Introduced in 2011, the Thunderbolt interface has been designed for ultra-high speed communication (twice as fast as USB 3.0) between computers and other gear. In collaboration with Apple, Intel has designed the Thunderbolt as a replacement for USB, FireWire, SATA and PCI Express, among others, with the goal was to reduce the number of different ports on a device. Since the introduction, many other manufacturers have been integrating a Thunderbolt port into their laptops, desktop computers and peripherals. To connect it up, you need a Thunderbolt cable.
The original Thunderbolt interfaces (Thunderbolt 1 and 2) features a Mini DisplayPort connection. The third version released in 2025 transitioned to USB-C. While the new Thunderbolt ports look just like USB-C ports, it's important to know that you need a dedicated Thunderbolt cable if you want to take advantage of the high speeds and special features of the upgraded interface. With a regular USB-C cable, you basically lose out on the perks that come with Thunderbolt 3.
