Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 are very similar and in many ways interchangeable. Thunderbolt 4 adopts a few things including increasing the minimum requirements for a machine as well as introducing at least a couple newish features for devices and some people are definitely going to care about Thunderbolt 4. While others aren't going to Care all that much so let's go ahead and talk about this a little bit now.

Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 have the same connectors on the end, many ways you can't discern them they each have a type-C connector and little Thunderbolt logo on there. Many cables will be labeled with a three or A4 so you can tell the difference unfortunately Apple's own Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable doesn't list anything at all it just shows a a lightning bolt but I guess Apple doesn't have a thunderbolt 3 Pro cable so there's nothing to confuse it with. I don't know but proper specs should include a three or a four so there's at least some visual way of discerning a thunderbolt 4 cable versus a thunderbolt 3.

But they are backwards compatible, so you can use a thunderbolt 4 cable with a thunderbolt 3 device and it'll work just fine. Talk about the minimum requirements Thunderbolt 3 required that laptops support only one 4K display manufacturers could choose to support two 4K displays but they didn't have to with Thunderbolt 4 even though it supports the same amount of data Thunderbolt four laptops are required to support two 4K external displays or a single 8K display. You could see this with Thunderbolt 3 devices but it wasn't required and that means you can feel safer knowing you have that minimum uh support on any Thunderbolt 4 machine.

Thunderbolt 4 also doubles the minimum bandwidth for PCIE storage, Thunderbolt 3 had a minimum requirement of 16 gbits per second and now Thunderbolt 4's minimum requirement is 32 gbits per second for storage up to 3000 megabytes per second. So if you're using a lot of storage over Thunderbolt you could see improved benefits with Thunderbolt 4 because that minimum floor has been raised.

Finally, Thunderbolt 4 also makes it standard among Thunderbolt 4 docks that you are able to wake your machine from sleep with a peripheral connected to that dock meaning you can click your mouse or tap on your keyboard that is connected to that dock to wake your machine. It was possible with Thunderbolt 3 but it's now a requirement with Thunderbolt 4.

The change that I am most excited about is the additional ports on a thunderbolt 4 dock, so a thunderbolt 3 dock could have two Thunderbolt 3 ports one Upstream to connect to your machine and one Downstream to daisy chain to a second or third whatever uh Thunderbolt device but with Thunderbolt 4 you can now have up to four total Thunderbolt ports which means one Upstream to connect to your Mac or PC and then a set of three are possible Downstream connect to multiple devices. You connect to USB devices or additional Thunderbolt devices it's absolutely a big deal for many pro users like me who has a lot of Thunderbolt devices and doesn't want to daisy chain certain things.

If you're looking for a thunderbolt 4 dock I have a whole other video dedicated to some of the best docks that are out there. I've got a link for it down in the description go ahead and check that out. I'll tell you everything you need to know but looking at just a few Thunderbolt 4 docks this one here from Logic3 Downstream Thunderbolt 4 docks to connect to other accessories on there same thing goes for this one from Satki I'm going to screw up the focus on this camera 30 times and I apologize greatly for that trying to keep these but yeah three Downstream ports and finally one from o WC again three Downstream Thunderbolt 4 ports is very welcomed to connect additional accessories whether USBC or Thunderbolt.

I'll tell you everything you need to know but looking at just a few Thunderbolt 4 docks this one here from Logic3 Downstream Thunderbolt 4 docks to connect to other accessories on there same thing goes for this one from Satki.

So those are the big changes, and not a ton if your machine was specked out as it could be you could really see almost no difference at all between Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 but for some users it does make a difference because they've increased that minimum requirements and at a minimum users should feel safer buying a thunderbolt 4 product knowing that is going to excel in all of those areas.

Let me know what you guys think, Down Below in the comments and let me know if you have any questions on Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4 USBC USB4 all of that stuff in the description or in the comments or on Twitter at Andrew ossu and stay tuned I have a lot of other content coming up.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enwhat is the difference between Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 welcome everybody to Apple Insider it is Andrew here and you can find me on Twitter at Andrew ossu if you haven't done so already please go ahead and subscribe and enable those notifications why don't you that way you don't miss a single one of my videos the past year or so we have seen increased adoption of Thunderbolt 4 Apple has used this on its newer devices and we're seeing more and more PC manufacturers adopt it as well but by many standards Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 are incredibly similar in fact they support the same amount of data 40 GBS per second so if they have the same connector they have the same amount of data transfer what's the difference between Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 and should you really care that's what we're going to talk about in this video as I mentioned Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 are very similar and in many ways interchangeable Thunderbolt 4 adopts a few things including increasing the minimum requirements for a machine as well as introducing at least a couple newish features for devices and some people are definitely going to care about Thunderbolt 4 While others aren't going to Care all that much so let's go ahead and talk about this a little bit now Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 have the same connectors on the end many ways you you can't discern them they each have a type-c connector and little Thunderbolt logo on there many cables will be labeled with a three or A4 so you can tell the difference unfortunately Apple's own Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable doesn't list anything at all it just shows a a lightning bolt but I guess Apple doesn't have a thunderbolt 3 Pro cable so there's nothing to confuse it with I don't know but proper specs should include a three or a four so there's at least some visual way of discerning a thunderbolt 4 cable versus a thunderbolt 3 but they are backwards compatible so you can use a thunderbolt 4 cable with a thunderbolt 3 device and it'll work just fine talk about the minimum requirements Thunderbolt 3 required that laptops support only one 4K display manufacturers could choose to support two 4K displays but they didn't have to with Thunderbolt 4 even though it supports the same amount of data Thunderbolt four laptops are required to support two 4K external displays or a single 8K display you could see this with Thunderbolt 3 devices but it wasn't required and that means you can feel safer knowing you have that minimum uh support on any Thunderbolt 4 machine Thunderbolt 4 also doubles the minimum bandwidth for pcie storage Thunderbolt 3 had a minimum requirement of 16 gbits per second and now Thunderbolt 4's minimum requirement is 32 gbits per second for storage up to 3,000 megabytes per second so if you're using a lot of storage over Thunderbolt you could see improved benefits with Thunderbolt 4 because that minimum floor has been raised finally Thunderbolt 4 also makes it standard among Thunderbolt 4 docks that you are able to wake your machine from sleep with a peripheral connected to that dock meaning you can click your mouse or tap on your keyboard that is connected to that dock to wake your machine it was possible with Thunderbolt 3 but it's now a requirement with Thunderbolt 4 finally the change that I am most excited about is the additional ports on a thunderbolt 4 dock so a thunderbolt 3 dock could have two Thunderbolt 3 ports one Upstream to connect to your machine and one Downstream to daisy chain to a second or third whatever uh Thunderbolt device but with Thunderbolt 4 you can now have up to four total Thunderbolt ports which means one Upstream to connect to your Mac or PC and then a set of three are possible Downstream connect to multiple devices you connect to USB devices or additional Thunderbolt devices it's absolutely a big deal for many pro users like me who has a lot of Thunderbolt devices and doesn't want to daisy chain certain things it's a whole thing but if we look at actual devices here by the way if you're looking for a thunderbolt 4 doc I have a whole other video dedicated to some of the best docks that are out there I've get a link for it down in the description go ahead and check that out I'll tell you everything you need to know but looking at just a few Thunderbolt for docks this one here from logic three Downstream Thunderbolt for docks to connect to other accessories on there same thing goes for this one from satki I'm going to screw up the focus on this camera 30 times and I apologize greatly for that trying to keep these but yeah three Downstream ports and finally one from o WC again three Downstream Thunderbolt four ports is very welcomed to connect additional accessories whether USBC or Thunderbolt so those are the big changes there's not a ton and if your machine was specked out as it could be you could really see almost no difference at all between Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 but for some users it does make a difference because they've increased that minimum requirements and at a minimum users should feel safer buying a thunderbolt 4 product knowing that is going to excel in all of those areas let me know what you guys think Down Below in the comments and let me know if you have any questions on Thunderbolt 3 Thunderbolt 4 USBC usb4 all of that stuff in the description or in the comments or on Twitter at Andrew ossu and stay tuned I have a lot more videos coming your waywhat is the difference between Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 welcome everybody to Apple Insider it is Andrew here and you can find me on Twitter at Andrew ossu if you haven't done so already please go ahead and subscribe and enable those notifications why don't you that way you don't miss a single one of my videos the past year or so we have seen increased adoption of Thunderbolt 4 Apple has used this on its newer devices and we're seeing more and more PC manufacturers adopt it as well but by many standards Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 are incredibly similar in fact they support the same amount of data 40 GBS per second so if they have the same connector they have the same amount of data transfer what's the difference between Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 and should you really care that's what we're going to talk about in this video as I mentioned Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 are very similar and in many ways interchangeable Thunderbolt 4 adopts a few things including increasing the minimum requirements for a machine as well as introducing at least a couple newish features for devices and some people are definitely going to care about Thunderbolt 4 While others aren't going to Care all that much so let's go ahead and talk about this a little bit now Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 have the same connectors on the end many ways you you can't discern them they each have a type-c connector and little Thunderbolt logo on there many cables will be labeled with a three or A4 so you can tell the difference unfortunately Apple's own Thunderbolt 4 Pro cable doesn't list anything at all it just shows a a lightning bolt but I guess Apple doesn't have a thunderbolt 3 Pro cable so there's nothing to confuse it with I don't know but proper specs should include a three or a four so there's at least some visual way of discerning a thunderbolt 4 cable versus a thunderbolt 3 but they are backwards compatible so you can use a thunderbolt 4 cable with a thunderbolt 3 device and it'll work just fine talk about the minimum requirements Thunderbolt 3 required that laptops support only one 4K display manufacturers could choose to support two 4K displays but they didn't have to with Thunderbolt 4 even though it supports the same amount of data Thunderbolt four laptops are required to support two 4K external displays or a single 8K display you could see this with Thunderbolt 3 devices but it wasn't required and that means you can feel safer knowing you have that minimum uh support on any Thunderbolt 4 machine Thunderbolt 4 also doubles the minimum bandwidth for pcie storage Thunderbolt 3 had a minimum requirement of 16 gbits per second and now Thunderbolt 4's minimum requirement is 32 gbits per second for storage up to 3,000 megabytes per second so if you're using a lot of storage over Thunderbolt you could see improved benefits with Thunderbolt 4 because that minimum floor has been raised finally Thunderbolt 4 also makes it standard among Thunderbolt 4 docks that you are able to wake your machine from sleep with a peripheral connected to that dock meaning you can click your mouse or tap on your keyboard that is connected to that dock to wake your machine it was possible with Thunderbolt 3 but it's now a requirement with Thunderbolt 4 finally the change that I am most excited about is the additional ports on a thunderbolt 4 dock so a thunderbolt 3 dock could have two Thunderbolt 3 ports one Upstream to connect to your machine and one Downstream to daisy chain to a second or third whatever uh Thunderbolt device but with Thunderbolt 4 you can now have up to four total Thunderbolt ports which means one Upstream to connect to your Mac or PC and then a set of three are possible Downstream connect to multiple devices you connect to USB devices or additional Thunderbolt devices it's absolutely a big deal for many pro users like me who has a lot of Thunderbolt devices and doesn't want to daisy chain certain things it's a whole thing but if we look at actual devices here by the way if you're looking for a thunderbolt 4 doc I have a whole other video dedicated to some of the best docks that are out there I've get a link for it down in the description go ahead and check that out I'll tell you everything you need to know but looking at just a few Thunderbolt for docks this one here from logic three Downstream Thunderbolt for docks to connect to other accessories on there same thing goes for this one from satki I'm going to screw up the focus on this camera 30 times and I apologize greatly for that trying to keep these but yeah three Downstream ports and finally one from o WC again three Downstream Thunderbolt four ports is very welcomed to connect additional accessories whether USBC or Thunderbolt so those are the big changes there's not a ton and if your machine was specked out as it could be you could really see almost no difference at all between Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 but for some users it does make a difference because they've increased that minimum requirements and at a minimum users should feel safer buying a thunderbolt 4 product knowing that is going to excel in all of those areas let me know what you guys think Down Below in the comments and let me know if you have any questions on Thunderbolt 3 Thunderbolt 4 USBC usb4 all of that stuff in the description or in the comments or on Twitter at Andrew ossu and stay tuned I have a lot more videos coming your way\n"