A peripheral interface from Intel introduced in 2011. First used on a MacBook Pro laptop, Thunderbolt provides simultaneous transfer of DisplayPort graphics for the monitor and PCI Express data for storage and other devices. Thunderbolt 3 added USB 3.1 Gen 2 connectivity.
Up to six peripherals can be connected in a daisy chain, providing an expansive external interface over one port. However, computers generally have several Thunderbolt ports. See
DisplayPort,
PCI Express and
USB.
Thunderbolt 4
In 2020, Thunderbolt 4 is expected to have the same speed as Thunderbolt 3 but also support USB 4. Following are the Thunderbolt generations, and each is backward compatible with the previous one. See
Thunderbolt Display and
Thunderbolt Bridge.
Data
TB Rate ---Interfaces--- Port
Gen (GBps) DP PCIe USB Type
1 (2011) 10 v1.1a v2 x4 mDP
2 (2013) 20 v1.2 v2 x4 mDP
3 (2015) 40 v1.2 v3 x4 3.1 USB-C
4 (2020) 40 v1.3 v3 x4 4 USB-C
Mini DisplayPort (mDP)
Thunderbolt 1 and 2 use the Mini DisplayPort plug and socket; however, Thunderbolt 3 switched to USB-C (see
USB Type C).
Thunderbolt on a Desktop Mac
Two of the six Thunderbolt ports are used on this 2nd-generation Mac Pro. The black cable delivers DisplayPort to the monitor, and the orange cable transfers data between an external drive over PCI Express. See
Mac Pro.