Quote from: jdrch on July 29, 2024, 23:41:01The lack of TB4/5 is a dealbreaker for me.
In fact, TB4 vs USB40 V1 have one hidden advantage. Most monitor models with 144Hz+ and HDR do not work at these frequencies without DSC (lossy compression), because HDMI 2.1 on their input ports is cut exactly 2 times to 24Gbps, which the vile manufacturers keep silent about in the specifications.
As a result, today you can connect such a monitor only if the monitor has a TB4 input, as far as we could find out from the reviews of competent buyers. It is in this mode that you get a 40Gbps band, which is enough to output 4k@165Hz + HDR (30 bit in 4:4:4 in lossless mode).
Therefore, the lack of a TB4 port is a death sentence for any desktop and laptop, if you plan to buy current monitor models 4k@144Hz+.
But you still won't be able to play effectively on them for a simple reason - most often the TB4 port is switched to igpu, not dgpu, i.e. the frame buffer is rendered in the system memory, which dramatically reduces fps in games and 3D software.
That's why DP2.0+ with UHBR10 at least is so important, which officially appeared in Zen4 Phoenix igpu, but it is still not there, to the shame of NVidia/AMD, in their discrete video chips. AMD has DP2.0+/UHBR20 only in professional video cards since last year.
As soon as you have a DP2.0+/UHBR20 interface, the topic of extremely clear (almost like a laser printer) fonts on screens up to 32" will be closed forever, because 8k monitors will immediately give 250ppi+ even on 32".
But even UHBR20 is already morally obsolete because it cannot provide smooth rendering in dynamics even in 2D, because 60Hz+ is not available there. Formally, TB5 is cooler than DP2.0+/UHBR20, but the nuance is that 120Gbps there is made for a different reason - because there is support for 2xDP2.0+, even in 120Gbps mode, one monitor will only have 60Gbps (as now on DP1.4b in TB4 there are shameful 20Gbps in 2-monitor mode, although DP1.4b, the full version, requires 32Gbps), which is 20Gbps less than the full version of DP2.0+/UHBR20 with 80Gbps.
Thus, today there is simply nothing to connect potential 8k@120Hz models to - even TB5 cannot deliver 160Gbps.
Despite the fact that DP2.0/UHBR20 was released in another era, in 2019(!), i.e. exactly 5 years ago, to the shame of the IT industry, it has not yet been put into mass operation. And at the same time, it was already morally obsolete at the start for the reason stated above...
That is why the days of copper wires are numbered - at distances of up to 2m and above, the only solution can be optics with a bandwidth of 160Gbps+.