when will imac have usb c

AFRinTexas wrote:

Thanks. It was my understanding that Thunderbolt is close but not exactly the same as usb c. I have to (finally) replace my 2013 iMac bc Catalina is no longer supported by many of my apps. If I buy a new one, I sure didn’t want to need an adapter for the next 11 years!

I appreciate your detailed response. Thank you.

At the risk of going into too much detail …

USB-C is a "Swiss Army Knife" connector. It can support several things including

• USB data transfers at up to 10 Gbps – like those you can do on USB-A connectors
• USB4 data transfers at up to 20 or 40 Gbps – not available on USB-A connectors
• USB-C Power Delivery – not available on USB-A connectors
• DisplayPort ALT Mode – not available on USB-A connectors
• Thunderbolt ALT Mode – not available on USB-A connectors

There's no guarantee that a generic USB-C port has much of anything There are USB-C chargers (which don't need to support much of anything other than USB-C Power Delivery) and I believe the standard would allow the implementation of a USB-C host port that only carried USB 1 & 2 – a rather cruel joke!

Likewise, the capabilities of USB-C and Thunderbolt cables can vary widely – a big reason why cabling is often suspect when something that "should work" doesn't.

Thunderbolt 3 & 4 require USB-C connectors, as does USB4.

Every Thunderbolt 3 or 4 port must, by definition, be a USB-C port. On Macs with Thunderbolt 3 or 4 host ports, those ports support DisplayPort and USB data transfer as well as Thunderbolt. Since Thunderbolt is a high-end feature, Apple tends to emphasize that aspect in their description and marketing of the ports. But that does not mean that Thunderbolt is involved in every use of the ports. It's just nice to have for when you really need it.

USB4 is the latest version of USB. It borrows technology from Thunderbolt 3 but is not identical to it. All the Apple Silicon Macs have USB4 ports, and I believe the first M1 Macs were some of the first computers (if not THE first computers) to ship with USB4.

Thunderbolt 4 is like a cleaned-up version of Thunderbolt 3. If I'm not mistaken, one thing that is required to obtain Thunderbolt 4 certification is the ability to drive two USB-C or Thunderbolt displays. If you look at the Technical Specifications for Apple Silicon Macs, you'll find that every Apple Silicon Mac that has the ability to drive two or more such displays has USB4 (Thunderbolt 4) ports. Apple Silicon Macs that can only drive one such display have USB4 (Thunderbolt 3) ports.

Some corner cases:

• The USB-C ports on 12" Retina MacBooks support USB and DisplayPort, but not Thunderbolt.
• The USB-C ports on some iPads – like the 5th-generation Air and 10th-generation iPad – support USB and DisplayPort, but not Thunderbolt. The USB on the 10th-generation iPad is USB 2.0.
• The front-panel USB-C ports on the M1 Max and M2 Max versions of the Mac Studio support USB, but not DisplayPort or Thunderbolt.
• The Apple Thunderbolt 3-to-2 adapter is bidirectional, but only converts Thunderbolt protocol – and won't offer Mini DisplayPort on the TB2 side, or USB-C (USB, USB Power Delivery, DisplayPort) on the TB3 side.

Servant of Cats wrote:

Phil0124 wrote:

iMac's have had USB-C ports since 2017.

The current iMac has 2 or 4 ports depending on the configuration.

click here ➜ iMac 24-inch - Technical Specifications - Apple

All variants of the 24" M1 iMac have two USB-C (USB, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt) ports.

The more expensive variant has four USB ports – but two of them are USB-C (USB, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt) ports, and the other two are USB-A ports. (All have a limit of one external monitor.)

Nope. All 4 on the higher end model are USB-C. Just have different capabilities. Two are USB-3 but not A. The other 2 are Thunderbolt.

Phil0124 wrote:

iMac's have had USB-C ports since 2017.

The current iMac has 2 or 4 ports depending on the configuration.

click here ➜ iMac 24-inch - Technical Specifications - Apple

All variants of the 24" M1 iMac have two USB-C (USB, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt) ports.

The more expensive variant has four USB ports – but two of them are USB-C (USB, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt) ports, and the other two are USB-A ports. (All have a limit of one external monitor.)

Phil0124 wrote:

Nope. All 4 on the higher end model are USB-C. Just have different capabilities. Two are USB-3 but not A. The other 2 are Thunderbolt.

https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/f41d86da-92fa-4a2e-b5fa-0963e8d2cc3d

My mistake. The technical specifications only called them out as "USB 3" (no mention of USB-C), and I didn't look at the rear-panel illustration closely enough.

So two USB-C ports with (USB, DIsplayPort, Thunderbolt) and two USB-C ports with USB only.

Servant of Cats wrote:

So two USB-C ports with (USB, DIsplayPort, Thunderbolt) and two USB-C ports with USB only.

It's confusing. Definitely confusing.

Thunderbolt 4 includes Thunderbolt, at least some Power Delivery capabilities, and USB (USB4) communications, and uses a USB-C connector.

USB4 provides at least some power, provides USB (USB4) communications, and uses a USB-C connector.

A port providing Thunderbolt 4 provides USB4, but a USB4 port does not provide Thunderbolt.

USB-C is a connector, same as USB-A and USB-B are connectors. (USB hardware info)

It doesn't tell you what the port provides, only what connector fits into it.

A USB-C connector may or may not be used with USB communications such as USB 3.x or USB4.

In common USB nomenclature, the letters are used for connectors, and numbers for communications schemes.

The cherry atop all the confusion available here is that different USB-C cables can have different capabilities. A USB-C charging cable provides some power, and low speed USB (USB 2.0). A Thunderbolt 4 USB-C cable provides ~everything, though . And there are some other cables.

Previous discussion:

... https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252991701

Cables:

... https://people.kernel.org/bleung/now-how-many-usb-c-to-usb-c-cables-are-there-usb4-update-september-12

That older MacBook must be a 12” Retina MacBook. They had one USB-C port, which supported DisplayPort, but not Thunderbolt.

I believe that every other Mac with built-in USB-C ports has had at least two that supported Thunderbolt. (On the M1 and M2 Max versions of the Studio, the four rear-panel USB-C ports have Thunderbolt, but the two front-panel ones don’t.)

MrHoffman wrote:

It's confusing. Definitely confusing.

It gets better.

USB4 has three different "up to 20 Gbps" modes, and the one which corresponds to USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 is the one that is optional for USB4 host ports. (Also the one that Macs reportedly don't support – plug a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 SSD into a Mac's Thunderbolt 3 or 4 port, and the two will fall back to USB 3.1 Gen 2 speed.)

USB4 naming is confusing even to people accustomed to the old generation x number_of_lanes system.

USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 is the same as USB 3.1 Gen 2

USB4 Gen 2x1 is not the same as USB 3.2 Gen 2x1

USB4 Gen 2x2 is not the same as USB 3.2 Gen 2x2

Generation 2 still means the same speed (per lane), but with a different electrical encoding …

I don't know how the USB Implementers' Forum expects most computer users to keep track of all of this.

iMac's have had USB-C ports since 2017.

The current iMac has 2 or 4 ports depending on the configuration.

click here ➜ iMac 24-inch - Technical Specifications - Apple

They've had one since the 2017 models.

(242205)

My wife's older Macbook has *only one* USB-C port, and nothing else except a headphone jack.

iMacs have had USB C ports for years now.

Correct.

Servant of Cats wrote:

MrHoffman wrote:

It's confusing. Definitely confusing.

It gets better…

We haven’t gotten to Power Delivery, either.