Thunderbolt 5 vs 4: What’s the Difference Between Them?

Thunderbolt 5 vs 4

You may have known Thunderbolt, which is the brand name of a hardware interface for the connection of external peripherals to a computer, developed by Intel in collaboration with Apple.

Thunderbolt combines PCI Express (PCIe) and DisplayPort (DP) into two serial signals and additionally provides DC power via a single cable.

The early versions of Thunderbolt (1 and 2) use Mini DP port and they are not very popular because they are usually used by Mac PCs. Since Thunderbolt 3, the Thunderbolt interface has become popular because it started to use the USB Type-C port and other PC brands can also use Thunderbolt ports.

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Later on, Thunderbolt 4 was released in 2020 and Thunderbolt 5 was released in 2023. You may want to know the difference between Thunderbolt 5 and 4. Then, you can view the following Thunderbolt 5 vs 4 table and I will explain it to you in detail.

Thunderbolt 5 is based on PCIe 4.0 x4 while Thunderbolt 4 is based on PCIe 3.0 x4. Apparently, Thunderbolt 5 is faster than Thunderbolt 4.

Thunderbolt 5 provides a symmetric bandwidth of 80 Gbit/s for mass-storage devices, double that of Thunderbolt 4, and a unidirectional bandwidth of 120 Gbit/s for displays (three times that of Thunderbolt 4). Due to the faster speed, Thunderbolt 5 can support more or higher-resolution displays.

The Thunderbolt Ports per Accessory means how many accessories and displays the Thunderbolt port can connect to. The Power means the Thunderbolt port can be used to charge the laptop or other devices.

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Thunderbolt 4 SSD and Thunderbolt 5 SSD

Is there a Thunderbolt 4 SSD? Actually, because Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt use the same data transfer protocol (PCIe 3.0 x4), Thunderbolt 4 SSDs are the same as Thunderbolt 3 SSDs.

You cannot find a dedicated Thunderbolt 4 SSD on the market. Instead, you just need to buy a Thunderbolt 3 SSD and then use it to connect the Thunderbolt 4 port.

If you want to buy a nice Thunderbolt 3 SSD, you can consider the following options:

• SanDisk Pro-G40 SSD
• Samsung X5 Portable SSD
• OWC Envoy Pro EX (VE) Thunderbolt 3 Portable SSD
• TEKQ Rapide Thunderbolt 3 Portable SSD

Is there a Thunderbolt 5 SSD? The answer is YES. However, the current selection range is still relatively small. At the time of writing, the available Thunderbolt 5 SSDs are as follows:

• LaCie Rugged SSD Pro5: Up to 6700/5300MB/s read/write speeds.
• Sabrent Rocket XTRM 5: Up to 6000/5000MB/s read/write speeds.
• OWC Envoy Ultra Thunderbolt 5 Portable SSD: Up to 6000MB/s read/write speeds.

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Bonus Tip

If you have a Thunderbolt SSD, you need to format it for use. Then, you can use MiniTool Partition Wizard to help you do that.

In addition, if you want to benchmark a Thunderbolt hard drive, you can also use MiniTool Partition Wizard, which can tell you the real read and write speeds of the hard drive on your computer.

MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe

Bottom Line

Do you want to know the difference between Thunderbolt 5 and 4? This post introduces them in detail. In addition, some Thunderbolt 5 SSDs have come out. You can try them if your computer has Thunderbolt 5 slots.