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News from Computex 2015 suggests that Thunderbolt 3 is upon us.

 

The first big change is the cable will not use the Mini DisplayPort as found on T1 and T2 but will now be using the USB type-C plug s it’s new connector.

 

Now supporting USB 3.1 (i.e Gen 2, up to 10GB/s) .

 

The Thunderbolt transport layer sees its max bandwidth doubled from 20GB/s to 40GB/s (bi-directional, full duplex).

 

Thunderbolt 3 also offers an optional 100W of power, in accordance with the USB Power Delivery spec. Without USB PD, Thunderbolt will provide up to 15w.

Thunderbolt 3 is backed by Intel’s new Alpine Ridge controller.

 

There will be 2 versions. 1) that uses four PCIe 3.0 lanes to drive two Thunderbolt ports 2) that uses two PCIe lanes to connect a single Thunderbolt port.

 

With the increase in bandwidth Thunderbolt 3 now supports up to TWO 4K @ 60Hz displays or a single 5K @ 60Hz display running off a single cable.

 

DisplayPort 1.2 will be the native standard for the Thunderbolt 3 .

 

At launch there will be 1 passive cable to support Thunderbolt, USB 3.1 and DisplayPort 1.2 but that will only allow a bandwidth of 20GB/s. This will be a standard cheap USB Type-C cable. There will also be an active cable that allows 40GB/s transfer speeds, but drops DP 1.2 connectivity.

 

We are very excited with the adoption of Type-C connector leading the way to tablet connectivity.

 

With such a fast transfer speed it is only a matter of time before you will only need 1 cable to connect all your devices.

 

Bring on The Future