protocols.

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

#24

Post by quonn »

awalton wrote: 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.

Well, almost all devices will probably just use USB 3.1 anyway. The few exceptions are probably for professionals and they simply have to be plugged into a port with the thunderbolt symbol using cables that have a thunderbolt symbol, too.

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

#25

Post by pgeorgi »

izacus wrote: post #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?…

USB Type C provides a standardized protocol for protocol negotiation. I assume that Thunderbolt uses that.

It's already used in Type C to enable plugging in USB, chargers (PD spec), HDMI or DP adapters (https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/dingdong) and I think even to route PCIe over Type C. Adding Thunderbolt to the mix shouldn't be too hard.

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

#26

Post by ghshephard »

awalton wrote: 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.

I think you've got it backwards - if I'm reading this correctly, and you own a (for the sake of argument), 2016 MacBook Pro - your Thunderbolt 3 ports will support everything. USB/Thunderbolt are now using the same physical interface (no need for dongles), and Thunderbolt 3 will support USB 3.1. In the incredibly rare (will likely never be seen by an average consumer) scenario that you have some high-end equipment that actually requires Thunderbolt 3, and not USB 3.1 - you'll definitely know whether your device supports it, and on which ports.

Put in regular terms - you can now use your USB 3.1 device in any port that you can plug into.

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

#27

Post by chisleu »

izacus wrote: post #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?…

Thunderbolt isn't an Apple interface, it is an Intel interface. They were the first to use it, because they picked the best and fastest interface to combine video with network, USB, firewire, etc into one cable. However, several other brands have caught on, including the Dell m3800 I bought recently.

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

#28

Post by stephen_g »

I'm interested in how backwards compatibility works - will old Thunderbolt devices work with just an adaptor cable? As someone who does a lot of professional video/audio work, I have a bunch of Thunderbolt devices so I hope that's the case.

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

#29

Post by orbitur »

awalton wrote: 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.

Your USB device is guaranteed to work. If you have a TB device, then yes, you'll need to actually look at the port to see if the TB logo is near it.

Since TB devices are so uncommon, I don't see a problem.

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

#30

Post by lucaspiller »

hjnilsson wrote: post #3

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…

> Imagine screens, laptops, TVs

I have no doubts they will continue to have VGA ports until 2025...

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