With the progress of society, more and more people choose to use notebooks as their main office tool. Many users who don’t study much about notebooks open their notebooks and find this “Evo” label. Speaking of Evo platform certification, let’s talk about the source of Evo first. In August 2019, while Intel released a 10nm processor, it also released a project called Athena, first-line Wanlian: Intel EVO certification. And Intel EVO certification is a must-have Thunderbolt 4 interface. At the same time, Evo platform certification has been comprehensively optimized for the real-world experience of the majority of users, and is committed to allowing thin and light notebooks to meet the characteristics of fast wake-up, high performance, long battery life, and ultimate connectivity to cope with various workloads.
For mobile devices such as thin and light notebooks, in terms of wireless connection, Evo platform certified models can be compatible with AX201 network card through the CNVio 2 module integrated with the chipset, thus supporting Wi-Fi 6 wireless network and Bluetooth 5.1; in terms of wired connection, Intel Evo platform certified models are also at the forefront of PC development and can support the latest and most powerful Thunderbolt 4, commonly known as the Thunderbolt 4 interface.
Thunderbolt3
Speaking of the Evo platform certified Thunderbolt 4, it is a further evolution of Thunderbolt 3; Thunderbolt 4 is not only perfectly compatible with Thunderbolt 3 and USB4, but also provides more stringent standards to make the connectivity of thin and light notebooks uncompromising. Thanks to the best performance, rich features, and good compatibility, Thunderbolt 3 has become the exclusive selling point of Intel platform PC products for a long time. In the first Athena plan proposed in 2019, Core Mobile Super Edition thin and light notebooks will also support Thunderbolt 3 to bring better connectivity than regular USB.
Thunderbolt 3 is currently the most comprehensive protocol, whether it is transmission speed, video expansion or charging, it is currently the top-level interface protocol with the current performance. However, most USB-C interfaces equipped with Thunderbolt 3 appear on many high-end devices, such as Apple MacBook laptops or iMac and other devices. Moreover, lightning interface supports PCIE communication protocol, so the lightning 3 interface can also be directly connected to external graphics cards. Logically speaking, the more functions a interface supports, the more powerful the performance it is, and many people should like to use it. But this is not the case. Why many people can't use it? Most of the reasons are because of the high price problem, and many manufacturers and users are stumbled. This is because the patent of the Thunderbolt 3 interface standard is in the hands of Intel, so if any manufacturer wants to use the Thunderbolt 3 interface standard, they need to pay high authorization fees to Intel.
In 2019, Intel announced the opening of the Thunderbolt protocol to USB-IF. USB4 has all the functional features of Thunderbolt 3 and is open to the public for free. In the future, many manufacturers can use the USB4 interface standard to obtain the high-performance standard of Thunderbolt 3. Doing so will inevitably further popularize Thunderbolt 3 and accelerate the implementation of the high-performance interface standard. You can see that in addition to the MacBook series laptops in the market are equipped with Thunderbolt 3 interfaces, more and more Windows laptops have also begun to use Thunderbolt 3 interfaces. It is a very important development direction for thin and light notebooks.
Intel is an important member of the USB-IF organization, so Intel has also participated in the designation of the next generation of USB4 standards and contributed a lot of technology. In fact, the USB4 specification is developed based on the Thunderbolt 3 protocol specification and is compatible with existing USB 3.2 and USB 2.0 devices. Type-C is the only recommended interface solution. Perhaps many users are thinking that Thunderbolt 4, Thunderbolt 3 and USB4 have a deep blood relationship, so what are the similarities and differences between them? After USB4 gradually becomes popular in the future, how many advantages can Thunderbolt 4 supported by Evo platform certified thin and light laptops have?
In fact, this question is not too difficult to answer. Thunderbolt 4 has increased the lower limit of standards in all aspects compared to Thunderbolt 3. The following figure shows the similarities and differences of Thunderbolt 4 compared to Thunderbolt 3 and USB4.
Thunderbolt 4 is built on the innovation of Thunderbolt 3 and can provide a true universal cable connection experience. Thunderbolt 4 provides 40 Gbps bandwidth, data, video transmission and power over a single connection. Thunderbolt 4 is a comprehensive industry standard specification, including USB4, DisplayPort (PCIe, and is fully compatible with previous generation Thunderbolt and USB products. Specifically, Thunderbolt 4 certification requirements include:
, the minimum PC video specification and minimum PC data specification requirements are doubled compared to Thunderbolt 3.
Video: Supports two 4K displays or one 8K display.
Data: PCIe transmission speed is up to 32 Gb/sec, and storage transmission speed is up to 3,000 MB/sec.
supports docking stations with up to 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports.
PC can be charged on at least one computer port.
After connecting to Thunderbolt docking station, wake the computer from sleep by touching the keyboard or mouse.
requires Intel VT-d-based direct memory access (DMA) Protect to prevent physical DMA attacks.
In short, Thunderbolt 4 is committed to providing unparalleled simplicity, highest performance and most reliable connectivity. It is more powerful than Thunderbolt 3, and contains all the functions and features of USB4.
However, the above cannot be said the other way around! Not all USB 4 can be as powerful as Thunderbolt 4. The most obvious thing is that in terms of transmission bandwidth, although USB 4 can provide up to 40Gbps high-speed version (USB4 Gen 3×2), it also retains the lower-speed 20Gbps version (USB4 Gen 2×2); Due to the inconsistent standards, devices that support USB4 in the future retail market may still be of varying quality and cannot obtain a completely consistent experience. In terms of
cables, Thunderbolt 4's brand logo is very simple, but it is highly recognizable. It is convenient for users to easily distinguish between ordinary USB cables and DP cables. Users can recognize Thunderbolt 4 data cables at a glance among the numerous Type-C data cables, and easily connect with thin and light notebooks on the Evo platform, enjoying the most complete expansion and powerful compatibility, and no longer compromise on any functions.
supports connecting multiple monitors, external high-speed hard disk, external fever-level independent graphics card, external Thunderbolt 4 docking station with 4 ports, and various USB accessories. Thunderbolt 4 has richer and more powerful functions, and can be said to play the role of " with one move and "!
supports external connection with 4 ports. Thunderbolt 4 docking station is one of the important improvements compared to Thunderbolt 4 (Thunderbolt 3 only supports 2). It can give Evo certified thin and light notebooks the opportunity to connect to more accessories products that support the Thunderbolt protocol, further providing expansion. For example, through the new expansion dock, the ultra-high bandwidth and multifunctional features of the Thunderbolt 4 protocol can be better utilized, and more Thunderbolt 4 ports can be introduced, and the high-definition display , high-speed mobile solid-state drive , headphones and audio can be connected to multimedia devices such as , turning thin and light notebooks into professional workstations with stronger expansion and support more advanced equipment.
Of course, Thunderbolt 4 also supports external graphics card expansion docks. Through graphics card expansion docks that match Thunderbolt 4, Evo platform certified thin and light laptops can be connected to top desktop version high-performance independent graphics cards, thus making a significant leap in graphics performance and gaining gaming experience and content creation efficiency close to gaming laptops.
As for the 100W power supply provided by Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4 also inherits this advantage and can support fast charging of laptop PDs. Users only need a USB Type-C interface PD charger when traveling on business or traveling, which can meet the charging needs of mobile phones and Evo platform devices at the same time, reducing the burden caused by additional cables.
Previously, there were 0.2m and 0.8m options for Thunderbolt 3. After the release of Thunderbolt 4, Intel also provided a 2m universal cable to suit more usage scenarios. It is understood that in the future, the Thunderbolt 4 ultra-long cable of 5m or even 50m will be launched, which will meet the high bandwidth while completely not being restricted by distance. Specifically, longer cables are also intended to apply to more application scenarios, such as connecting Evo certified thin and light notebooks with batteries and projectors more relaxedly in the conference room to quickly share screen content.
In short, Thunderbolt 4 is the most powerful interface at present, perfectly taking into account simplicity, high reliability and rich functions, and achieving all-round uncompromising! Thunderbolt 4 is released simultaneously with Intel's 11th-generation Core Tiger Lake at the end of 2020, and the Evo platform certified thin and light notebook products created based on the 11th-generation Core Tiger Lake can enjoy the powerful connectivity of Thunderbolt 4! For machine buyers, if they pay attention to the connectivity of thin and light notebooks and require that future-oriented equipment will not be outdated, then it is impossible to mistake that the Evo platform products that support Thunderbolt 4 will be supported!
We also look forward to Intel continuing to develop new technologies, establishing new standards, and implementing related software and hardware supporting facilities. The Athena plan initiated by Intel has been continuously promoted, bringing more stringent certification standards. The new generation of Evo certification standards in the future will become more comprehensive, and will further develop from appearance, performance, battery life and connectivity! Let laptop evolve again!
