USB
USB – interface allowing the connection of a variety of peripherals (e.g. keyboards, mouse, web camera, HDD…).
USB has multiple versions which differ in bit rate:
- USB 1.1 – The oldest version of USB. At its time, devices were differentiated between slow and fast. The slow version achieved speed of 1.5 Mb/s, the fast one 12 Mb/s
- USB 2.0 – Bit rates were unified and reached 480 Mb/s. Backwards compatible with version 1.1
- USB 3.0 – Another increase in speed, this time to 5 Gb/s. Backwards compatible with previous versions.
- USB 3.1 – introduced alongside the USB-C connector. This version has 2 standards, all compatible with previous versions.
- USB 3.1 gen. 1 – 5 Gb/s bandwidth
- USB 3.1 gen. 2 – 10 Gb/s bandwidth
- USB 3.2 – A replacement of the previous generation’s standard and a further increase in bandwidth. This version has 3 standards, all compatible with previous versions.
- USB 3.2 gen. 1 – 5 Gb/s
- USB 3.2 gen. 2 – 10 Gb/s
- USB 3.2 gen. 2×2 – 20 Gb/s
- USB 4.0 – The latest USB standard, reaching bandwidth of 40 Gb/s. Has many similarities to current ThunderboltTM Backwards compatible with previous versions. This standard is currently in development and is scheduled to release in the second half of 2021.
Old name | USB 3.0 | USB 3.1 | USB 3.2 |
New name | USB 3.2 Gen 1 | USB 3.2 Gen 2 | USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 |
Marketing designation | SuperSpeed USB | SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps | SuperSpeed USB 20 Gbps |
Bandwidth | 5 Gbps | 10 Gbps | 20 Gbps |
Connector | USB-A / USB-C | USB-A / USB-C | USB-C |