USB 4: Everything We Know So Far

[Admin]

USB 4 promises a host of benefits that include faster transfer speeds, better management of video and optional compatibility with Thunderbolt 3.

USB 4: Everything We Know So Far : Read more

 

[jakjawagon]

Saunders told us that those numbers are really for developers and he wishes that OEMs would use simpler terms like “SuperSpeed USB” when marketing their products.

The only reason “SuperSpeed USB” is simpler than a number is because they made USB 3.x numbering ridiculous. Imagine a non-technical user trying to figure out which is faster between SuperSpeed, High Speed and Full Speed. Now imagine the same non-technical user trying to figure out which is faster between USB 3.0, USB 3.1 Gen 1 and USB 3.2 Gen 1. With the non-numerical names, they might have a chance of getting it right, but it's far from guaranteed. There's no way a non-technical user would know that USB 3.0, USB 3.1 Gen 1 and USB 3.2 Gen 1 are all the same thing. If they had simply used 3.0, 3.1 and 3.2 instead of this needless rebranding, anyone could figure out which is faster.

 

[PBme]

"Because Thunderbolt is an Intel standard, you won’t find it on any AMD-powered computer " This is incorrect. You can say that it is uncommon, but there are a few AMD motherboards with Thunderbolt 3 including my Asrock Creator that I bought a year ago. They have another board or two as does Gigabyte.

"We’ll learn a lot more when the spec is released later this year, but whatever happens, don’t expect to see devices with USB 4 until at least late 2020, but more likely 2021 and beyond. "
? Was this meant to be released months ago? This is "late 2020" so if you are going to see it in late 2020, you'd already know about it. As we now know about the arm-owered Macbook's that are shipping now with USB 4.0.

 

[Shalmaneser]

I have yet to see a cell phone USB C port that is durable. High speed protocols are great, as long as they last.

 

[funguseater]

I have yet to see a cell phone USB C port that is durable. High speed protocols are great, as long as they last.

USB B mini/micro were horribly designed and constantly break on my devices, the difference in durability between B and C is night and day.

 

[hotaru.hino]

USB B mini/micro were horribly designed and constantly break on my devices, the difference in durability between B and C is night and day.

The only time I had a USB Micro B port break on me was because I was leaning the device against a wall while plugged in.

Other than that, I've had no problems with Micro B. 🤷‍♀️

 

[pixelpusher220]

USB Group "We didn't want to make it confusing"

Also USB Group "It's optional, so USB4 won't tell you if TB 3 is available, but some will have it but not say so. We'll also just call everything USB4 but there will be diff speeds under this one label"

Jeebus.

 

[InvalidError]

USB is getting far too convoluted for my liking, I think we're overdue for a clean slate interface dedicated to devices that pass 10+Gbps without a bunch of encapsulation layers. Make it all hot-plug 20VO external PCIe, give everything MMIO address ranges, then GPUs can pump frames to monitors via direct PCIe DMA instead of encapsulating DP into PCIe/USB to send it along.

 

[dehjomz]

From what I understand, M1 macs actually are compatible with the eGPU thunderbolt enclosures.

The problem is m1 is incompatible with the graphics cards inside, as there are no arm-based drivers available for Radeon graphics for macOS. And nvidia cards stopped working on macOS since Mojave.
See: https://appleinsider.com/articles/2...nderbolt-3-egpu-gives-hope-for-future-support

Finally, it appears that if you place a compatible pcie device inside of the egpu enclosure and plug it in to a m1 mac, it will work.

 

[hotaru.hino]

USB is getting far too convoluted for my liking, I think we're overdue for a clean slate interface dedicated to devices that pass 10+Gbps without a bunch of encapsulation layers. Make it all hot-plug 20VO external PCIe, give everything MMIO address ranges, then GPUs can pump frames to monitors via direct PCIe DMA instead of encapsulating DP into PCIe/USB to send it along.

Obligatory:

 

[Walt D in LV]

"USB4” (official spelling lacks a space, but we’re using one in this article to reflect the way readers search)

I would think searche engines would pick up USB4 just as well as USB 4. The same way they find Tom's Hardware, Tom'sHardware, Toms Hardware, and TomsHardware.
By not using the actual name of the technology you kind of lose credibility.
I respect Tom's Hardware quite a bit, but if you were to come along and spell something like Blu-ray some different way... It just wouldn't be the same.

Be the leader. Show the world the true way it is. It's their name (the USB Implementers Forum). They can spell it however they want. It's up to the rest of us to respect that.

 

[Shalmaneser]

USB B mini/micro were horribly designed and constantly break on my devices, the difference in durability between B and C is night and day.

It's one thing to have to replace USB cables, quite another when the (my) device develops internal issues. My phone USB C is on its last legs - intermittent data communications - it'll drop/pick up with the smallest vibrations. At least it still charges.

 

[SCANNERMAN777]

Released to open market in 2019 ... We're still waiting.