Apple's Arm-Based Macs With Apple Silicon Chips Will Support Thunderbolt

[MacRumors]

Apple is working on Macs that use its custom Apple-designed Apple Silicon chips instead of Intel chips, but Apple has committed to continuing to support Thunderbolt, reports The Verge.

In a statement, an Apple spokesperson said that Apple's upcoming machines will offer support for Intel's Thunderbolt USB-C standard.

"Over a decade ago, Apple partnered with Intel to design and develop Thunderbolt, and today our customers enjoy the speed and flexibility it brings to every Mac. We remain committed to the future of Thunderbolt and will support it in Macs with Apple silicon."

Apple at WWDC unveiled its plans for Macs equipped with Apple Silicon chips, the first of which is set to come out before the end of 2020. Apple eventually plans to transition all of its Macs to Apple Silicon, a process that the company says will take two years.

According to Apple, Apple Silicon will bring a new level of performance with more powerful Macs that are also more energy efficient with better battery life.

Article Link: Apple's Arm-Based Macs With Apple Silicon Chips Will Support Thunderbolt

 

[Mr_Brightside_@]

Welcome news!

 

[actripxl]

I would hope so since everything is moving to USB-C .

 

[thingstoponder]

I expected this despite all the doom and gloomers. Still nice that Apple game out ahead of this And didn’t let it linger. Now please announce Apple Silicon Macs won’t be limited to their own GPUs. Plenty of people are saying this like it’s a fact and it’s obvious nonsense to me.

 

[masterleep]

Now let's hope they get rid of the awful Touch Bar.

 

[im2fast4u]

Bring on the thunder... there’s a lull before the storm!

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Good news but hardly surprising.

 

[KernelG]

Makes sense, but it would nice if Apple could release an updated Dev Kit for developers like Universal Audio who depend on Thunderbolt to access their DSP hardware. I'd like UA to get started on this transition sooner rather than later.

 

[Plutonius]

I think that Apple pretty much had to.

 

[jgbr]

Get rid of that nonsense and just go to usb 4. Streamline it even more.

 

[farewelwilliams]

Get rid of that nonsense and just go to usb 4. Streamline it even more.

It probably is exactly that. USB4 supports Thunderbolt 3

 

[groove-agent]

Now let's hope they get rid of the awful Touch Bar.

I enjoyed the Touch Bar after installing Better Touch Tool but overall, I hardly use it except when I accidentally hit the Siri button when touch-typing the delete key. At this point I'd rather have the old function keys back.

 

[Cosmosent]

Licensed from Synopsys ?

 

[Onelifenofear]

Now let's hope they get rid of the awful Touch Bar.

I love it. Use it all the time. Admittedly I have some awesome setup for apps with Better Touch Tool.

it's interesting that some people hate on this... just because it doesn't fit their needs or they can't be bothered to find out what it can do....

That said I would love for apple to have an OLED keyboard like the Optimus Maximus. Completely customisable for every app. shows tools images into photo shop for example.

 

[groove-agent]

It would be pretty dumb and a downgrade if they didn't include thunderbolt with ARM Macs.

Apple is working on Macs that use its custom Apple-designed Apple Silicon chips instead of Intel chips, but Apple has committed to continuing to support Thunderbolt, reports The Verge.

In a statement, an Apple spokesperson said that Apple's upcoming machines will offer support for Intel's Thunderbolt USB-C standard.

Apple at WWDC unveiled its plans for Macs equipped with Apple Silicon chips, the first of which is set to come out before the end of 2020. Apple eventually plans to transition all of its Macs to Apple Silicon, a process that the company says will take two years.

According to Apple, Apple Silicon will bring a new level of performance with more powerful Macs that are also more energy efficient with better battery life.

Article Link: Apple's Arm-Based Macs With Apple Silicon Chips Will Support Thunderbolt

 

[KPOM]

It probably is exactly that. USB4 supports Thunderbolt 3

Or it could be Thunderbolt 4.

 

[ArrayDecay]

I'll notify Washington.

 

[eatrains]

Given Thunderbolt's notable omission from the DTK, I'm surprised they didn't announce this from the get-go.

 

[zorinlynx]

I'm really glad to hear this, especially since it means people can now invest safely in Thunderbolt peripherals without the fear they won't be compatible with future Macs.

Apple was smart to clear this up; the lack of Thunderbolt on the developer test machine along with Thunderbolt being Intel tech really scared up some uncertainty. This is not the time to hide behind their veil of secrecy on questions like this.
[automerge]1594248050[/automerge]

Given Thunderbolt's notable omission from the DTK, I'm surprised they didn't announce this from the get-go.

Yep. It makes sense that they wouldn't have had time to implement it for the DTK but nobody knew absolutely for sure. Now we can relax.

 

[farewelwilliams]

Or it could be Thunderbolt 4.

No. That would require an Intel chip.

EDIT:
nevermind. turns out Intel is open to approving designs that don't have VT-d support https://www.pcworld.com/article/356...rbolt-4-spec-debuting-in-pcs-in-the-fall.html

 

[macsplusmacs]

No. That would require an Intel chip, at the very least a Thunderbolt 4 controller.

You sure?

Like ARM, couldn't Apple have a license to make anything they want with TB4 and configure it for Apple Silicon?

 

[farewelwilliams]

You sure?

Like ARM, couldn't Apple have a license to make anything they want with TB4 and configure it for Apple Silicon?

Intel unveils Thunderbolt 4 specifications. Speeds unchanged and features native compatibility with Tiger Lake mobile processors | Digit

Intel unveiled Thunderbolt 4 at CES 2020 and has now launched controllers that support the new inter-connectivity standard

www.digit.in

"This requirement would effectively make Thunderbolt 4 exclusive to Intel processors only."

 

[Darth Tulhu]

Don't understand why this was a surprise when Apple designed and developed Thunderbolt with Intel.

EDIT: I take that back...

 

[johngwheeler]

Don't understand why this was a surprise when Apple designed and developed Thunderbolt with Intel.

Yes, but Intel is the licence holder, and could, in theory at least, have withheld the use of the licence to Apple.

I have read that USB-C *can* include Thunderbolt-3 without a licence, but that TB3 support is one of the optional items in the USB4 standard.

 

[thisismyusername]

Good. Now all the nervous folks that freaked out over the DTK not having it can relax (even though it should have been obvious that Apple would include a feature that they themselves helped design).

it's interesting that some people hate on this... just because it doesn't fit their needs or they can't be bothered to find out what it can do....

You have to look at it in order to use it (which is really annoying for touch-typists), it's only available on some of their laptops, and it's useless if you use an external keyboard. It's a stupid feature that just raises the cost of their products. It should definitely be dumped. It actually makes me less productive when I'm using the laptop's built-in keyboard.