Since Intel launched Thunderbolt 4 in 2020, it has received the attention of many manufacturers and consumers in the market. The maximum bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4 is 40 Gbps, allowing support for up to two 4K resolution displays (with a refresh rate of 60Hz), or one 8K display with a refresh rate of 60Hz. Increasing bandwidth means bringing support for higher resolutions, more displays, and refresh rates.
Thunderbolt 4 brings numerous improvements and new features to the table when compared to Thunderbolt 3.
- Speed. Thunderbolt 4 ports have the same high-speed 40Gbps bandwidth as Thunderbolt™ 3. However, minimum PCIe data requirements have increases from 16Gbps to 32Gbps. This means that high-speed external PCIe devices like storage and external graphics could see significant increases in transfer rates and performance.
- Security. VT-d based DMA protection helps prevent security threats by remapping requests from external devices and checking for proper permissions.
- Wake from sleep. This feature allows a PC to be brought out of hibernation with peripherals that are connected through a dock.
For those in need, the 50-meter (164-foot) Thunderbolt 4 cable should be launched around next year.
