What is the difference between Thunderbolt and Mini DisplayPort?

People assume that the Thunderbolt and the Mini Displayport are the same, but they are different from each other. The shape of these two are the same, but aside from that, you should know their differences to understand how you can choose one over the other.

The symbols that they would use for the ports and the cables are going to be different. Another thing that you should know is the DisplayPort and Thunderbolt can be interchanged, but only if the devices that will be used are new. As long as you are using HDMI, VGA, and DVI, you have nothing to worry about because you can interchange the use of these two items.

Mini DisplayPort and Thunderbolt are two types of displays. Mini Display Port is known as a pliable technology. The purpose of it is to delivery signals of audio and video. It is sent from a source and delivered to a display. The thunderbolt is a type of display port.

The Thunderbolt was developed by Intel. Years later, Apple came along and collaborated them. The thunderbolt is a combination of the mini displayport and the pcl. It combines it into one cable and one connection. The Thunderbolt is an enhancement, because it connects to the drive and shows it on the Mac Book

Mini DisplayPort is a passive technology through which connections can be created from a source to a display. It was released to replace connectors used in older macs. On the other hand, Thunderbolt is a similar technology, but it connects both Mini DisplayPort and PCI Express inside a single cable. With a Thunderbolt port, you can easily connect your drives to your MacBook, and you can also connect external displays to your MacBook.

Since a Thunderbolt combines both Mini DisplayPort and PCI Express connectivity, it can connect Mini DisplayPort peripherals. However, Mini DisplayPort cannot connect to Thunderbolt-enabled devices. While Mini DisplayPort is capable of sending high-definition audio and video from a source to a display, the Thunderbolt gives access to other connections such as networking, peripheral, storage connection. Most times, to use Mini DisplayPort, you need to connect a Mini DisplayPort to a DVI adapter. In terms of performance, Thunderbolt offers faster connections compared to Mini DisplayPort.

Mini DisplayPort is a pliable technology with the main aim of delivering audio/video signals from a source to a display. DisplayPort 1.2 technology, which is known for its excellent performance abilities, can be supported for uncompressed full-color 4K video at 60 Hz, also multi-channel audio and 3D stereo. But that’s the peak of its excellent abilities. Thunderbolt is a peculiar kind of the Mini DisplayPort.

Their similarity in shape and size of the connector should not confuse with their capacities; thunderbolt does more and even faster. Thunderbolt has the ability to hold data in such a way that it can be used to connect devices such as docking stations and hard drive enclosures.

It was developed to enable faster data transfer and high bandwidth on a single cable to bring desktop sort of speeds to mobile devices. Thunderbolt also has the ability to deliver up to 10W of power-over-cable. DisplayPort devices will automatically work with a Thunderbolt-enabled computer, but Thunderbolt devices, in contrast, will not work with a DisplayPort computer.

Foremost, thunderbolt was developed originally by Intel, and then apple later came in collaboration with them. This product combines both high-performance standards, the Mini DisplayPort and PCI express into a single cable and connection. A thunderbolt port enhances you to connect external drives or displays to your Mac Book.

When you use thunderbolt, you are going to enjoy the flexibility and speed of PCI Express for expansion devices. The Thunderbolt connector and MiniDisplay connector are the same. You can connect more than one thunderbolt devices together so as to run off a thunderbolt with multiple devices. The Mini DisplayPort is used on the new Macs as a new standard for video connection.

It is another version of the DisplayPort interface that can be said to be miniature. The Mini DisplayPort serves as a replacement for mini-DVI, micro-DVI, and the DVI connectors that were being used in the older Macs. Hence, you need the Mini DisplayPort cable to connect the Mini DisplayPort of your Mac to an external display.