What Ports You Have

This book aims to help people connect and troubleshoot connections with computers, peripherals, and other hardware purchased in the past 20 years. Despite the seeming profusion of standards, only a handful found wide-scale adoption in that period, and most remain in use. As a second form of quick start, here’s what you’re likely to find on your hardware, and where to jump to the part of the book that discusses it:

• USB 2 or 3 or USB4: Most hardware sold since the early 2000s has at least one USB port. See USB Capabilities and USB and Thunderbolt.

• FireWire 400 or 800: Now outdated technology, it was found widely in Macs and some Windows PC models from the late 1990s through the late 2000s. Because it’s unlikely you’re hooking up new FireWire equipment, I address it briefly in Appendix A: FireWire.

• Thunderbolt (original) and Thunderbolt 2: From 2010 to 2015, these first two flavors predominantly were built into Macs. See Thunderbolt Capabilities.

• Thunderbolt 3 or 4: Thunderbolt 3 showed up mostly built into Macs starting around 2016, while Thunderbolt 4 has become a much more broadly used standard beginning in 2021. See Thunderbolt Capabilities and USB and Thunderbolt.

• DisplayPort and HDMI: Dating back 20 years, DisplayPort and HDMI jacks appear on most computers and, in mini and micro forms, on some mobile devices, cameras, and gaming systems. See DisplayPort and HDMI Capabilities and Video and Audio.

• Ethernet: The same Ethernet plug has been dominant for nearly 30 years, even as the speeds that can pass over the wired networking medium have risen from 10 Mbps to 10 Gbps. See Ethernet Capabilities and Networking.