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Apple Thunderbolt 5 Cables ($69)

Admiral

Admiral

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 14, 2015
458
1,081
So, last month I wore a suit for the first time in 18 months (spent most of last year in the hospital), to attend a military ceremony for the kid, Staff Sergeant Admiral — who, by the way, is doing very well in the United States Air Force and was receiving a Joint Service Commendation Medal (kind of a big deal for a junior NCO) — and in the jacket pocket, I found $138 in cash. Wow!

We're on base, so we go to the PX and I pick up two sales-tax free Apple Thunderbolt 5 cables, which are $69 each. I don't actually have a need for these super-deluxe Apple cables, but found money is found money, and I paid for a very nice lunch for the kid.

They sat around in my parts box because I don't have any Thunderbolt 5 ports. This is just for future need.

So today, I got out a couple of those Samsung T9 USB 4 SSDs, and connected them with the TB5 cables to my M1 MacBook Pro, to try out a large file copy — about 300GB. I've never had transfer speeds so fast out of these T9s. NEVER. I was gobsmacked, actually. Also, the solidity of the connection, its fit and finish, is considerably better than any USB-C or Thunderbolt cable I've used before. No wiggle, it fits right up to the port tightly, etc.

I've got a bunch of USB-C peripherals on a hub, and although I've never experienced any latency or slow throughput, now I'm wondering, would it be worthwhile to pay the Apple tax for a few more really excellent cables? Is there a brand that matches Apple's quality here?
 
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I've also just picked up a couple of TB5 Pro Cables from Apple. Although expensive, I find the quality to be second to none. I'll be using mine as extensions to my Mac Studio ports - so I can leave the cables connected to the back of the Studio and leave the other end clipped to my desk - just so its easier to plug/unplug drives and accessories without having to reach to the back of the Studio itself.

I only use such cables for Thunderbolt or high speed SSD drives though - if it's just for USB-C peripherals, especially 10GBps drives, I wouldn't bother. CalDigit and OWC also make great cables.
 
Besides Corning's optical offerings, I think the only 3m thunderbolt cable you could get was Apple's, which I use and have been happy with.

In the case of other, shorter runs, I think the CalDigit and OWC offerings are also fine, and I have many. Other brands have been disappointing, even the TB cable that came with my LG monitor was better to be replaced.

For TB5, we're again in a tricky time. I first got an OWC TB5 hub with its included TB5 cable. From the hub I had one connection to my LG 5K through a CalDigit TB4 dock/breakout box, and one to my external RAID, and the last to a 10 GbE NIC. In this arrangement, something wasn't working right, as the LG would occasionally flicker or another drive connected through the TB4 would unmount. I replaced that whole bit with CalDigit's more recent TB5 hub offering, and a single TB cable to my laptop now does work.

Now I don't know if the problem was a) the OWC TB5 cable, b) the OWC TB5 hub, or c) hub-to-CalDigit dock, or d) the particular install of Sequoia last fall. Meaning, I might have had a cable problem, hub problem, or OS problem. Too many variables (all mounted under my desk) to troubleshoot.

Finally there's this murky bit with USB cables. Like many people I have a few of those Samsung or Crucial external SSDs; but the included USB cables have just often enough been terrible. I've taken to replacing all SSD USB cables with Thunderbolt ones; OWC had a sale on their short TB4 cables back at the holidays that made this a less-painful decision.

But yeah: given a bigger budget, I'd just standardize on Apple's offerings because not having to worry about the cable is actually worth money too.
 
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@Admiral TB 5 cables shorter than 0.8m don't need an Active retiming chip cable.
So TB 5 short cables are the same passive standard as TB 4/3...

Which means that any good quality TB4 short cable should work with TB 5.
Obviously the key is 'good quality' so it remains to be seen which cables fulfil this criterion...

Pinned by CalDigit
@CalDigitHQ 3 months ago (edited)
A little addendum on using Thunderbolt 4 cables with Thunderbolt 5 connections:
Thunderbolt 4 cables working at Thunderbolt 5 speeds depends on support from the host computer. Thunderbolt 4 and 5 cables are almost identical; in fact, they are physically constructed to the same standards. The major difference is in how the cable digitally identifies itself. This identification largely determines power delivery capabilities (Thunderbolt 5 mandates 240W Power Delivery support, so the cable firmware has to announce this, but part of this identification is the also the cable reporting its own speed.

...the updates to Thunderbolt speed are not in the cable, but instead the density of data being transmitted and received by the computer and device, via the sampling rate being doubled. This is all handled outside of the cable itself, which just transmits the data its given.

When determining the type of connection, USB vs Thunderbolt, etc., the host computer talks to the device on the other side of the connection and figures out the best specification they can both support (if both devices are Thunderbolt 5, it will want to select that).

Sometimes, that's the end of things, allowing a Thunderbolt 5 connection to be initialized, even if a Thunderbolt 4 cable connects the two Thunderbolt 5 devices. However, the computer manufacturer can force the computer to also check the Thunderbolt cable's identity when making a decision. In this scenario, a Thunderbolt 4 cable will tell the computer it can only support up to a Thunderbolt 4 connection, and the entire connection could drop down from Thunderbolt 5 to Thunderbolt 4.

So far, we haven't seen any manufacturers check this reporting, but it is a possibility that can impact Thunderbolt also check the Thunderbolt cable's identity when making a decision. In this scenario, a Thunderbolt 4 cable will tell the computer it can only support up to a Thunderbolt 4 connection, and the entire connection could drop down from Thunderbolt 5 to Thunderbolt 4. So far, we haven't seen any manufacturers check this reporting, but it is a possibility that can impact Thunderbolt 4 cables’ compatibility in the future.

Additionally, all of this only applies to normal "passive" Thunderbolt 4 cables. The architecture of longer "Active" Thunderbolt cables has changed somewhat substantially between Thunderbolt 4 and 5, so Active Thunderbolt 4 cables will only work at Thunderbolt 4 speeds.
https://www.reddit.com/r//comments/1ikb2jp/psa_thunderbolt_4_cables_work_fine_connecting
 
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PaulD-UK said:
@Admiral TB 5 cables shorter than 0.8m don't need an Active retiming chip cable.
So TB 5 short cables are the same passive standard as TB 4/3...

Which means that any good quality TB4 short cable should work with TB 5.
Obviously the key is 'good quality' so it remains to be seen which cables fulfil this criterion...

Pinned by CalDigit
@CalDigitHQ 3 months ago (edited)
A little addendum on using Thunderbolt 4 cables with Thunderbolt 5 connections:
Thunderbolt 4 cables working at Thunderbolt 5 speeds depends on support from the host computer. Thunderbolt 4 and 5 cables are almost identical; in fact, they are physically constructed to the same standards. The major difference is in how the cable digitally identifies itself. This identification largely determines power delivery capabilities (Thunderbolt 5 mandates 240W Power Delivery support, so the cable firmware has to announce this, but part of this identification is the also the cable reporting its own speed.

...the updates to Thunderbolt speed are not in the cable, but instead the density of data being transmitted and received by the computer and device, via the sampling rate being doubled. This is all handled outside of the cable itself, which just transmits the data its given.

When determining the type of connection, USB vs Thunderbolt, etc., the host computer talks to the device on the other side of the connection and figures out the best specification they can both support (if both devices are Thunderbolt 5, it will want to select that).

Sometimes, that's the end of things, allowing a Thunderbolt 5 connection to be initialized, even if a Thunderbolt 4 cable connects the two Thunderbolt 5 devices. However, the computer manufacturer can force the computer to also check the Thunderbolt cable's identity when making a decision. In this scenario, a Thunderbolt 4 cable will tell the computer it can only support up to a Thunderbolt 4 connection, and the entire connection could drop down from Thunderbolt 5 to Thunderbolt 4.

So far, we haven't seen any manufacturers check this reporting, but it is a possibility that can impact Thunderbolt also check the Thunderbolt cable's identity when making a decision. In this scenario, a Thunderbolt 4 cable will tell the computer it can only support up to a Thunderbolt 4 connection, and the entire connection could drop down from Thunderbolt 5 to Thunderbolt 4. So far, we haven't seen any manufacturers check this reporting, but it is a possibility that can impact Thunderbolt 4' cables compatibility in the future.

Additionally, all of this only applies to normal "passive" Thunderbolt 4 cables. The architecture of longer "Active" Thunderbolt cables has changed somewhat substantially between Thunderbolt 4 and 5, so Active Thunderbolt 4 cables will only work at Thunderbolt 4 speeds.
https://www.reddit.com/r//comments/1ikb2jp/psa_thunderbolt_4_cables_work_fine_connecting
Click to expand...

This is some good information. You're right — figuring out which manufacturers make good-quality cables is a challenge. And it is interesting to know that shorter cables are the same. I want to pick up short-run cables NOW.

I've bought these in anticipation of a CalDigit TS5 or equivalent coming Real Soon Now™. Hurry up, there, fellas.
 
I learned an interesting thing. Anker has been my go-to choice for cables for years. Now I am finding their Thunderbolt 4 cable fits very loosely in a Thunderbolt 4 port. I was trying different cables and found one that fit great, it turned out to be the one Apple Thunderbolt cable I have. Reading about this on this thread I purchased two, one-meter Apple Thunderbolt 5 cables. expensive but I need a solid connection These 2 SSD, one of them is my Time machine.
 
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