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Thunderbolt

computer hardware interface

Key facts

Designer: Apple Intel
Manufacturer: Various
Produced: Since 24 February 2011 ; 15 years ago ( 2011-02-24 )
Superseded: IEEE 1394 (FireWire) ExpressCard
Length: Up to 3 meters (10 ft) ( copper ) Up to 60 meters (200 ft) ( optical )
Width: 7.4 mm plug (8.3 mm receptacle)
Height: 4.5 mm plug (5.4 mm receptacle)
Hot pluggable: Yes
Daisy chain: Up to 6 devices Thunderbolt 4: Hub support
External: Yes
Audio signal: Via DisplayPort protocol or USB-based external audio cards. Supports audio through HDMI converters.
Video signal: Via DisplayPort protocol
Pins: Thunderbolt 1 and 2: 20 Thunderbolt 3, 4 and 5: 24
Connector: Thunderbolt 1 and 2: Mini DisplayPort Thunderbolt 3, 4, and 5: USB-C
Max voltage: Thunderbolt 1 and 2: 18 V (bus power) Thunderbolt 3, 4, and 5: 5 V
Max current: Thunderbolt 1 and 2: 550 mA (9.9 W max.) Thunderbolt 3, 4, and 5: 3000 mA (15 W)
Data signal: Yes
Bitrate: Thunderbolt 1: d2 channels, 10 Gbit /s each (20 Gbit/s in total) Thunderbolt 2: 20 Gbit/s in total Thunderbolt 3 and 4: 40 Gbit/s bidirectional Thunderbolt 5: 80 Gbit/s bidirectional

via Wikipedia infobox

Article

Thunderbolt is the brand name of a hardware interface for the connection of external peripherals to a computer. It was developed by Intel in collaboration with Apple. It was initially marketed under the name Light Peak, and first sold as part of an end-user product on 24 February 2011.

Thunderbolt combines PCI Express (PCIe) and DisplayPort (DP) into two serial signals and provides DC power via a single cable. Up to six peripherals may be supported by a single connector through various topologies. Thunderbolt 1 and 2 use the same connector as Mini DisplayPort (MDP), whereas Thunderbolt 3, 4, and 5 use the USB-C connector and support USB devices.