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Leaked technical data indicates 40 Gbps transfer rates coming with Thunderbolt 3.0

Apple Thunderbolt cable (electrical 001)

A new set of leaked tech specs for the third-generation version of Intel’s Thunderbolt technology appearing on VRZone today indicate that “Alpine Ridge” controller will allow double the bandwidth (up to 40 Gbps, versus the current 20), cut the system’s power consumption in half, and even feature a new type of connector that would enable the charging the host computer through the Thunderbolt port at up to 100 watts—enough to easily handle the 85W required for the 15″ MacBook Pro (via MacRumors).

Of course, as we saw with Apple’s switch to the Lightning plug on iOS devices, changing the connector that operates a large number of accessories isn’t exactly a popular idea with the general public, despite the benefits of doing so. As with any such change, adapters will allow  existing products to maintain compatibilty with the new connection.

The veracity of these leaked specs hasn’t been confirmed just yet, and there’s no telling if or when Apple will adopt the Thunderbolt 3.0 technology. You can see the full leaked specs below:

alpine-ridge-665x470

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Comments

  1. bobbell69 - 10 years ago

    This will be a huge boost.

  2. shareef777 - 10 years ago

    Yes, lets keep updating TB so that there’ll be more devices we can’t afford! TB was already twice as fast as USB3, and TB2 is now 4x as fast. This will be 8x as fast and in all likely hood 8x as expensive. I don’t understand why Intel doesn’t realize that they need to make the existing units cheaper vs making them faster.

    • CJ Sheets - 10 years ago

      Surely for technology to come down in price is has to advance, right? Once Thunderbolt 3.0 devices become widely available, and adopted, I’m sure Thunderbolt 2.0 will be a bargain.

      • shareef777 - 10 years ago

        TB2 came out, and the original TB devices are still overpriced compared to USB3 devices.

    • Tallest Skil - 10 years ago

      Be…cause there’s absolutely nothing wrong with making them faster, as the use cases for Thunderbolt mean the cost of hardware is meaningless in comparison.

  3. Pierre Calixte - 10 years ago

    I just want to know when lightening will be compatible with thunderbolt/usb3. doesn’t make any sense to have a very fast port but a very slow accessory.

  4. Oflife - 10 years ago

    Except that no one uses TB1! And peripherals makers are to blame! What’s the point of the daisy chaining ability if hard drives like my LaCie only have ONE TB port? I have to use the other port on my MacBook Pro to drive my monitor, so cannot connect a second monitor to take advantage of the MacBook’s processing power.

    This is why Firewire died too, total lack of confidence by either Apple or it’s licensees.

    Lightning is a great connector design, so why not blend the two, reduce the license fees (Intel?) and rename it to USB 4.0 and make it a world standard?

    • People do use Thunderbolt, professional users. Firewire went away because it was replaced by Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt & Firewire was designed for Pro users, USB for the average consumer.

      Thunderbolt is totally different then USB so we don’t need or want to combine them.

      • Oflife - 10 years ago

        I use it too. However the connector design is terrible, both my cables easily pull out of their sockets on my MBP. Plus as I said before lack of daisy chain support in external peripherals makes the concept pointless. No reason why lower power TB could be used for consumer devices to consolidate our messy connectivity situation. Life is already too complicated!

  5. Brenton LeMesurier - 10 years ago

    Could the lower Z-height of 3mm (vs 4.5mm for miniDP) allow TB3 to be use on iPad, or even iPhones? For cross-device compatibility more than the extra speed.

  6. Larry Towers - 10 years ago

    What a freaking joke!!!! Her is a fact: if this was an optical connector as originally spec;’d there would be no need for a new connector after every speed bump. Further more it still won’t be as fast as
    a PCIe v4 slot –16 GT/s.