PCI Express and DisplayPort are transported between Thunderbolt controllers over a Thunderbolt cable (Source: Intel Corp.) A Thunderbolt connector has two full-duplex channels each are bi-directional and capable of 10Gbps of throughput. DisplayPort offers HD display support as well as eight channels of HD audio. The Thunderbolt chip switches between the two protocols to support varying devices. "It's a question of what markets are being satisfied by the bandwidth requirements," Ismail said.īased on copper, the Thunderbolt specification contains two protocols: PCI Express (PCIe) and DisplayPort. USB-IF CTO Rahman Ismail said that while Thunderbolt may offer twice the bandwidth of SuperSpeed USB, most people simply won't need it and, in fact, most applications will still be well served with USB 2.0. Thunderbolt also offers up to 10 watts of power to a device. USB SuperSpeed would take about 70 seconds to perform the same task, according to Ravencraft. Thunderbolt can transfer a full-length, high-definition movie in less than 30 seconds. Thunderbolt is 12 times faster than FireWire 800 and up to 20 times faster than USB 2.0. Thunderbolt offers a 10Gbps transfer rate, compared with SuperSpeed USB's 5Gbps. On paper, at least, Thunderbolt does beat USB. Additionally, the USB 3.0 Promoter Group recently announced plans to release a new USB power delivery specification, targeted for completion in early 2012, that would enable higher voltage and current in order to deliver power of up to 7.5 watts over current cables and up to 100 watts over new cables, he added. If the port is designed to support the USB Battery Charging specification, then the amount of power is upped to 7.5 watts (1.5 amps at 5 volts). SuperSpeed USB offers up to 900 milliamps, which translates to 4.5 watts, according to Ravencraft. The current Hi-Speed USB (2.0) specification offers external devices up to 500 milliamps for charging. "Power is king today, and the way you manage it is pinnacle." "We also deliver more power for faster charging," said Jeff Ravencraft, president of the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), a nonprofit organization founded by the developers of the USB specification, which includes Intel, Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard. It uses only 1.5 amps of power for charging devices, or about one-third of the power of its predecessor Hi-Speed USB (v2.0). SuperSpeed USB is optimized for power efficiency. So it's hard to imagine any external device interconnect technology that could challenge USB. The USB installed base is more than 10 billion units, and those devices are growing at more than 3 billion a year. Among PC and peripheral device manufacturers, USB adoption is virtually 100%. USB is among the most successful interfaces in the history of personal computers.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |