Usb 3.0 and Thunderbolt Technology

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A major drawback of early computers was an insufficient number of low-cost, bi-directional expansion ports. Each new peripheral needed its own port, usually one used by another device. This spurred the development of the USB (Universal Serial Bus) port. It offered a “universal” serial connection type that peripherals could use and many could be added to each machine. USB 1.1 featured transfer rates of 12Mbps.1 As popularity of the new universal port grew the need for faster transfer rates was demanded. USB 2.0 (Hi-speed USB) supplied the answer to that with transfer rates of 480 Mbps. Again, technology advances at light speed and the new USB 2.0 technology was too slow.1 As PCs become increasingly more powerful and able to process larger amounts of data, even faster transfer rates are needed. Enter USB 3.0 (SuperSpeed USB) with transfer rates of 4,800 Mbps.2 It looks as though ThunderboltTM will be the next evolutionary step. “Thunderbolt technology is a transformational high-speed, dual protocol I/O that provides unmatched performance with 10Gbps bi-directional transfer speeds. It provides flexibility and simplicity by supporting both data (PCIe) and video (DisplayPort) on a single cable connection that can daisy-chain up to six devices.” 3 The MacBook Pro is the first computer on the market to include Thunderbolt technology.4 It features two bi-directional channels with transfer speeds of 10Gbps. Thunderbolt can support Fire Wire and USB consumer devices and Gigabit networks via adapters. It also supports DisplayPort for high resolution displays and is compatible with existing HDMI, DVI, and VGA adapters. Thunderbolt technology is expected to be widely adopted as a new standard for high performance I/O. References 1. Prowse, D. L., Mueller, S., & Soper, M. E. (2011). I/O Ports and Devices. Computer structure and logic (pp. 61-66).

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