Thunderbolt (interface)
| Production history | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Designer | |||
| Manufacturer | Various | ||
| Produced | Since 24 February 2011 | ||
| Superseded |
| ||
| General specifications | |||
| Length | |||
| Width | 7.4 mm plug (8.3 mm receptacle) | ||
| Height | 4.5 mm plug (5.4 mm receptacle) | ||
| Hot pluggable | Yes | ||
| Daisy chain |
| ||
| External | Yes | ||
| Audio signal | Via DisplayPort protocol or USB-based external audio cards. Supports audio through HDMI converters. | ||
| Video signal | Via DisplayPort protocol | ||
| Pins |
| ||
| Connector |
| ||
| Electrical | |||
| Max. voltage | 18 V (bus power) | ||
| Max. current | 550 mA (9.9 W max.) | ||
| Data | |||
| Data signal | Yes | ||
| Bitrate |
| ||
| Protocol |
| ||
| Pinout | |||
| Pin 1 | GND | Ground | |
| Pin 2 | 'HPD' | Hot plug detect | |
| Pin 3 | HS0TX(P) | HighSpeed transmit 0 (positive) | |
| Pin 4 | HS0RX(P) | HighSpeed receive 0 (positive) | |
| Pin 5 | HS0TX(N) | HighSpeed transmit 0 (negative) | |
| Pin 6 | HS0RX(N) | HighSpeed receive 0 (negative) | |
| Pin 7 | GND | Ground | |
| Pin 8 | GND | Ground | |
| Pin 9 | LSR2P TX | LowSpeed transmit | |
| Pin 10 | GND | Ground (reserved) | |
| Pin 11 | LSP2R RX | LowSpeed receive | |
| Pin 12 | GND | Ground (reserved) | |
| Pin 13 | GND | Ground | |
| Pin 14 | GND | Ground | |
| Pin 15 | HS1TX(P) | HighSpeed transmit 1 (positive) | |
| Pin 16 | HS1RX(P) | HighSpeed receive 1 (positive) | |
| Pin 17 | HS1TX(N) | HighSpeed transmit 1 (negative) | |
| Pin 18 | HS1RX(N) | HighSpeed receive 1 (negative) | |
| Pin 19 | GND | Ground | |
| Pin 20 | DPPWR | Power | |
| This is the pinout for both sides of the connector, source side and sink side. The cable is actually a crossover cable. It swaps all receive and transmit lanes; e.g. HS1TX(P) of the source is connected to HS1RX(P) of the sink. | |||
Thunderbolt is the brand name of a hardware interface for the connection of external peripherals to a computer. It was developed by Intel in collaboration with Apple. It was initially marketed under the name Light Peak, and first sold as part of an end-user product on 24 February 2011.
Thunderbolt combines PCI Express (PCIe) and DisplayPort (DP) into two serial signals and provides DC power via a single cable. Up to six peripherals may be supported by one connector through various topologies. Thunderbolt 1 and 2 use the same connector as Mini DisplayPort (MDP), whereas Thunderbolt 3, 4, and 5 use the USB-C connector, and support USB devices.