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Cable longer than Thunderbolt 3/4's max 6.6 ft length for Pro Display XDR?

sillycyber

sillycyber

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 30, 2016
57
30
The Great Northwest
The Pro Display XDR has a Thunderbolt 3 port and two USB-C ports.
Is there any way I can get a 10 or 12ft cable for the Pro Display XDR without sacrificing throughput or picture quality?

From what I read 6.6 Ft is about the longest Thunderbolt 4 cable before it starts to lose bandwidth, similarly, I believe for Thunderbolt 3. I need a 10-12 ft cable and I'm not sure if anything longer than 6.6 ft exists or how it would affect performance.

Can I use a 10 ft long USB-4 cable with good results? Or is that not a port that actually feeds pixel data to the monitor, only acts like a hub port to the driving computer?
 
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Here you go: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...cu6jpn005m20_thunderbolt_3_usb_c_optical.html

Sorry about the cost. It's fiber optic (as opposed to normal copper cables). Longer than 2m on Thunderbolt 3 means fiber optic, they don't certify copper cables longer than 2m. Also it doesn't power devices (since light doesn't carry electricity), so it won't power a laptop (but otherwise works fine with sending a video output to the XDR display).

If this is is unacceptable then there is no other option that's Thunderbolt certified. A more conventional monitor uses HDMI or Displayport which can have longer cables. The XDR Display being Thunderbolt only means you can only use these.
 
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jaytv111 said:
Here you go: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...cu6jpn005m20_thunderbolt_3_usb_c_optical.html

Sorry about the cost. It's fiber optic (as opposed to normal copper cables). Longer than 2m on Thunderbolt 3 means fiber optic, they don't certify copper cables longer than 2m. Also it doesn't power devices (since light doesn't carry electricity), so it won't power a laptop (but otherwise works fine with sending a video output to the XDR display).

If this is is unacceptable then there is no other option that's Thunderbolt certified. A more conventional monitor uses HDMI or Displayport which can have longer cables. The XDR Display being Thunderbolt only means you can only use these.
Click to expand...
Thunderbolt hub and (2) 6.6 ft cables makes more sense?

$179 https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-thunderbolt-hub
$29 https://www.amazon.com/6-6ft-Compatible-Thunderbolt-40Gbps-Adapter/dp/B0962S5J4D/ref=sr_1_5

That's $237 as opposed to over $350, plus more flexibility.
 
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Purely out of curiosity, would you mind describing your setup that desires a 12ft cable?
 
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coolguy4747 said:
Purely out of curiosity, would you mind describing your setup that desires a 12ft cable?
Click to expand...
I have an AltWork Signature desk that does some wild movements including to full Zero-G while keeping monitors at same distance from head. But their notebook mounting accessor is not as good as keeping the MBP on a side table for me.

Because of all the movement of the desk and how much the 'arm' extends in the fully reclined position, the cable needs length and some slack, otherwise it could be disaster. I talked to the AltWork support team and they gave me those parameters. With this Thunderbolt, I can have a 6.6 cable running up the arm of the desk, and then run another cable under the desk to the monitor on the side stand.
 
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Placing a dock in between the display and computer is the best I can come up with. As optical Thunderbolt 3 cables don’t support the Pro Display. Nor are optical Thunderbolt 4 cables available yet.
 
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sillycyber said:
The Pro Display XDR has a Thunderbolt 3 port and two USB-C ports.
Is there any way I can get a 10 or 12ft cable for the Pro Display XDR without sacrificing throughput or picture quality?

rom what I read 6.6 Ft is about the longest Thunderbolt 4 cable before it starts to lose bandwidth, similarly, I believe for Thunderbolt 3. I need a 10-12 ft cable and I'm not sure if anything longer than 6.6 ft exists or how it would affect performance.

Can I use a 10 ft long USB-4 cable with good results? Or is that not a port that actually feeds pixel data to the monitor, only acts like a hub port to the driving computer?
Click to expand...
You didn't say what your GPU was.

Using optical cable or chaining Thunderbolt docks will only work with the XDR if the GPU supports DSC. This is discussed in other XDR threads.
 
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joevt said:
That should support DSC (do you get USB 3.0 speed - at least 400 MB/s - from the USB ports?)
In that case, daisy chaining from a Thunderbolt dock or using optical cables should work.
Click to expand...
I ordered this one. And they detail the specs and behavior pretty well. Get it tomorrow. Pretty sure it will work, but will report back if it doesn't, or maybe even if it does.

eshop.macsales.com

OWC 11-Port Thunderbolt Dock for M1 and Intel Macs and Thunderbolt 4 (USB 4) PCs

Add three Thunderbolt ports, 4 USB ports, along with Ethernet, audio, and card reader functionality to your Thunderbolt-equipped Mac or Thunderbolt 4 PC.
eshop.macsales.com eshop.macsales.com

BTW: New M1 Max MBP 16" has (3) Thunderbolt 4 ports w/top throughput of 40Gb/sec.

Hard to find benchmarks so far to find out what it turns out to be in practice, in various use cases on new M1 Pro/Max MBP, but it sounds like from every angle I've checked, it's more than enough to do what I need. Thanks for the tip though. Got me pointed in the right direction.
 
joevt said:
That should support DSC (do you get USB 3.0 speed - at least 400 MB/s - from the USB ports?)
In that case, daisy chaining from a Thunderbolt dock or using optical cables should work.
Click to expand...
Just to close the loop on this, the T4 hub definitely beats the typically $360+ cost of a 16.4' fiber optic cable
by $140. Now, if one needs more than 13ft of distance between MBP and monitor then the hub is not a solution.

I just got OWC Thunderbolt 4 hub, mentioned in last reply. Works perfectly as a hub between the M1 Max Macbook Pro and a 6K Pro Display XDR, using (2) 6.6ft cables, providing a total of 13ft between the MBP and display.
That overcomes reach limitations of a single copper cable that maxes out at 6.6 ft for Thunderbolt 4.

Two pleasant surprises:

(1) Pro Display XDR comes w/6.6ft high quality Thunderbolt cable.
OWC sells well-spec'd Thunderbolt 4 cable for $39.
OWC Thunderbolt 4 hub was $179.

Total cost of solution: $218. Plus there are two spare T4 ports on hub.

(2) OWC T4 hub is powered, satisfying requirements of USB-C charging on the MBP.
So while I'm using the Pro Display XDR, the MBP is charging over the same cable.
 
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I guess I linked a different product above, the one above is the dock which costs $100 more,
the one I got was the less-expensive Thunderbolt 4 hub because I didn't need the extra connectivity.

eshop.macsales.com

OWC Thunderbolt Hub at MacSales.com

TB4HUB5PM OWC Thunderbolt Hub. Triple your Thunderbolt ports plus add USB to any Thunderbolt (USB-C) Mac or Thunderbolt 4 PC.
eshop.macsales.com eshop.macsales.com
 
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