Thunderbolt 3: Now the Revolution Begins
By Jim Bask
2500 megabytes per second drives. Dual 4K displays. External PCIe system expansion. Thunderbolt is no longer just a faster kind of Firewire. It’s a complete desktop ecosystem.
In the world of computing there have traditionally been three main gateways for data going into and out of a PC: a network connection, a storage connection, and a display port. (Forgive a little oversimplification here.) But at the end of the day, it’s all just data, so why have different pipes? That’s the rationale behind Thunderbolt 3’s unified interface architecture.
Each standard Thunderbolt 3 chipset offers a total of 40 Gbps of duplex (both ways) bandwidth that can be utilized for DisplayPort monitor connections, PCIe connections, USB connections, native Thunderbolt connections, or some combination thereof. (There are some restrictions to those combinations–more on that later.)
What this all means is that a single diminutive socket can provide a myriad of connection possibilities for one computer. What’s more, that socket happens to be a USB Type-C connector–the new, ubiquitous standard for generic USB connectivity. Oh, and it can charge battery-powered devices at up to 100W.
Let’s break down the potential uses for Thunderbolt 3 connections and then take a look at some of the gotchas when working with the new interface….[continue reading on ProVideo Coalition]