Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Corning's Optical Thunderbolt 3 Cables Now Available in Lengths From 5 to 50 Meters

This cable is design for studio, not for average user. Consider if you are using it in your home, 20m cable to link two computers in different room, there is no way to hide the wire in wall, even if you can, you have to let usb-c interface hanging on the wall, lol.
 
Cha-CHING! Lol 1st gen cables have a poor rating with Amazon reviewers, last I checked, due to (suspected) chip failure due to long-term heat build-up. Hope they addressed this issue...
 
IIGS User said:
Intriguing technology, but undoubtedly a niche product. Few users will see the need to spend $360 for a 5 meter cable.
Click to expand...
It's not that I feel the need to spend money randomly 😅 but I'm finally able to move my relatively noisy computer and peripherals from where I sit and do my work to a locked down and noise trapping 19"-rack a few meters away, which also makes the equipment safe from getting drained by any beverages accidentally being hit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jimthing
Like others here, I also had two of the original versions fail on me (USB3 version). Replaced it with a £40 (10m) copper active USB3 cable which has been much more reliable.
I won't be queing up to give them any more money.
 
dazey said:
Like others here, I also had two of the original versions fail on me (USB3 version). Replaced it with a £40 (10m) copper active USB3 cable which has been much more reliable.
I won't be queing up to give them any more money.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Corning does glass well, but the terminators have a terrible track record.
 
The heat issues are apparently directly a requirement part of the spec for these newer TB3 optical cables, thus heat shouldn't be an issue.

But the questions remain:

1. 6K display won't work with it, can it be updated to do so in future?
2. TB4 compatibility, will it support full TB4 functionality that's around the corner?
3. If TB4 is supported, what alternate modes will be supported?

Given the (even higher than the TB2!) prices for these, until some evidence of their future potential is provided, I doubt they'll garner much sales success. Corning are absolutely abysmal in marketing these things. 🙄
 
jimthing said:
The heat issues are apparently directly a requirement part of the spec for these newer TB3 optical cables, thus heat shouldn't be an issue.

But the questions remain:

1. 6K display won't work with it, can it be updated to do so in future?
2. TB4 compatibility, will it support full TB4 functionality that's around the corner?
3. If TB4 is supported, what alternate modes will be supported?

Given the (even higher than the TB2!) prices for these, until some evidence of their future potential is provided, I doubt they'll garner much sales success. Corning are absolutely abysmal in marketing these things. 🙄
Click to expand...
I don’t think they need to market these cables, not in the traditional sense. They announced them at NAB and industry word of mouth will do the rest of the marketing for them. The doesn’t work for 6k isn’t really a problem for the type of person who would buy this cable. So who exactly buys this type of cable? Production studios, sound stages, recording studios, broadcast studios. Any place where noise is your primary enemy or where people running the equipment need to be in a separate room.
 
glindon said:
I don’t think they need to market these cables, not in the traditional sense. They announced them at NAB and industry word of mouth will do the rest of the marketing for them. The doesn’t work for 6k isn’t really a problem for the type of person who would buy this cable. So who exactly buys this type of cable? Production studios, sound stages, recording studios, broadcast studios. Any place where noise is your primary enemy or where people running the equipment need to be in a separate room.
Click to expand...
Yeah we know all that (owned several of the previous gen for NOISE issues).
The TB4 questions remain unanswered, hence the lack of foresight in their marketing future compatibility.
 
jimthing said:
Yeah we know all that (owned several of the previous gen for NOISE issues).
The TB4 questions remain unanswered, hence the lack of foresight in their marketing future compatibility.
Click to expand...
I get that, but are there any TB4 devices for sale? We have a spec sheet but that’s about all, and according to them TB4 cables will have to be certified and support Intel Vt-d (which in my best guess means that the cable has some rom on it that says what version cable it is). Unless everyone in the chain (computer, cable, end device) says “I’m TB4” your going to get a TB3 connection. Also new to the TB4 spec is 2m cables (and future 5 - 50m) so I think shielding and wire gauge are possibly different which will probably mean that the Corning cables can never be TB4 cables. Also of note in the TB3 spec is that it only supports one 5k display (hence why Corning says they are only good for 5k) so Apple is using lossless compression to get their monitors to do 6k. It might very well be possible that they work as intended.
 
Kabeyun said:
Glad these are now shorter. Hope they’re not plagued with reliability issues as other Corning optical TB cables have been. Was going to pick up an Areca one to drive my wall monitor from the Mac mini in the closet, but opted for a USB 3.1 cable instead. Drives 4K video beautifully. Doesn’t carry audio but a BT speaker addressed that, for a total still far less than an optical TB3 cable!
Click to expand...
Uh yeah, this is the real issue with these optical cables. They’ve never been reliable.
 
glindon said:
I get that, but are there any TB4 devices for sale? We have a spec sheet but that’s about all, and according to them TB4 cables will have to be certified and support Intel Vt-d (which in my best guess means that the cable has some rom on it that says what version cable it is). Unless everyone in the chain (computer, cable, end device) says “I’m TB4” your going to get a TB3 connection. Also new to the TB4 spec is 2m cables (and future 5 - 50m) so I think shielding and wire gauge are possibly different which will probably mean that the Corning cables can never be TB4 cables. Also of note in the TB3 spec is that it only supports one 5k display (hence why Corning says they are only good for 5k) so Apple is using lossless compression to get their monitors to do 6k. It might very well be possible that they work as intended.
Click to expand...
So the TB4 spec already has (presumably non-optical, if I understand you correctly?) 5 to 50m lengths in the planning? Interesting, if so – any link to that you have would be great.
 
IIGS User said:
Intriguing technology, but undoubtedly a niche product. Few users will see the need to spend $360 for a 5 meter cable.
Click to expand...

Over the years I've learned that more users than what I typically refer to as "few", actually exist.
So many niche uses exist in so many specialisations that it's sometimes difficult to think of use cases for certain things/items. But they do in fact exist.
 
glindon said:
Intel Press Deck
See page 17 of intel’s press release. It does not say optical or electrical so who knows?
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link. Yeah, it says on that graphic "Targeting ~5-50m [Future]", which almost certainly means the universal TB4 2m standard ones will be copper (i.e. they will universally support both data and power over copper), while these 'future' TB4 ~5-50m ones will be optical (i.e. not universally offering both data and power; data only).

Hence my original point regarding these optical TB3 cables being superseded rather soon by their TB4 variant, thus rather late to buy into.

Especially given their pricing at ~$400-500 (compared to optical TB2, where 10m was 'only' ~$250 – although the longer lengths did double in price per ~doubling length). So for average lengths at the bottom, you're already paying a 60% higher price for TB3 optical, only for TB4 optical to come sooner rather than later, as per the actual specs guidance itself.
 
PSA: the Areca (10/20/30m) ones appear to have been discontinued.

Used "areca Thunderbolt 3 Optical Cable" | B&H Photo Video

Shop B&H's in stock, large inventory for fast shipping, great service and everyday low prices on "areca Thunderbolt 3 Optical Cable". For more info, please call 800-947-4415
www.bhphotovideo.com www.bhphotovideo.com

I wouldn't be surprised if Corning made the Areca ones for them, and then stopped distribution when the main Corning branded ones could be mass produced more effectively. But I could be wrong?
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: dabotsonline
jimthing said:
PSA: the Areca (10/20/30m) ones appear to have been discontinued.

Used "areca Thunderbolt 3 Optical Cable" | B&H Photo Video

Shop B&H's in stock, large inventory for fast shipping, great service and everyday low prices on "areca Thunderbolt 3 Optical Cable". For more info, please call 800-947-4415
www.bhphotovideo.com www.bhphotovideo.com

I wouldn't be surprised if Corning made the Areca ones for them, and then stopped distribution when the main Corning branded ones could be mass produced more effectively. But I could be wrong?
Click to expand...
Not sure why you’re saying this. The Areca TB3 optical cables are still sold, not discontinued, and still in stock at B&H. I’m assuming there was a temporary stock shortage a few months back and you blew that out of proportion.

Also, Areca made this cable on their own. The Corning version has a different termination size/style. Areca is a reputable organization that makes great, if niche, products that are relied on by many pros. I personally have used 3 different products from them in daily studio capacity and they‘ve been rock solid. Their website looks like the 1990s, and their products aren’t as pretty as the competition, but they are reliable.
 
timerickson said:
Not sure why you’re saying this. The Areca TB3 optical cables are still sold, not discontinued, and still in stock at B&H. I’m assuming there was a temporary stock shortage a few months back and you blew that out of proportion.

Also, Areca made this cable on their own. The Corning version has a different termination size/style. Areca is a reputable organization that makes great, if niche, products that are relied on by many pros. I personally have used 3 different products from them in daily studio capacity and they‘ve been rock solid. Their website looks like the 1990s, and their products aren’t as pretty as the competition, but they are reliable.
Click to expand...
I wasn't trying to blow anything out of proportion, nor make any comment on how good or not Areca is. Their cable was out of stock for ages, hence my comment.
They still seemingly cost significantly more than the newer Corning ones, so most would simply now buy the latter. Compare the prices, here:

optical thunderbolt 3 cable | B&H Photo Video

Shop B&H's in stock, large inventory for fast shipping, great service and everyday low prices on optical thunderbolt 3 cable. For more info, please call 800-947-4415
www.bhphotovideo.com www.bhphotovideo.com

As for whether Corning make Areca's branded ones or not. Yep, you may be right, from checking the pics on the B&H website.
 
Last edited:
Bumping here. Anyone have experience with either the Corning or Areca TB3 cables? It’s reliability that worries me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back