What does Thunderbolt port mean?

Thunderbolt port is an integrated transmission interface and an "I/O" technology; the interface is able to combine fast transmission rates of data, audio and video streams and built-in power into one interface. It is the "Light Peak" technology released by Intel and named "Thunderbolt", commonly known as the Thunderbolt interface.

The operating environment of this tutorial: Windows 10 system, DELL G3 computer.

What does Thunderbolt port mean?

The Thunderbolt interface is an integrated transmission interface. Thunderbolt is an I/O technology that combines fast transfer rates for data, audio and video streaming, and built-in power into a single interface.

Intel has released the long-publicized Light Peak technology and named it "Thunderbolt", "Thunderbolt" interface, commonly known as Thunderbolt interface. Thunderbolt connection technology combines PCI Express data transmission technology and DisplayPort display technology, which can transmit data and video signals at the same time, and each channel provides two-way 10Gbps bandwidth. The latest Thunderbolt 4 reaches 40Gbps

The difference between thunderbolt interface and usb interface

There are three types of USB interfaces, USB (Type) series, Mini series and Micro series . As one of the common interfaces, USB-A is found in many devices, such as mice, keyboards, etc. It can be used for simple data transmission and power supply, but the pros and cons of the USB-A interface are different. There is always a rule of plugging it in three times to succeed. USB-B is mainly used in printers, scanners and other devices, and is relatively rare now. While Mini-USB is mostly used in cameras, Micro-USB used to be commonly used in mobile phones. Nowadays, almost all mainstream devices use USB-C interface, which can be plugged in from both front and back, making it easy to use.

After talking about the main interfaces, let’s talk about the transmission protocol. The protocols can be roughly divided into USB1.0, USB2.0, USB3.0 and USB4, as well as Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4.

The same is the USB-C interface. Different devices use different data transmission protocols, and the difference comes out. Take USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 as examples. Both use this interface and are built based on the Thunderbolt 3 protocol. But Thunderbolt 4 is fully compatible with USB4, which is twice as high as the minimum performance requirements of USB4. Simply put, USB4 is equivalent to the low-end version of Thunderbolt 4. Although the interfaces look the same, USB4 and Thunderbolt 4 can be easily distinguished from their appearance. Thunderbolt 4 has a lightning logo, while USB4 has a speed logo.

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Thunderbolt technology integrates two communication protocols, PCI Express and DisplayPort. Among them, PCI Express is used for data transmission, which can be very convenient for expansion of any type of equipment; DisplayPort is used for display, which can simultaneously transmit 1080p or even ultra-high-definition video and up to eight-channel audio. And both channels have their own separate channels during transmission without causing any interference. The physical appearance of the Thunderbolt interface is initially the same as the original Mini DisplayPort interface. Mini DP interface monitors and Mini DP to HDMI/DVI/VGA interface adapters can be used on the Thunderbolt interface. This Thunderbolt interface was used on early Macs. use. The current physical appearance of lightning interfaces is mostly Type-C interface.

Generally speaking, applying existing physical interfaces can have more advantages in terms of compatibility. The Thunderbolt interface is driven by the Intel control chip and is connected to the system chipset through the PCI-E x4 and DisplayPort bus. It can also Directly connected to Intel processor core graphics card for DisplayPort output. The transmission mechanism based on the PCI-E protocol makes data transmission more convenient, eliminating the need for conversion steps, and can also be adapted to more situations. Thunderbolt uses copper cables and is limited to 3 meters in length. Fiber optic cable products will also be launched. The theoretical transmission rate of optical fiber can reach 100Gbps, while copper wire is only set to 10Gbps. Copper wire retains one advantage in the future, which is to provide 10W power supply through the cable, while fiber optic Thunderbolt does not provide power supply function.

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