Key Takeaways
- Thunderbolt Share is a flashy app from Intel that lets you connect two PCs together for fast file transfers, screen sharing, keyboard and mouse control, and more.
- The feature won’t debut until later this year, and you’ll wind up paying for it in some way or another — it requires a license that comes bundled with a PC or accessory supporting Thunderbolt Share.
- The same functionality as Thunderbolt Share is already found on Macs through a macOS feature called Thunderbolt Bridge.
Earlier this month, Intel announced Thunderbolt Share, which will help Windows users connect two PCs together at blazing-fast transfer speeds. You can use this technology for screen sharing with keyboard and mouse control, file transfer, and many more applications. However, it isn’t exactly free or available on every PC. Intel is licensing Thunderbolt Share, meaning that you’ll pay for it some way or another, either through buying a Thunderbolt Share-equipped PC or accessory. Notably, it isn’t available on any of the best Macs, but that isn’t a problem. Apple has had a virtually identical feature built-into macOS for years, and you can use it on any Mac with a Thunderbolt port.
What’s exciting for PC users is nothing new for Mac users
The idea behind Thunderbolt Share is very simple. Due to the high bandwidth of Thunderbolt 4 and Thunderbolt 5 connections, these standards are ideal for connecting two PCs together with little latency. Since you get 40Gbps of bi-directional bandwidth with Thunderbolt 4 and 80Gbps with Thunderbolt 5, the experience of screen sharing and controlling another PC should be better than using other connection methods. It won’t replace remote desktop software, but it might just be the best way to connect two PCs in the same room.
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Thunderbolt 5: Everything you need to know
Intel is working on the next generation of Thunderbolt with even faster data rates, although there’s a lot we still don’t know.
You can’t use Thunderbolt Share on a Mac today, with Intel’s head of Thunderbolt Jason Ziller telling The Verge: “We’re exploring other OS opportunities but at this point in time it would not work connected to a Mac.” While it’s true you can’t use Intel’s exact proprietary app on macOS, you can literally do everything Thunderbolt Share claims to offer right now on any Mac with Thunderbolt. The feature uses Internet Protocol (IP) over Thunderbolt, and connecting two Macs together with a Thunderbolt cable creates a “Thunderbolt Bridge.” From there, opening the System Settings app in macOS and clicking the Network app in the sidebar will reveal the Thunderbolt Bridge option. If everything is connected properly, you should see self-assigned IP under the Thunderbolt Bridge option.
After that, you can start sharing your screen, files, and more between the two Macs over Thunderbolt. To do so, open System Settingsnavigate to the General tab, and select Sharing. There’s a whole list of ways to share data, files, and more between Macs and your network. To learn more about each one, click the i icon beside it. To match the functionality of Thunderbolt Share, flip the toggles beside File Sharing and Screen Sharing. Then, in the Finderclick the Network tab in the sidebar and find the name of the Mac you’re connected with over Thunderbolt. From there, you can access the Mac’s screen, files, and more.
It might sound like an involved process, but it took me all of three minutes to connect my M2 MacBook Air with my M3 iMac, using the latter to view and control the former’s screen:
One Mac’s screen appears on another Mac through a Finder window, and controlling the other Mac feels just like using a macOS app. It doesn’t feel like there’s any latency, and the Finder app gives you access to critical macOS controls in the toolbar. These include access to Launchpad, Mission Control, and the feature that reveals the desktop when you click the wallpaper. Basically, everything you could want from Thunderbolt Share is already built right into macOS.
All the ways you can connect two Macs together
There’s IP over Thunderbolt, Target Disk Mode, Target Display Mode, and many more options
Say what you want about the lack of professional-grade features on macOS, but Apple has always done a fantastic job at making it possible to connect two Mac computers together. On systems with Thunderbolt support, creating a Thunderbolt Bridge is certainly the best way to do so. However, it’s far from the only option. For computers without Thunderbolt support, there’s a macOS (and Mac OS X) feature called Target Disk Mode. When connecting two Macs with a USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt cable, one will appear as an external drive for the other. That way, you can pull files off of one Mac directly from another Mac.
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Target display mode is still one of Apple’s best features, but it was short-lived. A comeback is long overdue.
On even older Macs — specifically select iMac models released between 2009 and 2014 — there is also an option called Target Display Mode. This allowed users to connect another Mac computer to their iMac, essentially using their iMac as an external monitor for the other Mac. It was a great way to use two Macs together, and make use of the high-resolution display found on those iMacs. Unfortunately, it was short-lived, but it was still an excellent Mac OS X feature that connected two Macs together.
Is Intel or Apple’s implementation best?
Apple gets the win here since its feature is available on all Thunderbolt Macs
We’re still waiting to see what Thunderbolt Share offers, and it won’t debut on PCs and accessories until the second half of this year. However, I’m inclined to say Apple’s implementation of the feature is best. That’s because it’s available on all Macs with a Thunderbolt port, and is a free feature built right into macOS. You don’t need a license, any special hardware, or a new computer to use it. The accessibility of Thunderbolt Bridge support on macOS alone might make it better than Thunderbolt Share. With that being said, I’d guess that very few Mac users even know this functionality exists, so Thunderbolt Share might make it mainstream.