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Icarus73

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 8, 2007
159
38
Just got my new MBP. Ordered a 3rd party Thunderbolt cable online and what arrived is a package branded as a Mini DisplayPort cable. No mention of thunderbolt. I know they are the same plug shape, but will this cable provide thunderbolt port to thunderbolt port functionality the same as a Thunderbolt branded cable??
Thanks!
 
The plugs look identical. DisplayPort cable looks the same but only transmits video.
 
They are not the same, thunderbolt cables are quite a bit more expensive than display port ones.
 
Thanks for the help. I bought it to use Target Display Mode with my iMac. Appears it will still do the job. No other Thunderbolt devices yet, so I guess I'll keep the cable.
 
How much did you pay for it? Thunderbolt cables are usually $30-$40 and display port cables are $5-$10 (I used monoprice for pricing references) so if you ordered online and paid for a thunderbolt cable and got a display port I would complain and get them to credit you the difference.
 
Thunderbolt is Displayport + Data. Thunderbolt can be displayport when it needs to be, while displayport can only be displayport.
 
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