Differences between USB-C, HDMI and Thunderbolt

Cable connections are still widely used today, when it comes to connecting notebooks, DVD and Blu-Ray players or other types of multimedia devices, such as televisions, screens and game consoles, we refer to three types of connection, we will see the differences between Thunderbolt, USB-C and HDMI, which are the most widespread.

The one that is most found on the devices is the HDMI, which is able to ensure a fast connection with any type of device with the same standard of connection, but there are some good alternatives that provide good performance, below we go to find out in the detail.

Thunderbolt

Thunderbolt is a very versatile standard designed and promoted by Intel and Apple, which allows you to connect compatible displays, hard drives and SSDs; the first versions, 1 and 2, used a mini DisplayPort connector, while the current version 3 uses a USB Type-C connector.

The theoretical band supported by Thunderbolt 3.0, current standard, is 40 Gbps and is able to transfer 4K video streams on two displays simultaneously, moreover, the real innovation consists in the fact that only one port can be used to connect up to six devices in daisy chaining or via Hub.

This means that you can chain different devices, for example, imagine you have monitors, external hard drives and other devices with a Thunderbolt port, in this case you can connect everything to the screen and then attach it to your MacBook, running all the connected devices at the same time and without losing speed.

Furthermore, the introduction of the USB Type-C connector has made it possible for this port to be used to charge a device using up to 100 W of power.

Thunderbolt is definitely a very interesting technology, both from the physical point of view and performance, the connector is smaller and allows companies to use thinner devices, even if currently, only Apple seems to exploit this possibility, there are very few devices of other manufacturers to use this standard.

Finally, a notable advantage is that of aggregating several connectors in itself, going to offer the capabilities of USB, HDMI, Display Port, audio jack and Ethernet in one socket.

USB-C

The USB-C is a standard that is replacing that of the micro USB in smartphones, more precisely, the output that is used to recharge the device and to carry out data transfer, while on computers, this port is increasingly joined to the ports USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.

The main advantage of the USB-C is that it is much faster than current USB standards both in terms of charging and data transfer, to give you some practical examples, a micro USB 2.0 port on smartphones supports a maximum 5B power supply. at 2A with a transfer speed of 480 Mbit/s, while a USB 3.1 of Type C supports a power supply from 20V up to 5A with a transfer rate of 10 Gbit/s, up to 20 times faster.

Another advantage of this type of connector lies in the fact that it can be inserted on both sides as happens with the Lighting cable, so it is a reversible cable that can be used on both sides.

If you have purchased a smartphone that only supports the USB-C port, you will need to use that type of cable, so you can not use the classic micro USB cable, to circumvent the problem you can still buy an adapter, while on the computer the problem it does not appear, because this port supports the usual USB.

HDMI

When we talk about HDMI, that is, High-Definition Multimedia Interface, we refer to the high-definition multimedia interface that allows you to transfer, through a single cable, audio and video data.

Video data transmitted via an HDMI cable is not compressed, while audio data can be compressed or uncompressed; this type of cable, therefore, is the vehicle that transmits the digital signal from a source to another device in a complete way.

A source means a television, a console, a video camera, a DVD or Blu-ray player, multimedia keys and other devices, which are connected via the HDMI cable to a receiver unit equipped with an HDMI port.

Its main function, therefore, is to display high-definition video and audio content from a device to a PC monitor or a television.

Cables that use HDMI technology can integrate different connectors, all depends on the type of device that must be connected, the image resolution and the presence or absence of 3D content, but also other technical features.

In conclusion, these are three very valid and powerful types of connection, with substantial differences in the type of transferable content and the speed and power with which the transfer takes place, there is no doubt that all have brought enormous benefits in the communication between the various devices.

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