Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 products use the same protocol specification which improves compatibility for any USB Type-C based products. It is now the basis of the USB4 protocol specification. It can dynamically adjust data and video bandwidth. There was limited adoption of the standard while it used the Mini DisplayPort connector. This has changed with the inclusion of the Type-C connector to the Thunderbolt Interface.Ģ020 brought us a new standard from Intel that is named Thunderbolt 4. It moved from a Mini DisplayPort connector to a USB Type-C connector and incorporated several advances over Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt 2. These are Active cables. They cost more than similar cables for DisplayPort and USB. There is a limit of six (6) devices that are plugged in a daisy chain to any Thunderbolt port. It can also supply power through to any devices plugged to that port. (There are still some fibre optic cables available, but power cannot be transmitted through them.) The cables are bi-directional, and each Thunderbolt port supports two channels, which means the port can send and receive data simultaneously.

Thunderbolt supports Data, Video, Audio, and Power from a single port. One connector supports up to six (6) devices through various topologies. Thunderbolt combines PCI Express (PCIe) and DisplayPort (DP) into one serial signal alongside a DC connection for electric power, transmitted over one cable. It uses the same connector as Mini DisplayPort (MDP). Thunderbolt is a hardware interface that allows for the connection of devices to a computer. Thunderbolt is a revolutionary I/O technology that supports high-resolution displays and high-performance data devices through a single, compact port.

It is still tied into the PCIe signal and is ideal for 4K graphics. It was discovered that copper was cheaper and still provided the high speeds that were required. Note: Thunderbolt was conceived as an optical technology and was intended to run exclusively on optical fibre cable and use an Optical Physical Layer.

Thunderbolt port to hdmi