In the biggest advancement since its inception, Thunderbolt 3 delivers one computer port that connects to Thunderbolt devices, every display and billions of USB devices, Intel announced today.
For the first time, a single cable now provides four times the data and twice the video bandwidth of any other cable, while also supplying power. It’s unrivaled for new uses, such as 4K video, single-cable docks with charging, external graphics and built-in 10 GbE networking.
Intel says that initial products are expected to start shipping before the end of this year, with more expected in 2016.
More info here.
MacDailyNews Take: Expect slimmer MacBook Pros, iMacs, and other Macs with multiple USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports in the future.
These are the times where I hold onto my current Mac as long as possible and wait to upgrade until all the new tech currently spread across different devices becomes available in the 15″ MacBook Pro. It’s one thing when there is tech that’s simply not yet available, it’s another when it already exists on other Macs and they just haven’t aligned them all to the same updates yet.
Really wanting a new MacBook anyway though, just for ForceTouch (I’m sure the new OS X will have some great features for it). My current strategy has been, buy a Mac with AppleCare, when that expires buy a new one. Maybe I’ll start skipping the AppleCare and upgrade to every new model. The lower cost from not getting AppleCare, and higher resale value of the fresher previous MacBook would probably come close to entirely offsetting the difference of cost between those two strategies.
It looks like January 2016 when this will all come together: A 15″ Retina Macbook Pro with Intel Skylake Processor, Force Touch, and USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 Ports . . . worth waiting for.
Definitely! One more model away, and I didn’t buy that one on opening day so I might as well wait now.
In gold to match my Air 2 and iPhone 6….
Apple has worked hard on it; here is patent on reversible USB from 1.5 years ago:
http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2014/07/apple-invents-a-reversible-usb-connector.html
Just so everyone is fully aware…
The USB-C connector in the recently announced MacBook does NOT support Thuderbolt 3 or USB 3.1 or DisplayPort 1.3.
Also, to do Thunderbolt 3 BOTH the device (desktop, laptop, tablet, etc.) AND the cable have to be Thunderbolt 3 specific.
However, IF (a truly huge IF) Intel’s statements are correct, both the Thunderbolt 3 device connection and the Thunderbolt 3 cable will be a true superset of Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.1, 10 Gb Ethernet, DisplayPort 1.2 (at least initially, may go to DP 1.3 in 2016), and 4x PCIe 3.0. I have not heard anything recently about support for the HDMI 2.0 protocol, but that was rumored to be included up until a few months ago.
Correction to Shadowself’s post:
According to the original post by thunderbolttechnology.net, existing USB-C cables and existing USB devices WILL work in the Thunderbolt-3 port.
Therefore you don’t need new devices or cables to use the technology, unless you want the full 40gbs, then you need a new Thunderbolt-3 cable and a device that is enabled. Otherwise USB3 and USB2 devices and cables (with a USB-C or a Thunderbolt-3 adapter) will work just fine at native USB speeds when plugged into a Thunderbolt-3 port.
Way Cool!