I finally learned the difference between Thunderbolt 5 and USB4 — and it's not just speed

USB and Thunderbolt are now intertwined, but that doesn't always make things easier. Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 5 are backwards-compatible with other specifications, like USB4, Thunderbolt 3, and even older USB versions. This leads to the common misconception that USB4 is the same as Thunderbolt. In reality, USB4 only has the potential to match Thunderbolt 5 in a few areas — but only Thunderbolt actually realizes that potential. It all comes down to the difference in minimum specifications...