Data Communication: USB vs Thunderbolt - A Comparison of Technologies

This essay explores the ongoing debate about whether USB ports will be replaced by newer technologies like Thunderbolt in data communication. It examines the advantages and disadvantages of USB, particularly the USB Type-C, and compares it to Thunderbolt and Lightning cables, highlighting factors such as data transfer speeds, cost, compatibility, and user convenience. The essay argues that while technologies like Thunderbolt offer faster data transfer rates and high-resolution display capabilities, USB's affordability, simplicity, and wide adoption make it unlikely to be completely replaced. The challenges of replacing USB, such as simultaneous charging and audio output, are also discussed, emphasizing USB's continued relevance and potential for improvement in the market. Desklib provides access to this and other solved assignments for students.

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Data Communication

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A USB Type-C connection is a port which is available on the MacBook which has mandatory
headphone jack; it is responsible for taking care of power, data transfers and display output.
Thunderbolt was developed with a promise of leaving behind the USB ports. Because
according to the developers of Intel and Apple it was must fatter and the data transfer rate
was faster than USBs (Intel, 2015). Along with this, it helps users to connect to big storage
arrays and provides high-resolution displays for MacBook. After this, USB 3.1 was
developed which lets user to plug in the external hard drives and is cheaper than Thunderbolt
and is simple but still fast.
USB ports were also getting replaced by lightning cables but their cost is also high. Apart
from this, the lightning connectors are tiny bit thinner than USB and hence are more
convenient. Although lightning cables have advantages over the USB cables but still they
both cannot co-exist. For example, Apple can easily put one connector on either side of the
cable. Apple watches also uses USB plug for its charging which is less futuristic but is more
compatible (Svov, 2015).
USB ports are not on their way to get replaced because there is always a space for
improvement. Apple has recently changed the charging ports and headphone jack but this
change has made life difficult. As the port of charging and headphone is same it is not easy to
use both the equipment’s. For example, if a person wants to listen to music and at the same
time his phone’s battery is dying he is not able to charge his phone and can listen to music
simultaneously. USB will not be replaced although it can be improved and changed because
it can save users money and is more compatible. USB is getting widely adopted and will
make people’s life easy.
If in case USB ports get replaced by thunderbolt then there will be many issues. For example,
how to transfer data and plug in headphones at the same time or charge the phone and
connect the mouse (Tranton, 2016). It will be very difficult to attain efficiency with all these
functions working together. Along with this, Thunderbolt and Lightning cables are not
efficient and it’s not worth spending more amounts on these cables even if they work same
like USB cables.
Therefore, many different types of cables came in the market and disappeared but USB still
retains because it is cheap, simple and easy to use. Although the advanced version of USB i.e.

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USB Type-C is covering the market because it has many features which are not available in
simple USB cables. They will also be covering the entire purpose of Thunderbolt cables
hence; the users will prefer it more (Biersdorger & Pogue, 2012). This is because they are
good in terms of money and in terms of efficiency and compatibility.

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References
Biersdorfer, J.D. & Pogue, D., Ipod: the missing manual. (USA: O’reilly media, Inc. (2012.)
Savov, V., For thunderbolt and lightning, (2015), <
https://www.theverge.com/2015/3/10/8181551/thunderbolt-lightning-usb-type-c-new-
macbook>, accessed 17th February 2018.
Intel, Thunderbolt Technology, (2015), <
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/architecture-and-technology/thunderbolt/
thunderbolt-technology-brief.html>, accessed 17th February 2018.
Tranton, P., Usb Type C: a guide for beginners. (New York: Lulu.com. (2016.)