For those of you who have been a long-time follower of my channel, you know I recently bought a new Dell XPS 17 9710.
My new Dell XPS 17 has 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports, and the MacBook Pro also has Thunderbolt ports. Have you ever wondered what’s the difference between USB-C and Thunderbolt port? That’s what we will be talking about in today’s video.
The Thunderbolt port is designed by Intel and Apple, so you’ll see Thunderbolt ports on Apple products and Intel based PC’s. However, you won’t see Thunderbolt ports on AMD-based laptops, well, because AMD and Intel are rivals.
What is USB?
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USB stands for “Universal Serial Bus”, and it was first released in 1996 with what is now known as USB 1.0. USB is designed by a bunch of tech companies including Apple, Intel, Microsoft, and others. Back then, the full speed of a USB 1.0 was 12 Mbit/s. Compare that with Thunderbolt 4 that has speeds of 40 Gbit/s.
Most of us are familiar with USB Type A, which is still found on the majority of laptops and is still used in computer accessories like keyboard and mice, and some new Sony cameras like the Sony ZV-1, which is used to shoot footage for this video.
The most annoying thing about USB-A is that I keep plugging it in the wrong way. We’ve all been there. USB-C solves this problem as I can insert the USB-C cable any way I want into the USB-C port. The same goes for Thunderbolt 4 ports.
What is Thunderbolt 4?
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As previously mentioned, Thunderbolt is designed by Intel and Apple. It was first introduced in 2011 using the mini DisplayPort connector and the current Thunderbolt 4 uses the USB-C connector.
Thunderbolt 4 can support dual 4K displays. Thunderbolt 4 has amazing transfer speeds of 40Gb/s. It is twice as fast as the 20 Gb/s for USB 3.2, 4 times as fast as the 10 Gb/s for USB 3.1, 8 times as fast as the 5 Gb/s for USB 3.0, and more than 80 times faster than the 480MB/s for USB 2.0.
One annoying thing about my Dell XPS 17 is that it only has 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports. Even though it’s a minor annoyance without USB-A ports, I can run everything through 1 Thunderbolt cable to my Dell WD19TB hub which has all the ports I need like USB-A, HDMI, display ports, power, etc.
Conclusion
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In conclusion, USB Type-C is the physical shape of the connector. Thunderbolt 4 is a protocol that allows super fast data transfer interface and also includes DisplayPort protocol to power two 4K displays, ability to charge laptops and other devices, and other features.
#Thunderbolt #USB-C #Technology #cables
Gear used:
- Camera: Sony ZV-1
- Microphone: Rode Wireless Go
- Lighting: Mountdog Studio Lights
