Thunderbolt is a high-bandwidth connectivity standard developed by Intel and Apple. It multiplexes PCIe data lanes and DisplayPort video signals into a single serial stream, while also providing DC power to peripherals. Later generations adopted the USB-C physical connector, allowing single-cable docking stations to drive multiple external displays, fast storage arrays, and network interfaces simultaneously.
Heard on the job
We need a Thunderbolt dock to run dual 4K monitors off this laptop.
Insider tip
Although Thunderbolt 3 and 4 use the same physical port as USB-C, a passive USB-C cable will fall back to lower speeds and might not support external displays.