Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

DisplayPort 2.0 Now Compatible With USB4, Supports Up to Two 8K Displays or One 16K Display

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,464
37,702


VESA today announced that it has released DisplayPort Alt Mode 2.0, paving the way for future USB4 devices to support DisplayPort 2.0.

macbook-pro-16-inch-thunderbolt.jpg

Announced in June 2019, DisplayPort 2.0 has a max effective bandwidth of 77.4 Gbps, nearly triple that of DisplayPort 1.4. The new standard enables support for displays with up to 16K resolution, higher refresh rates, HDR support at higher resolutions, improved support for multiple display configurations, and more.

USB4 converges the Thunderbolt and USB protocols as part of Intel's goal to make Thunderbolt available on a royalty-free basis, which should result in wider and cheaper availability of Thunderbolt accessories like docks and eGPUs.

USB4 uses the USB-C connector design and is backwards compatible with USB 3.2 and USB 2.0.

Apple will likely adopt USB4 in future Macs. VESA expects the first products incorporating DisplayPort Alt Mode 2.0 to appear on the market in 2021.

Article Link: DisplayPort 2.0 Now Compatible With USB4, Supports Up to Two 8K Displays or One 16K Display
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/04/29/displayport-alt-mode-2-0-for-usb4/
"USB4 converges the Thunderbolt and USB protocols as part of Intel's goal to make Thunderbolt available on a royalty-free basis, which should result in wider and cheaper availability of Thunderbolt accessories like docks and eGPUs."

Good, nothing makes me want to rip my hair out more than the price of thunderbolt docks (even thunderbolt 2 docks - 6 year old tech are still way overpriced)
 
  • Like
Reactions: sideshowuniqueuser, wwetech, Darajavahus and 7 others
This is likely what Apple is waiting on before they upgrade the iMac and iMac Pro. Apple likes to have something that differentiates each product and form factor. I am seriously thinking about getting a iMac as my next computer if it uses the XDR design and reduced the bezels and chin.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ajfahey, wwetech, Darajavahus and 3 others
Mr. Dee said:
This is likely what Apple is waiting on before they upgrade the iMac and iMac Pro. Apple likes to have something that differentiates each product and form factor. I am seriously thinking about getting a iMac as my next computer if it uses the XDR design and reduced the bezels and chin.
Click to expand...
Agreed. The current iMac looks dated. I can see the Mac Pro design language trickling down into consumer products.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: Mr. Dee, wwetech, Darajavahus and 1 other person
coolbeep said:
"USB4 converges the Thunderbolt and USB protocols as part of Intel's goal to make Thunderbolt available on a royalty-free basis, which should result in wider and cheaper availability of Thunderbolt accessories like docks and eGPUs."

Good, nothing makes me want to rip my hair out more than the price of thunderbolt docks (even thunderbolt 2 docks - 6 year old tech are still way overpriced)
Click to expand...

I'm guessing the main factors of Thunderbolt dock pricing were:

  • relatively low volume
  • many purchasers are Apple customers and willing to pay a premium
  • lower-priced, higher-volume USB dock alternatives exist
 
  • Like
Reactions: lunarworks
chucker23n1 said:
I'm guessing the main factors of Thunderbolt dock pricing were:

  • relatively low volume
  • many purchasers are Apple customers and willing to pay a premium
  • lower-priced, higher-volume USB dock alternatives exist
Click to expand...

Not likely.

Volume is extremely high ...
Lenovo ThinkPad T480s/T490 and a few others have 2x Thunderbolt 3 ports already and docks.
HP EliteBook 840 G5/G6, EliteBook DragonFly (of which others: EliteBook 1030/1040 G5+G6, 830 G4 and a few others) ALL have 1 or 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports and about 3 docks already that use this for corporate deployment.
Dell XPS 13 9300 (2020 model) and the XPS 13 2-in-1 released late 2019 BOTH ONLY have Thunderbolt 3 (x2) ports.

The upcoming EliteBook and ThinkPad T lineups will ONLY have Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C4 ports so those traditional and finnicky corporate 'Docks' will be a thing of a past for older laptops going forward.

Volume is already there, at least with shipping to retailers (brick and online).

Agreed on point 2 however the licensing is the cost.

One thing I thought TB3 had was connection security - I see this in HP laptops - yet I don't see this in the USBC4 spec.
 
  • Like
Reactions: AxiomaticRubric
USB 4 would be great for the next iPad Pro. I'm not expecting it though in that iteration.

However, I'd be extremely pleased in the next iPad Pro with Thunderbolt 3 even if isn't official USB 4.
 
  • Like
Reactions: wwetech
EugW said:
USB 4 would be great for the next iPad Pro. I'm not expecting it though in that iteration.

However, I'd be extremely pleased in the next iPad Pro with Thunderbolt 3 even if isn't official USB 4.
Click to expand...
Would usb4 cables work though? Are they functionally the same, or just have the possibility of working if the manufacturer wishes to?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Henk Poley
DeepIn2U said:
Not likely.

Volume is extremely high ...
Lenovo ThinkPad T480s/T490 and a few others have 2x Thunderbolt 3 ports already and docks.
HP EliteBook 840 G5/G6, EliteBook DragonFly (of which others: EliteBook 1030/1040 G5+G6, 830 G4 and a few others) ALL have 1 or 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports and about 3 docks already that use this for corporate deployment.
Dell XPS 13 9300 (2020 model) and the XPS 13 2-in-1 released late 2019 BOTH ONLY have Thunderbolt 3 (x2) ports.

The upcoming EliteBook and ThinkPad T lineups will ONLY have Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C4 ports so those traditional and finnicky corporate 'Docks' will be a thing of a past for older laptops going forward.
Click to expand...

Not sure how a bunch of laptops that sell less than MacBooks are proof that "volume is extremely high". EliteBook? ThinkPad? Seriously? Those aren't mass-market. The XPS kind of is, but most of the existing ones aren't Thunderbolt.

And none of that negates my third point: you can just use a USB-C dock regardless. Which almost everyone ends up doing.

DeepIn2U said:
Volume is already there, at least with shipping to retailers (brick and online).
Click to expand...

For Thunderbolt demand? Where?

DeepIn2U said:
Agreed on point 2 however the licensing is the cost.
Click to expand...

The cost is zero.
 
Mr. Dee said:
This is likely what Apple is waiting on before they upgrade the iMac and iMac Pro. Apple likes to have something that differentiates each product and form factor. I am seriously thinking about getting a iMac as my next computer if it uses the XDR design and reduced the bezels and chin.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, I don’t believe Apple is going to release a single Intel-based Mac with USB 4 onboard, instead opting to use it exclusively with ARM/Arm-based Macs and the iPad Pro post 2021/2022. Apple wants to move users over to the ARM/Arm side as quickly as possible. At least that’s what I would do if I was in charge.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Roscorito
This is the news I’ve been looking for, but I am unclear on one thing: does USB-4 itself have this bandwidth or is TB4 integration necessary? (Edit: Is DP 2.0 now an independent part of USB 4 or is it part of TB 4? How is DP 2.0 achieving the extra bandwidth?)

I thought TB4 retained the same 40Gbps maximum throughput as TB3.
 
  • Like
Reactions: x86dude, jimthing, Darajavahus and 1 other person
Sounds nice for eGPUs. I currently use a Razer Core X eGPU with my 2018 15” MacBook Pro, it works really well in either Mac OS X or booted into Windows for games. I stuck a Vega 56 in it last year, lots of bang for the buck for a couple hundred bucks.
 
DeepIn2U said:
Volume is extremely high ...
Lenovo ThinkPad T480s/T490 and a few others have 2x Thunderbolt 3 ports already and docks.
HP EliteBook 840 G5/G6, EliteBook DragonFly (of which others: EliteBook 1030/1040 G5+G6, 830 G4 and a few others) ALL have 1 or 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports and about 3 docks already that use this for corporate deployment.
Dell XPS 13 9300 (2020 model) and the XPS 13 2-in-1 released late 2019 BOTH ONLY have Thunderbolt 3 (x2) ports.

The upcoming EliteBook and ThinkPad T lineups will ONLY have Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C4 ports so those traditional and finnicky corporate 'Docks' will be a thing of a past for older laptops going forward.

Volume is already there, at least with shipping to retailers (brick and online).
Click to expand...
Volume on the computer side doesn't equal volume on the peripheral side, ie, how many TB peripherals are actually sold. And we are talking here about the price of TB peripherals and thus how many of those are being sold is the relevant factor here when trying to explain the high price of said peripherals.

Of course, there is the chicken-and-egg problem. If prices are high, few are getting sold. And if few are sold, prices remain high. But the fact that USB-C speeds are good enough for most people is probably the main factor why so few TB peripherals are being sold.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DeepIn2U
chucker23n1 said:
Not sure how a bunch of laptops that sell less than MacBooks are proof that "volume is extremely high". EliteBook? ThinkPad? Seriously? Those aren't mass-market. The XPS kind of is, but most of the existing ones aren't Thunderbolt.

And none of that negates my third point: you can just use a USB-C dock regardless. Which almost everyone ends up doing.



For Thunderbolt demand? Where?



The cost is zero.
Click to expand...

My wife works for a hospital system and they equipped her Lenovo Thinkpad with a Lenovo TB3 dock to allow her to have a multi-monitor setup, which shocked the hell out of me. I suspect there are more corporate purchasers of TB3 docks than we may suspect.

Her previous employer gave her a Dell laptop with a USB-C dock which had a similar effect on my perceptions of how much these technologies are evolving in the PC marketplace.

Items marketed exclusively to the Mac crowd always carry a higher and sometimes unnecessary price bumps to appear as though we are getting special items the PC crowd do not, which ain’t necessarily so.
 
Zdigital2015 said:
My wife works for a hospital system and they equipped her Lenovo Thinkpad with a Lenovo TB3 dock to allow her to have a multi-monitor setup, which shocked the hell out of me. I suspect there are more corporate purchasers of TB3 docks than we may suspect.
Click to expand...

I dunno; I don't see it a lot. A USB-C dock will do fine for many purposes.

Zdigital2015 said:
Her previous employer gave her a Dell laptop with a USB-C dock which had a similar effect on my perceptions of how much these technologies are evolving in the PC marketplace.
Click to expand...

Sure, but those are like a third of the price, if that.

Zdigital2015 said:
Items marketed exclusively to the Mac crowd always carry a higher and sometimes unnecessary price bumps to appear as though we are getting special items the PC crowd do not, which ain’t necessarily so.
Click to expand...

Well, especially in the Thunderbolt 2 era, Thunderbolt outside of Macs was rare.

And in the Thunderbolt 3 era, actual Thunderbolt devices are still relatively rare compared to USB-C ones.

Which was really my original point. Even if computers increasingly have Thunderbolt 3, people rarely use it for that.
 
cmChimera said:
Would usb4 cables work though? Are they functionally the same, or just have the possibility of working if the manufacturer wishes to?
Click to expand...
I suspect that as long as cables are created to spec, they shouldn't be a problem. The main problem is USB cables are often sub-par.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back