Over the last few days, Thunderbolt 3 has been a hot topic amongst Windows users especially with its notable absence with the new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop. Part of the problem is adoption, integration, cost, and consumer confusion according to Microsoft.

Intel is aware of the current roadblocks to Thunderbolt 3 implementation, which adds 40Gbps data transfers along with charging and display support for USB Type-C. Today, the company announced numerous changes to its roadmap to speed up its adoption, including:

Dropping royalty fees for the Thunderbolt protocol specification starting next year.

Integrating Thunderbolt 3 into future Intel CPUs.

While some tech-savvy consumers equate USB Type-C as interchangeable with Thunderbolt 3 that is not the case. PC manufacturers need to pay to enable Thunderbolt 3 per device, and that cost is passed on to the consumer. Also, Thunderbolt 3 is a discrete component on the PCB board, which requires more space, increased power usage, and surging costs.

As a result, USB Type-C ports are becoming more common, but very few are full Thunderbolt 3-enabled. That just means the Type-C port equates to a USB Type-A 3.1 for speeds and data, or can act as a power port, but lacks dual-4K display output and the increased bandwidth capability.

Further complicating matters are the dedicated PCIe lanes, which can vary from two to four. Only the latter configuration guarantees the full 40Gbps data speed and allows for things like external GPU (eGPU) support (which itself is shaky for standards).