Comment by maxloh
13 hours ago
I once heard that the USB naming is misleading by design so that vendors could still sell older generations accessories they had in stock. The USB-IF just rebrands the old ones to make them sound current.
Imagine the following naming:
USB 3.0 / USB 3.1 Gen 1 / USB 3.2 Gen 1 -> USB 3 5Gbps
USB 3.1 / USB 3.1 Gen 2 / USB 3.2 Gen 2 -> USB 3 10Gbps
USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 -> USB 3 20Gbps
Isn't that much clearer? I think USB 4 is finally going to the right direction.
> I think USB 4 is finally going to the right direction.
USB 4 is actually going into an even worse direction. USB 4 = Thunderbolt 4, except everything is optional. e.g. USB 4 might not even support DP Alt mode. Thunderbolt 4 always will.
Even backwards compatibility is optional in USB4. There are USB4 devices (SSDs at least) that will not function when connected to USB 3 ports.
That’s not backwards compatibility
I have a USB hub that I bought recently, that has very nice markings on it that are almost like you say :)
I connects via USB4 to the host, and has the following markings on its ports:
- Power in/USB 10Gbps
- USB 10Gbps
- USB 10Gbps
- 8K HDMI
Pretty happy with this one so far.
I got a jCreate5 hub at clearance from an Office Max (rip) and the ports are labeled just like this, no futzing on which port is the PD
I think this practice is rather blatantly what you say. The same thing with HDMI forum folding HDMI 2.0 into HDMI 2.1. They made the new 2.1 features optional, therefore manufacturers were able to call their 2.0 devices 2.1 without actually supporting the 2.1 features. AMD has been recently doing similar things, releasing “new” generation of mobile processors where half of them are just rebrands of the older generation.
Or it could be: 5 Gbps --> USB 3 10 Gbps --> USB 3.1 20 Gbps --> USB 3.2
Higher number = better