Intel Teases Thunderbolt 4, Light On Details

guest · Jan 9, 2020

Thunderbolt 4 arrives in 2020, but USB will remain the king of PC ports
January 8, 2020
https://www.cnet.com/news/thunderbolt-4-arrives-in-pcs-this-year-but-it-wont-be-any-faster/

The first PCs using Thunderbolt 4 will arrive this year along with Intel's new Tiger Lake processor, but it appears the all-purpose port won't be any faster at transferring data than the 4-year-old Thunderbolt 3. There's still room for other improvements, but it looks like competition from USB will remain strong.

Intel announced its Thunderbolt 4 plans this week at CES but declined to share details. The chipmaker promised it would be four times faster than today's USB, then clarified it was talking about the USB 3.1 version at 10 gigabits per second. Thunderbolt 3, though, already can transfer data at 40Gbps.
Still, you can expect other changes.
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Thunderbolt still has a place
Still, Thunderbolt remains useful, particularly to people who need top performance. And the newest USB standards are a muddle.

"USB-C has won over the market in the last few years, but it can sometimes be complex and confusing for consumers," said Bernie Thompson, chief executive of peripheral maker Plugable, which introduced three new Thunderbolt peripherals at CES.
So at least for now, Thunderbolt's simplicity gives it an edge over USB, even if you have to pay for it.
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guest · Jul 8, 2020

Intel details its USB4-compliant Thunderbolt 4 standard
It's all about better minimum specifications
July 8, 2020
https://www.engadget.com/intel-thunderbolt-4-details-130016474.html

Let’s get this out of the way up front: Intel’s new Thunderbolt 4 connection isn't technically faster than Thunderbolt 3, at least when it comes to overall throughput.
But the company is justifying the new version number other ways: Namely, by cranking up the minimum requirements for systems with the new connection.

Thunderbolt 4 PCs will be able to connect to at least two 4K displays, whereas the previous requirement was just one. Additionally, the new connection supports PCIe data speeds up to 32 Gb/s, twice as fast as before.
All of these new baseline features gives Intel another premium offering to add on top of the upcoming USB 4 standard, which, confusingly enough, basically does everything Thunderbolt 3 did. (It’s baffling why Intel didn’t open up the licensing for that connection earlier.)
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Crucially, Intel says the new connection will also require protection against direct memory attacks (DMA) like the recent “Thunderspy” vulnerability. That attack could theoretically allow a hacker to steal data from your device, even if your PC was locked and had encrypted storage.
Now it’s an essential feature. VT-d creates an isolated memory region for devices, which prevents them from reading and writing to other locations.

It's still surprising that Intel didn't require significant Thunderbolt DMA protection until now, especially given the potential for data theft from such a fast interface.
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Intel says it plans to ship Thunderbolt 4 controllers to manufacturers later this year, and you can expect to see it on Project Athena notebooks around the same time.
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guest · Jul 17, 2020

What Intel’s Thunderbolt 4 means for your next PC
Expect more features (and confusion)
July 17, 2020
https://www.engadget.com/intel-thunderbolt-4-explainer-143006501.html

It's hard to get excited for a new interface protocol, I get it. But Intel's upcoming Thunderbolt 4 tech could end up making your next PC a lot more capable than today's systems.

From the beginning, Intel's Thunderbolt standard has been a way for the chipmaker to offer blazing fast ports that outshine USB in every way. It was originally known as Light Peak and was also co-developed with Apple. You can think of Thunderbolt as a direct gateway to your computer's PCIe connections, something you'd typically have to tear open your computer to access.
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Storage speeds will also jump from 16 Gb/s to 32, making Thunderbolt 4 a godsend for video editors or anyone else moving gigantic files around. Intel is also bumping up security by requiring its VT-d virtualization technology that protects against Direct Memory Access, or DMA, attacks.
So what does all of this mean for you? Probably not much if you're just browsing the web and not really pushing your PC much.
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Thunderbolt 4 also supports the upcoming USB-4 standard, which helps to future-proof it a bit. Confusingly enough, USB-4 shares most of the features of Thunderbolt 3 -- and don't forget, they all rely on the same USB-C port.
If you're not paying close attention to the specs of your next PC, it may also be tough to tell if it supports Thunderbolt 4 or 3. You'll likely only see the small lightning logo on most PCs, with no visible version number, according to Intel.

It's a shame that after spending years developing an intriguing new protocol, something that could genuinely help consumers, Intel may stumble a bit when it comes to communication.
I know plenty of techies who still have trouble dealing with the different types of USB-C ports on their systems. Thunderbolt 4 may just well lead to more confusion.
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