Does the Ryzen-based TravelMate Spin TMP414RN-41 support USB4 and Thunderbolt 3?

raltar

I am trying to get a clear answer as to whether the TravelMate Spin TMP414RN-41 will work with my Thunderbolt 3 dock. USB4 is supposed to be fully compatible with Thunderbolt 3 40Gbps but some say this compatibility is mandatory, others say it is vendor-optional (USB names and specifications are becoming meaningless...) Ryzen 6000 cpus like the one on this model do support USB4 and Thunderbolt 3 optionally, only if the laptop vendor implements it. The non-spin TMP416-41 info page says that it supports USB4 40Gbps, which would indicate it is compatible, but TMP414RN-41's info page only references USB 3.2.

I would think this means no compatibility, but I have looked up the user manual for TMP414RN-41 (https://global-download.acer.com/GDFiles/Document/User%20Manual/User%20Manual_Acer_1.0_A_A.pdf?acerid=637945769463331657&Step1=&Step2=&Step3=TRAVELMATE%20SPIN%20P414RN-41&OS=ALL&LC=en&BC=ACER&SC=PA_6) and on page 15 for the TMP414RN-41 Ryzen model it says that USB4 is supported, which would mean compatibility with Thunderbolt 3. (Also says this on p16, and on P75 it says 40Gbps is supported.)

Can anyone from Acer please confirm whether or not TMP414RN-41 supports USB4 and Thunderbolt3? I do not care about Thunderbolt 4 or eGPU, just need my docking setup to work on a Ryzen laptop. HP seems to have much clearer documentation and supports USB4, but I like the TravelMate Spin form factor better.

Thanks in advance!

JackE

Both the AMD & Intel platforms have two USBA-3 ports and one USBC-3 port that also supports Thunderbolt4 protocol, alternate mode DisplayPort a/v and power delivery for charging the laptop. The ThunderBolt4 protocol should be backward compatible with earlier ThunderBolt devices. Any other newer USB-4 designated devices also should be backward compatible with earlier USB devices. However, as with most new bleeding edge tech stuff, the keywords are "should be" as opposed to "is". If you're waiting for a 100% guaranteed answer that it'll work with your other stuff before taking the plunge, you'll have a long wait. I'd guess it has better than even chance of meeting your needs. Accordingly, if it was my decision to make, I'd order it from a vendor with a good returns policy just in case I guessed wrong. 🙂

billsey

You are correct in that the USB4 designation doesn't require TBT support, though the speed spec is certainly good enough. We don't have full official specs on those models yet, they are still too new, so we just have to go off what the website says. Once the Service Guide shows up we'll be able to dig deeper into the spec. I expect it will have TBT support, and likely TBT4, but we can't yet be sure.