Thats cool and all, but why not just use tb3 at this point? It seems like the exact same thing
It probably don't have the exploits that tb3 has
Great. A new cord to get confused with.
I think the whole thing behind USB 4 is that it's actually cross-compatible with TB thanks to Intel sharing its protocol. What I gathered is that there won't be any more Thunderbolt/USB ports and USB-only ports. Any USB 4 port will just inherently be a Thunderbolt port.
Seems like it's going to be reusing the same USB type-C connector, so that won't be an issue.
Oh, sick. Then I imagine that we'll finally get Thunderbolt capability on Ryzen systems if it's just been folded into the new version as standard (makes me wonder if this was a reason Ryzen 3xxx was pushed back). I wonder if that means development of Thunderbolt as its own separate thing will cease from this point onward, with anything that would've been part of an eventual Thunderbolt 4 just becoming part of USB 4.x revisions. Intel did say they're releasing the tech for everyone to use sans royalties, so I imagine future development will just be further contributions to USB.
But on that note, didn't they just introduce USB 3.2? Is announcing a USB 4.0 so soon just supposed to get everyone used to the idea of the two combining? Actually, maybe not, considering that built-in Thunderbolt support would imply that USB 4 is going to exclusively be over C-to-C connections, which means that USB 3 would stick around so long as we're still using USB-A/B/micro connectors.
Apple will ditch the USB-C port if non-apple hardware becomes natively compatible with apple laptops. Or, they'll ditch ports altogether and make charging and peripherals wireless-only
Somehow, I actually doubt this. The new iPad Pro model actually does away with Apple's proprietary Lightning connector for USB-C, and I can see future iPhone and iPad models following that trend.
It's not a surefire bet, but Apple might actually pull their heads out of their ass over this. The past few years have started to humble them, with slipping sales and people becoming less accepting of what Apple's historically gotten away with.
The way I understand it, 3.2 introduces new connection modes that use the pins on both sides of the connector simultaneously to double the bandwidth. But instead of naming just those USB 3.2, they continued the naming clusterfuck of 3.1 even further so there's now 4 possible modes: 5Gb/s (from the original 3.0 standard), 10Gb/s (from the 3.1 standard), 2×5Gb/s and 2×10Gb/s (these are new in 3.2 and only possible with type C connectors).
As far as I can tell, the only new thing 4.0 introduces is a 40Gb/s mode that's basically Thunderbolt 3 turned into an open standard.
Seems like there's a new cable every month
USB-C's been available for more than five years now
Already?
Damn I am old
I don't think USB-C started being really commonplace until around a year or two ago tho
Last year(late 2018) Dell rolled out their new line of Optiplex's, and their new line of monitors.
All of them include, by default, usb-c. It really did take until last year for them to reach the market place.
I love having USB-C on my phone, it's great. I keep a big fucking battery in my bag so I can charge my phone and/or switch while out.
Hopefully, but I can see them moving to some obscure connector because it supports (insert feature here) that open standard do not, they have a long history of it.
Switch is the most commonplace device that actually uses USB-C, I think. Everything else that uses it has generally been high-end up until now, with many mid-range phones or lower still on micro-B and motherboards giving you one if you're lucky. Laptops generally keep it on the high-end, too.
Going forward, you'll see it a looooot more.
Once companies like Dell and other major producers of business computer solution providers adopt it, all the more niche computer companies making common brands bought by gamers on that price scale will start introducing it as the major manufacturing techniques have been figured out by companies like Dell or otherwise.
Oh don't get me wrong, I've little trust for Apple, but somehow I actually don't see them doing that this time. I think this dongle mess is a big part of why people are getting fed up with them.
USB version isn't the same as cord/connector. My PC for example has 2.0 and 3.0 connectors, which use the same cables.
About every 3-5 years actually.
You who hate confusing cables should be rejoicing at these news. New USB format can soon replace every assorted cable you have. You can run power, internet, 4K video and whatever through that tiny thing.
Thunderbolt going royalty-free is honestly one of the best news pieces in a long while surrounding tech. It is capable of basically eliminating every port on the back of your computer with how versatile it is. Having it accepted on the scale of USB would be revolutionary.
Yeah, some modern MacBooks even have nothing but Thunderbolt ports on them, replacing even a dedicated power port (and yes, even the headphone jack on some of 'em). In some years, I could even see some motherboards going full Rozetkus and having nothing on their rear I/O but an array of USB4 ports, and any other cables just use adapter dongles for support (which would then phase out over time as new products begin to move over to USB4 as their sole interface).
Honestly I'd be down for this. It's kind of the ultimate endgame for peripheral connectors.
It's likely where we're heading. If I'm correct and USB4 is solely over USB-C, then it's a pretty clear attempt to cut away from the current ecosystem and start clean. HDMI, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt, Lightning, and so on up to and including USB 3.x - all with separate technology and connectors - will be confined to this "generation" of peripherals and USB4 will mark the new one as hopefully the only interface we need for nearly all use cases.
Similar to how USB's introduction in the first place was meant to clear away a lot of old interfaces and eventually led to a mid-2000s initiative of "legacy-free" tech that ditched stuff like serial ports, floppy drives, PS/2, Parallel ATA, and other technologies that had been made obsolete by USB and other emerging tech, we'll likely see another "refresh" in the early-to-mid-2020s where machines standardize to having nothing but USB4 ports and any necessary backwards compatibility is provided by USB4 adapters, similar to the USB adapters we have now for old interfaces.
That's for wired peripherals, anyway. For removable storage, SD Express is the next step and while many machines have already ditched optical drives, I see them remaining an option for those who want them. Internally, the only real housekeeping we can do is possibly ditching SATA and moving completely to M.2 and U.2. But the only existing external cables I see staying even in the new "generation" will be basic IEC C13 power and RJ-45 ethernet, just because they're so cheap, reliable, and ubiquitous. And even C13 is only guaranteed for desktops; laptops might all jump to USB4 for power, as might monitors.
Note: it's "USB4", not "USB 4". No space. More great branding decisions from the USB IF who brought us "USB 3.2 Gen 2x2" for the new 20 Gb/s link.
Also this thing sounds fucking cursed.
The positive news for me is that Intel has finally made good on a 2 year old promise to open up the TB3 specs, so people can now come up with hardware implementations that aren't "use the exact BoM Intel did in the reference design, else it won't work"
But what if the legacy?
I’m gonna use my goddamn hp deskjet from 2001 and my fucking Intellimouse from 2003 until the plastic fucking cracks and peels away from below my goddamn hands.
tb3 is fundamentally different hardware.
Electronics are slowly switching over to it. I've got a bunch of stuff with it already:
Laptop
Desktop
Camera
Phone
Battery bank
The Switch uses it extensively too, even for its controller.
Afaik hardware from the 90s is still usable with adapters so I wouldn't worry. A lot devices may use USB-A connector but there's really no reason besides that to not start using USB-C universally.
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