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Bought a 15 inch pro. Need to find ONE cable that does it all, the best.

A

audirs5

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Oct 20, 2014
376
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So one big issue I'm having is finding ONE cable that can charge at the full rate that my charging block has, BUT ALSO transfers speeds for USB 3.1 and anything else.


I don't care about the price, I need to find ONE good quality cable that I can purchase a few of.

Also - best usb A to usb c adapter for my older peripherals


thank you
 
I think that Monoprice has a good quality TB3 cable that fully supports the spec? Other then that, haven't seen anything. Particularly in Europe, such cables are hard to find.
 
I'm willing to have one for charging and one for the fastest data no matter what. That seems to be my only alternative
[doublepost=1497425599][/doublepost]
leman said:
I think that Monoprice has a good quality TB3 cable that fully supports the spec? Other then that, haven't seen anything. Particularly in Europe, such cables are hard to find.
Click to expand...
https://www.monoprice.com/mobile/pr...id=103&categoryid=10303&subcategoryid=1030319


I might be wrong. This does 10gbps AND 100 watts of power ! But it only seems to be 1.5 feet long
 
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audirs5 said:
So one big issue I'm having is finding ONE cable that can charge at the full rate that my charging block has, BUT ALSO transfers speeds for USB 3.1 and anything else.
Click to expand...
Apple doesn't have one that does this?
 
audirs5 said:
So one big issue I'm having is finding ONE cable that can charge at the full rate that my charging block has, BUT ALSO transfers speeds for USB 3.1 and anything else.


I don't care about the price, I need to find ONE good quality cable that I can purchase a few of.

Also - best usb A to usb c adapter for my older peripherals


thank you
Click to expand...
This only exists in 0.5m lengths.

Anything longer loses some feature(s):

Brookzy said:
The world of USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 is very complex at first but with the following you'll be all set...

General rules of thumb:
  • Thunderbolt 3 cables longer than 0.5m are not reverse compatible with USB 3
  • USB-C cables with full 10Gbps (also known as USB 3.1) transfer speeds must be less than a metre long
  • USB-C cables with 5Gbps (also known as USB 3.0) transfer speeds must be less than two metres long
What does this mean? That length is really the determining factor for your "ultimate cable", because longer length introduces compromise:
  • If you're happy with a 0.5m cable, then the one you've linked really is the 'ultimate', supporting Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.1 (10Gbps), and 100W of charging
  • If you want a longer cable (as you say) then you need to make a compromise: do you want a Thunderbolt 3 cable that doesn't support USB 3, or do you want a USB 3 cable that doesn't support Thunderbolt 3?

  • If the former, there are lots of good 1 and 2 metre Thunderbolt 3 options from CalDigit, Belkin, OWC, and others.
  • If the latter, then you can:
    • get Belkin's 1 metre USB-C cable with full USB 3.1 (10Gbps) support from the Apple Store, or
    • get something like this Plugable cable which is 2 metres long but only USB 3.0 (5Gbps) compatible.
Click to expand...

___

maflynn said:
Apple doesn't have one that does this?
Click to expand...
Apple's USB-C Charge Cable only supports USB 2. The Belkin cables they sell on the other hand are only 60W and 0.9 metres long.
 
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Brookzy said:
Apple's USB-C Charge Cable only supports USB 2. The Belkin cables they sell on the other hand are only 60W and 0.9 metres long.
Click to expand...
I see, thanks for providing the details. I was unaware of that fact :)
 
Brookzy said:
Apple's USB-C Charge Cable only supports USB 2. The Belkin cables they sell on the other hand are only 60W and 0.9 metres long.
Click to expand...

Damn, I bought one of those Belkin cables a few weeks ago completely unaware charging was capped at 60w.

I'm interested to see what others have, as well. Ideally I'd like the longest possible cable which also supports TB3 and 87w charging capability. Looks like Monoprice may be the best bet
 
Apple's USB-C Charge Cable only supports USB 2. The Belkin cables they sell on the other hand are only 60W and 0.9 metres long.
Click to expand...


Wait what? The 2m long only supports USB 2? :eek:

Ironic that apple has USB-C only laptops yet they don't have any USB-C to USB-C 0.5m cables. They only have USB-C to Lightning cables in that length. the iPhones and Mac team really needs to get out of their little bubbles and talk to each other about the direction they want to the company to take. o_O
 
Trey M said:
Damn, I bought one of those Belkin cables a few weeks ago completely unaware charging was capped at 60w.

I'm interested to see what others have, as well. Ideally I'd like the longest possible cable which also supports TB3 and 87w charging capability. Looks like Monoprice may be the best bet
Click to expand...
CalDigit make a good 2m Thunderbolt 3 cable with 100W support. But as my above post said, Thunderbolt 3 cables longer than 0.5m only support USB 2.

syan48306 said:
Wait what? The 2m long only supports USB 2? :eek:

Ironic that apple has USB-C only laptops yet they don't have any USB-C to USB-C 0.5m cables. They only have USB-C to Lightning cables in that length. the iPhones and Mac team really needs to get out of their little bubbles and talk to each other about the direction they want to the company to take. o_O
Click to expand...
Actually they don't even make a USB-C to Lightning cable in 0.5m!
 
So what it's coming down to is, 1 cable for charging full 100 watt (since we need more than .5 M) and for everything else, get the other cables?


In YOUR ideal world.. Can you tell me what 2 cables you would pick?

1 for your SSD's (I'm getting Samsung SSD's so its 3.1 and I'd like to keep that speed. this can be any size)
1 for you 15 inch pro to charge the fastest possible. (this one can be 2m long) I'm thinking of just getting Apple branded ones for charging and 3rd party for transfer speed.

:)
(https://www.amazon.com/Cable-CableC..._rd_wg=2GTIF&refRID=K1BW0M60210SZD7DG87K&th=1)
Thanks!

side question: would me using one of these cables with a usb adapter make my iphone transfer faster, or would that still be the same if I got Apples lighting to usb C ?
 
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One cable cannot "do it all".

That's the nature of (and the problem with) USB-c.
 
I understand the desire for a single cable to rule them all but the I think power delivery(PD) is one area where it's ok to use the OEM cable that is fit for purpose. In this scenario (on our Macs) I don think the thought is that you can use old cable to deliver 85w, but the primary benefit is that you get to choose your power source (dock, monitor, power adapter) and The flexibility to pick which side that is most convenient for you (on the four port models). Think of it like the duck head leads on the power box. We can't use any old three prong cord that most people have hundreds of, just a dedicated cord.

So for PD I would, again, choose the OEM apple solution. For devices I would spend a little extra for cables that are USB-IF Certified and Approved by Benson Leung tested (long story) if possible. The belkin usb-c cord om Apples website (and I suspect in store too) is Certified up to 10 Gbps (usb 3.1 gen 2) which means it should work for quite a while. It's speedy but there are cheaper options on amazon. Again USB-if compliance is key.
 
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