Intel introduced the new version of Thunderbolt technology at the Computex Taipei 2015, and it seems to be the new trend in the peripheral connection market, as the big computer industry has already adopted it on a large scale.
Thunderbolt™ 3 is considered to mark the biggest advancement since the technology's inception. Combining the speed of 40Gbps with all the benefits of a USB-C connector, Thunderbolt 3 creates one compact port that does it all – delivering the fastest and most versatile connection to any dock, display, or data device. The USB-C connector and the small and reversible cables support bi-directional audio and video data transfer (dual-protocol), ensuring lowest audio latency through 4 lanes of PCI Express Gen and supporting two 4K displays (4096 x 2160 30bpp @ 60 Hz) through the 8 lanes of DisplayPort 1.2 (HBR2 and MST). A 10 Gb Ethernet connection ensures connection between computers, while the USB power delivery provides up to 100W system charging and 15W to bus-powered devices.
Although Intel initially announced that the technology would be on the market by the end of 2015, it seems that demand pushed it to move faster. By the end of October 2015, GIGABYTE already announced the adoption of Intel® Thunderbolt™ 3 for its GA-Z170X-Gaming G1, GT and 7 motherboards. The users that already had these motherboards only needed to download and install an updated version of the firmware from GIGABYTE’s website to enable the Thunderbolt™ 3 support.
At the same time, Dell introduced the new XPS products to the market, with the XPS 13 being the smallest 13-inch laptop on the planet with a virtually borderless InfinityEdge display and improved performance.
At the beginning of November 2015, StartTech, a leading manufacturer of hard-to-find connectivity parts, announced the release of a new line of USB-C solutions, taking into account the highly anticipated launch of a full suite of products supporting the new Thunderbolt™ 3.
Furthermore, recently announced notebooks are expected to reach the market by the end of February 2016:
Looking at the extremely fast adoption of the Thunderbolt™ 3 technology by the manufacturing industry, and the way it has changed computing performance, we fully agree that this is one of the biggest technology advancements.