Otherwise, you were looking at 5Gbps and 10Gbps respectively for the first two standards. There's also a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 standard released more recently with speeds up to 20Gbps. Previous USB versions have been on a wild naming ride, with USB 3.1 Gen 1 becoming USB 3.2 Gen 1 and USB 3.1 Gen 2 becoming USB 3.2 Gen 2.

USB4 is the next update to the Universal Serial Bus (USB) standard, as named by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF). Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central Thunderbolt 4 port on the (Image credit: Source: Daniel Rubino / Windows Central) USB4 is the next high-performance USB standard Thunderbolt 3 is still an excellent alternative and can do a whole lot, but buying Thunderbolt 4 is the way to go if you want the best option heading into the future. The bottom line here is that laptops with Thunderbolt 4 can guarantee better port performance. And laptops below the 100W charging mark will need to include at least one port capable of charging. Thunderbolt 4 will also work with cables that measure up to two meters, with longer support expected in the future. If you have a desktop setup, you'll be able to pull your PC out of hibernation just by touching the accessories. The best Thunderbolt 4 docking stations add support for up to three downstream Thunderbolt 4 ports, and it adds Direct Memory Access (DMA) protection via Intel's Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) to help deal with threats. This extra bandwidth will also help anyone who uses an external GPU to turn their Ultrabook into a gaming machine.

If you often use removable storage - like something from our best external hard drive collection - you should see theoretical transfer speeds up to about 3,000MB/s with Thunderbolt 4. There's also double the amount of PCIe bandwidth required, bumping Thunderbolt 4 up to 32Gbps from Thunderbolt 3's 16Gbps. Thunderbolt 4 takes things to the next level with a new set of minimum performance requirements for video support, PCIe bandwidth, and more.

Usb 2 vs usb 3 ports