Type-C is easier to use than Thunderbolt and appears to be cheaper to implement, making it a no-brainer upgrade. It lets you plug in your external hard drives - which make up the vast majority of the 50 Thunderbolt products on Apple's online store - and pushes video out to external displays. USB 3.1 with the smaller, reversible USB Type-C usurps the entire purpose of Thunderbolt cables for regular consumers. The future is easy and convenient like USB, not superpowered like Thunderbolt
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Some four years after its introduction, however, Thunderbolt is still narrowly focused on high-end applications and hasn't been adopted or aggressively promoted by many PC makers beyond Apple.
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In simple terms, Thunderbolt is a much fatter and faster pipe for data transfers than USB, and it makes it possible to connect big storage arrays and high-resolution displays to your MacBook. But the company's pursuit of a completely wireless laptop now bodes poorly for the future of Thunderbolt and even casts some doubt over the long-term prospects of Lightning.Ĭo-developed by Intel and Apple and introduced in the 2011 MacBook Pro, Thunderbolt promised to be the thing that made us leave USB behind. There was once a time when Apple saw the connected future built around a pair of boldly titled interconnects: Thunderbolt for laptops and desktop computers, and Lightning for its mobile iOS devices. "As long as we were going to include a port for charging the new MacBook, we wanted to make sure it was the most advanced and versatile one available." Here's how Apple explains its choice of connector: Other than the mandatory headphone jack, there's just one port available on the MacBook: a USB Type-C connection that takes care of power, data transfers, and display output. The new MacBook represents Apple's vision for " the future of the notebook." That future is defined by thinness, lightness, and an almost total abandonment of external connectivity ports.