WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.040 Typically when we get a new version of some kind of technology, one of the key selling points is 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:10.880 it's way faster than your old one! And in fairness to Intel, Thunderbolt 4 is 00:00:10.880 --> 00:00:16.880 four times faster than USB 3, except for one small problem. USB 3 is not the previous generation 00:00:16.880 --> 00:00:21.520 technology for Thunderbolt, and it turned out that Intel was also referring to the version 00:00:21.520 --> 00:00:27.600 of USB 3 that is 10 gigabit per second, not 20 gigabit. So at 40 gigabit per second, 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:34.240 Thunderbolt 4 actually has the exact same transfer speeds as its predecessor Thunderbolt 3. So then 00:00:34.960 --> 00:00:42.000 is there any real reason to get excited? Well, maybe. As it turns out, that 40 gigabit speed 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:48.560 was actually a little misleading before. While it was already the maximum overall speed, 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:53.680 some Thunderbolt 3 ports only supported speeds of up to 16 gigabits per second 00:00:53.680 --> 00:00:59.200 for PCI Express devices. That limited the top speed of high performance devices like 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:05.280 external storage solutions and graphics cards. Thunderbolt 4, by contrast, increases this to 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:11.280 32 gigabits per second with Intel claiming that users could see external SSD speeds of up to 3 00:01:11.280 --> 00:01:18.000 gigabytes a second. That could be helpful if you're a video editor loading tons of footage onto your 00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:23.280 external storage device from a camera, or if you're just someone who moves a lot of files around for 00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:29.120 fun. And even if you're not constantly shuffling huge amounts of data back and forth, Thunderbolt 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:36.400 4 offers the ability to connect two 4K displays or one 8K display. And with all the multitasking 00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:41.680 we're doing these days, driving multiple high resolution external monitors with a single compact 00:01:41.680 --> 00:01:46.880 port on an ultralight notebook could be pretty convenient. Now some Thunderbolt 3 systems could 00:01:46.880 --> 00:01:53.120 also handle dual 4K displays, but that wasn't the case across the board. So the summary 00:01:53.120 --> 00:01:58.480 version is that Thunderbolt 4 has more stringent minimum requirements, making it significantly 00:01:58.480 --> 00:02:03.200 easier to understand the capabilities of the device that you're buying. Thunderbolt 4 will 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:09.600 also enable docks with up to four ports, which is double that Thunderbolt 3 supported, and it'll 00:02:09.600 --> 00:02:15.280 allow input devices like keyboards or mice that are connected via a Thunderbolt 4 dock or port 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:19.920 to wake up the system. Surprisingly this didn't always happen before, even though it's something 00:02:19.920 --> 00:02:24.720 we've taken for granted over USB for quite some time now. There's also a requirement for 00:02:24.720 --> 00:02:30.800 lightweight laptops that at least one port to get Thunderbolt 4 certification will enable USB-C 00:02:30.800 --> 00:02:36.240 charging, so you'll be able to get power delivery on any ultra portable that supports Thunderbolt 4. 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:41.840 And it's also fully compatible with USB 4, which hasn't made deep inroads into the market just yet, 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:47.120 but probably will over the next year or two. To top it all off, Intel is promising that Thunderbolt 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:51.760 4 has enhanced security to protect against vulnerabilities like ThunderSpy, which made 00:02:51.760 --> 00:02:57.360 headlines in mid-2020, and also that the cables should work to up to two meters, so you shouldn't 00:02:57.360 --> 00:03:02.640 need active cables at or below that length. That'll hopefully drive costs down a little bit. 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:08.320 As you might expect, Thunderbolt is still an expensive protocol compared to USB though, 00:03:08.320 --> 00:03:14.160 and it's not exactly easy to tell which devices support Thunderbolt 4. Now Intel says that all 00:03:14.160 --> 00:03:18.880 you have to do is look for the Thunderbolt icon, but it isn't always obvious whether the sticker 00:03:18.880 --> 00:03:24.960 indicates Thunderbolt 4 or an older version of the standard, and they use exactly the same Type-C 00:03:24.960 --> 00:03:29.120 connector, so you'll want to pay extra close attention to those spec sheets if you're in the 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:34.320 market for a PC with a Thunderbolt port. The first computers to offer Thunderbolt 4 are going to be 00:03:34.320 --> 00:03:40.240 laptops featuring Intel's Tiger Lake 11th Gen processors from late 2020, which support the 00:03:40.240 --> 00:03:46.320 new protocol natively. Hopefully that change helps to make Thunderbolt a more common and, again, 00:03:46.320 --> 00:03:51.360 more inexpensive standard. But in the meantime, you can always just try to earn some money on the side 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:57.200 if 10 gig USB is really too slow for you. I mean, you know, who has an 8K camera anyway? 00:03:58.160 --> 00:04:02.000 So thanks for watching guys, like, dislike, check out our other videos, 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:06.960 leave a comment if you have a suggestion for a future video, and don't forget to subscribe, 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:13.600 or you're going to have a librarian show up at your house and get mad at you for that library 00:04:13.600 --> 00:04:17.280 book you never returned. I know you did it, Craig.