Among PC and peripheral device manufacturers, USB adoption is virtually 100%.

USB is among the most successful interfaces in the history of personal computers.

PCIe is a computer expansion bus standard, the main advantage being that users who've already invested in PCIe-enabled devices can continue to use them. Thunderbolt has the ability to serve as a transport for PCI Express (PCIe), something USB is incapable of. It uses only 1.5 amps of power for charging devices, or about one-third of the power of its predecessor Hi-Speed USB (2.0). SuperSpeed USB is optimized for power efficiency. Thunderbolt also offers up to 10 watts of power to a device. A Thunderbolt connector has two full-duplex channels each are bi-directional and capable of 10Gbps of throughput. DisplayPort offers HD display support as well as eight channels of HD audio. The Thunderbolt chip switches between the two protocols to support varying devices. SuperSpeed USB would take about 70 seconds to perform the same task, according to Jeff Ravencraft, president of the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF).īased on copper, the Thunderbolt specification contains two protocols: PCI Express (PCIe) and DisplayPort.

Thunderbolt can transfer a full-length, high-definition movie in less than 30 seconds.

Macbook pro 2015 thunderbolt