The first USB4-supported devices could arrive in late 2020

[Polycount]

Back in March, we reported on the announcement of USB4: an upcoming USB standard based on Thunderbolt. It's set to double the transfer speeds of USB 3.2; raising them from 20Gbps to a whopping 40Gbps.

The potential uses for those blazingly-fast data transfer speeds are numerous -- you could plug in a higher-powered external GPU to give some extra juice to a weaker laptop, or power two 4K monitors at the same time.

As nice as the USB4 specification sounds, we had no idea when it was going to be implemented into devices. However, we did note that it could take up to a year and a half before the first supported gadgets hit the market. Now, according to an Anandtech report, it seems that guess was roughly spot-on.

After the outlet asked the USB Promoter Group for clarification on the topic at Computex 2019, the organization said the first USB4 devices should arrive in late 2020. Obviously, even they can't predict the future, but that seems like a reasonably safe bet -- given that the specification itself is set to be published in the second half of 2019, that should give companies plenty of time to adapt.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/80528-first-usb4-supported-devices-could-arrive-late-2020.html

 

[DelJo63]

given that the specification itself is set to be published in the second half of 2019, that should give companies plenty of time to adapt.

Heck, USB 3 is still poorly supported in OEM builds - -

 

[TheDevopsGuy]

given that the specification itself is set to be published in the second half of 2019, that should give companies plenty of time to adapt.

Heck, USB 3 is still poorly supported in OEM builds - -

I don't know whats all this fuss about Usb 4.. USB 3 storage devices are mostly running on piss poor read/write speeds. I'm guessing the market is fully loaded with crap USB 3 devices as of now. The only real benefit I can see is AMD laptops and cheap OEM laptop models who will atleast have external GPU connectivity as an option through USB 4.

 

[EEatGDL]

Oh damn! I thought they've fixed their mess and USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 was corrected as USB 4... This is the Babel tower of technology, I tell you; because I've heard people in the industry either calling it USB 3.2 or 4 instead of the mouthful.
What about:
USB 3.0 - 5 Gbps
USB 3.1 - 10 Gbps
USB 3.2 - 20 Gbps

There, problem solved, no USB 3.x Gen # nonsense.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

The only thing I ask is that my USB ports be USB 3 red or Yellow so I can charge devices when the power of the main device is off.

When I'm on vacation, I can charge my phone while the laptop is off through the laptop.

 

[VitalyT]

The potential uses for those blazingly-fast data transfer speeds are numerous -- you could plug in a higher-powered external GPU to give some extra juice to a weaker laptop

It's a bad example, knowingly that 40Gbit Thunderbols 3 solutions with external GPU-s are suffering from the insufficient throughput. Thunderbolt 4 with its 80Gbit should solve a lot of problems when it arrives.

 

[EClyde]

There are few things I like doing more then transferring files fast.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

There are few things I like doing more then transferring files fast.

Transferring files fast is one of the reasons I made all of my storage media SSD. Many would argue that SSD is wasted storing videos...however HDD is slower to access and slower to transfer. Now that you can get a 500GB SSD under $80, I feel it's a good investment.

 

[EClyde]

Transferring files fast is one of the reasons I made all of my storage media SSD. Many would argue that SSD is wasted storing videos...however HDD is slower to access and slower to transfer. Now that you can get a 500GB SSD under $80, I feel it's a good investment.

There is no such thing as a good investment when it comes to buying computer junk. It all ends up in the closet

 

[Puiu]

The ability to power monitors is going to be very important, especially for systems that don't have thunderbolt in them.

 

[p51d007]

All I ask, is that the USB group, PLEASE keep the connector the same. Usb A, B, mini, micro, C, 3A, 3B, 3B micro. A person, depending on their use, has to carry around a crap load of connectors, cables and conversion cables to deal with all of this. LOL.

 

[kmo911]

DONT transfear small files. the is 4k still a headake to get transfeared. not tha 4k tv signal or movies. use a winrar to get files togeter. like a iso file or rar zip file BEFORe you get it to a nother medium. or just leavet and burn with bd-r 25 50 gb 100 128 gb bd-r xl or more simple 300gb to 3.3tb sony optical disk burner with 1gb burning speed.

 

[Cryio]

So mainstream support for USB 4 in mid 2021. Got it.

 

[GregonMaui]

I'm confused. Thunderbolt 3 already supports 40Gbps and uses a USB connector, doesn't it? So if you have a thunderbolt3, don't you already have a USB4?

 

[Dosahka]

All I ask, is that the USB group, PLEASE keep the connector the same. Usb A, B, mini, micro, C, 3A, 3B, 3B micro. A person, depending on their use, has to carry around a crap load of connectors, cables and conversion cables to deal with all of this. LOL.

As an IT Support person, I can relate, but for me was buy 2 cables USB male A- male A then small adapters from female A to mini, micro, 3b micro, B and C (all male) this means I have 5 adapters in total. Which can fit in a lady's hand comfortably.

I'm confused. Thunderbolt 3 already supports 40Gbps and uses a USB connector, doesn't it? So if you have a thunderbolt3, don't you already have a USB4?

ThunderBolt is Intel's IP (that's why the costly TB accessories), USB Group is a group of companies which makes USB "free", hope this will clear the confusion for you

 

[GregonMaui]

As an IT Support person, I can relate, but for me was buy 2 cables USB male A- male A then small adapters from female A to mini, micro, 3b micro, B and C (all male) this means I have 5 adapters in total. Which can fit in a lady's hand comfortably.


ThunderBolt is Intel's IP (that's why the costly TB accessories), USB Group is a group of companies which makes USB "free", hope this will clear the confusion for you

But Intel put Thunderbolt into the free domain.

https://www.fudzilla.com/news/48265-intel-makes-thunderbolt-3-royalty-free

Thunderbolt 3 becomes USB4, as Intel’s interconnect goes royalty-free
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...sb4-as-intels-interconnect-goes-royalty-free/

No, actually you didn't clear up the confusion. Sounds like all you are saying is, same technology as TB3, different group

 

[Markoni35]

That all sounds nice. We'll all buy USB memory sticks that support USB-4 standard.

Only to discover they are still copying the data at a whopping speed of 5 MBps (aka 0.005 GBps). Same as those USB-2 and USB-3.x devices before them.

 

[Dosahka]

But Intel put Thunderbolt into the free domain.
Thunderbolt 3 becomes USB4, as Intel’s interconnect goes royalty-free
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...sb4-as-intels-interconnect-goes-royalty-free/
No, actually you didn't clear up the confusion. Sounds like all you are saying is, same technology as TB3, different group

Wow I think you just need to chill down a bit.
So thunderbolt not equal to USB, TB using it's own protocols, but supports USB functionality.
Albeit USB 4 will have the similar functionality, it will not be Thunderbolt, that's on Intel to ditch TB and integrate into USB 4 (but that will make some ppl angry, currently USB 3.2 not compatible with TB accessories in any way, so external drives, devices will not be usable through USB 4 as of now).
So no TB will not become USB4, only the support for TB becomes easier and OEMs have to interconnect USB C ports with the CPU.

Please next time link something believable article and not from arstechnica

 

[GregonMaui]

Wow I think you just need to chill down a bit.
So thunderbolt not equal to USB, TB using it's own protocols, but supports USB functionality.
Albeit USB 4 will have the similar functionality, it will not be Thunderbolt, that's on Intel to ditch TB and integrate into USB 4 (but that will make some ppl angry, currently USB 3.2 not compatible with TB accessories in any way, so external drives, devices will not be usable through USB 4 as of now).
So no TB will not become USB4, only the support for TB becomes easier and OEMs have to interconnect USB C ports with the CPU.

Please next time link something believable article and not from arstechnica

If I could paraphrase your thread "While usb4 uses the same connector and has the same speed as Thunderbolt, it uses an incompatible protocol". Next time you could lead with that. But thank-you for your response.

Also, isn't thunderbolt still better then, because you can access usb versions through a thunderbolt port, but you state, not the other way around. As thunderbolt is a free IP, why would anyone ditch it for a more restrictive standard, that can still be read by thunderbolt?

 

[Dosahka]

As thunderbolt is a free IP, why would anyone ditch it for a more restrictive standard, that can still be read by thunderbolt?

Thunderbolt was better in terms data speed, and because it shares the mini-DP physical characteristic you were able to use TB ports as video output, not to mention daisy-chain which can be used to pass data and video signal to the next device.
Thunderbolt never been free before and had/has a hefty price tag on the implementation, wonder how much intel pass onto the costumer because they integrating into the CPU now.
IMHO it can happen that Intel will differentiate i7 CPUs with or without built-in TB, just to get more money and fragment their cpu line even more.

USB is free, TB not (as of now), but we still don't know for sure what will happen.