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CES 2026: OWC Launches 2-Meter Thunderbolt 5 Cable for Macs

segfaultdotorg said:
They should have continued to develop the Lightning connector! SAD!
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Apple also hobbled the USB transfer speeds in the non-pro iPhone when EU (thankfully) forced Apple to ditch Lightening (which I'm still on and is fast enough for any user, LOL) and adopt a non-apple-only standard connector.
 
The significance of this announcement is that up to now there hasn't been a Thunderbolt 5 cable longer than 1 metre available to purchase.
To use the TB3/4/5 protocol at lengths longer than 1 metre requires retiming chips at each end of the cable to retain signal timing integrity.

So far NO TB4 (or USB4, which uses the same signal protocol) cable over 1 metre in length can work (at all) for data transfer to SSDs UNLESS it is fitted with retiming chips (made by Intel).

TB 5 works at twice the clock rate of TB4/USB4, so the retiming chips are even more important.

This is important as you can't use any USB-C USB 3.2 Gen2(+) output ports on a 4K/60+ or larger TB5 monitor at full speed, unless the monitor is connected with a TB5/USB4 Gen2 cable, and this requires retiming chips if your monitor is more than 1 metre away from the computer.

Most VESA mount monitors need longer cabling.

Phones are unlikely to get Thunderbolt ports any time soon, because the host controller chip uses far too much power to be feasible in a mobile battery-powered device.
 
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Killa78 said:
I'm not sure why anyone needs a 2 metre thunderbolt cable. Anyone want to jump in?
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I use a 6ft cable. My laptop sits pretty far away from my thunderbolt monitor in clamshell mode, and I like to have the cables routed and hidden under the desk. I hate seeing cables.
 
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neuropsychguy said:
There are plenty of cables that will support that charging rate that are not Thunderbolt. They support Power Delivery 3.1 and are likely only capable of USB 2.0 data speeds.

Cables are terribly confusing, especially with USB C connectors on all of them.
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USB C has been an absolute mess, I had a rats nest of USB C Cables going back to 2016, no way of knowing if they were power only, power+data, video out, USB 2/3.x/4. I ended up sending them all off to the electronics recycling, and rebuying all my USB C Cables from scratch. Bought 5 x USB A to C 3.2 cables, 5 x USB 4 cables.

Much of the above for my HDMI cable collection, no idea what gens they were. Recycled them all and bought some HDMI 2.1 cables. Keeping my mini and micro USB collection though, sure it might not be 2005 now but who knows what tomorrow will bring!
 
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Killa78 said:
I'm not sure why anyone needs a 2 metre thunderbolt cable. Anyone want to jump in?
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I use a 10-meter thunderbolt cable in my office setup—but it is optical. While computers are much quieter these days with SSD arrays, etc. noise is a big problem and long cables allow you to separate noisy components from your work desk.

I do most of my work in a recording environment and I can't have any device with fans at my regular desk. While I could now use an MacBook Air, I setup everything up originally with an OG trashcan Pro and despite upgrading to Apple-silicon have kept the CPU and all spinning drives in a separate room.
 
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To those that can't read/can't be bothered to do even the most basic searching (which of course rules out them reading this comment before commenting themselves, but oh well…)

What makes this one different is that it has all three of these things:
  • Thunderbolt 5
  • 2 meters long (~6 feet)
  • 240W charging.
Yes, there are cords available that have one or even two of those things. But not all three. That is why this one is unique. If you need all three, now you finally have a cable for it.

I imagine it won't be unique for long, though.
 
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"It now supports up to 12 16TB SSDs for up to 192TB of storage"

I wasn't aware of any 16 TB SSD's. Does someone have a link?
 
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Wonder if we'll see optical Thunderbolt 5 cables?
No TB4 optical cable was released, probably due to being same speed as TB3.

(I also have a TB3 optical cable to have noisy storage in another room, like others here.)
 
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My Apple Thunderbolt 5 cable is very stiff even though it is a braided cable.. My 12 inch OWC USB 4 80Gb cable is very pliable and seems like it won't last more than 1 to 2 years of every day use. The Apple one will probably last longer though annoying stiff. I put a 8TB Samsung 9100 PRO in the empty OWC 'Thunderbolt 5' NVME enclosure and already have a 6000 MB/sec 'Thunderbolt 5' external drive.

www.owc.com

OWC Express 1M2 80G: Portable USB4 NVMe M.2 SSD Solution

Offers incredible speeds of up to 6000MB/s, DIY flexibility with NVMe M.2 SSDs, and compatible with USB4, Thunderbolt, and USB-C computers and devices.
www.owc.com www.owc.com
 
While this may be one of the few true Thunderbolt 5-certified cables at 2 meters, Amazon et. al have USB 4 Version 2 “for” Thunderbolt 5 cables at varying lengths such as 5 or 6 feet that also claim 240W and 80 Gbps. Do these function at those speeds, even if they don’t technically meet the full TB5 specs? Satechi, for example, has a 6 foot cable for $44.
 
Abazigal said:
Cables need to start coming with their charging and data transfer speeds printed somewhere on the cable itself. Sorta like what LTT is doing with their own line of cables.

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Yes. Some of the newer cables I’ve bought on Amazon clearly state 80/240 or 40/100. What’s confusing is that some of the “USB 4 Version 2 for Thunderbolt 5” have a 5 and a Thunderbolt, potentially misleadingly implying they are true TB 5 cables.

It doesn’t help matters that the USB-IF keeps coming out with confusing numbering schemes like “USB4 Version 2” after the equally confusing “USB 3.2 Gen 2” as opposed to “USB 3.2 Gen 1” which was just the original USB 3.0 rebranded.
 
USB-C has been a bit of a disaster because although it standardized the plug and port, it didn’t standardize the labeling so it’s impossible to tell just by looking at a cable whether it supports USB 4 or even USB 3 data speeds, the power capacity, etc.
 
JesterJJZ said:
I have optical thunderbolt cables that go up into my attic and into a server closet in another room. I only have monitors and a hub in my office.
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need one too because the MacBook Pro is on the bookcase next to my desk and not close to the screen.
When is OWC bringing this 2m cable to Europe?
 
KPOM said:
USB-C has been a bit of a disaster because although it standardized the plug and port, it didn’t standardize the labeling so it’s impossible to tell just by looking at a cable whether it supports USB 4 or even USB 3 data speeds, the power capacity, etc.
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They should have enforced some sort of color system around the base of USB-C connectors. They kinda do that with USB-A, but it's not mandatory. I do have some USB-C cables that have a little orange around the tip, notably beefy DJI USB-C cables, pretty sure it indicates high power spec since they can be used with a fast charger they have.

I have really thin blue electrical tape that I wrap around my good cables to indicate USB-3. At least Thunderbolt has icons.
 
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