A USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3 means a single cable is all you need to power and move a large amount of information, up to and including two 60Hz 4K displays. The default protocol for the new USB-C connector is USB 3.1, which, at 10Gbps, is the same speed as Thunderbolt 1. USB Type-C ports can support a variety of different protocols allowing USB-C is a type of connection, but it can mean that any number of underlying connections are being used on that cable, whether that’s USB 3.2 Gen 1 or USB 3.2 Gen 2×2. Not all USB-C cables are alike, and different cables can provide different speeds. However, most of these specifications won’t matter for the average user so long as you can Before we get to what Thunderbolt 3 can do compared to USB 3.1, let's talk about what it looks like. Both Thunderbolt 3 and USB 3.1 use the USB Type-C connector and port. To tell the difference, Thunderbolt 3 ports, cables, and gear are typically labeled with an arrow-shaped like a lightning bolt. What Is Thunderbolt 4? You can connect external monitors, Thunderbolt™, and USB devices with a single Thunderbolt 4 cable. High-speed Thunderbolt 4 technology leverages the power of your CPU to improve data and video performance. Enhance gaming setups with gaming docks and video capture solutions to record gameplay at the highest settings. A Thunderbolt™ 4 port can support both Thunderbolt™ and USB-C devices. (Some Thunderbolt™ 3 devices do not fully support USB-C.) A USB-C port (for USB 3.0, 3.1 or 3.2) can only support USB devices. Any USB-C cable can plug into any Thunderbolt™ 3 or 4 port and vice-versa. However, if the connected device does not use Thunderbolt If you have a Mac laptop, you can also connect to a power adapter to charge your Mac. Note: For Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C), Thunderbolt / USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports, you can use both Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) and USB-C cables. For USB-C ports, you can only use USB-C cables. See the Apple Support article Identify the ports on your Mac. See the As we already mentioned, you can plug a USB Type-C device into a Thunderbolt 3 port, and vice-versa. Keep in mind, though, that, the slower format is going to be the bottleneck. In other words, if you plug a Thunderbolt 3 external SSD into a USB Type-C drive, it will “only” transfer at 20Gbps. Thunderbolt vs. USB-C . On the surface, Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 seem to be the same as USB-C. After all, they both use the same USB-C ports and connectors. However, that hasn't always been the case---and still isn't. A USB device will likely work in a Thunderbolt port, but it may not provide the same transfer speeds. .

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