Apple just released a brand
new Thunderbolt four cable.
That costs a whopping.
$159.
And if you're like half the people on the Internet.
You probably lost your mind.
When.
You heard the.
Price.
Now, Apple is.
Known for charging their consumers a.
Lot of money to get access to technology that might be
readily available for at lower cost price points.
I mean, really, who is going to spend.
$149.
On a cable that you can really go down on Amazon and buy.
For maybe a third of the cost.
If most?
Well, you are in the right place.
Because in today's.
Video, we're going to talk about.
Why this Thunderbolt.
Four cable.
Is not only a great value.
We give you five reasons why it's the best cable in the
market and why most people should buy this if they are
needing a thunderbolt cable.
Let's get started.
What is going on, everybody?
It is Mike.
Welcome back to the Channel.
Glad that you are back with me today.
Now, let's talk about this Thunderbolt four cable and
let's level set on what this cable is.
Now, this cable itself is available in
two different lengths.
There's a 1.8 meter version, which is $129, and there's a
three meter version for $159, which is the version that
I have here.
Now, for those.
Who follow along at home, whose eyes glaze.
Over when you hear metric versions.
This is roughly 5.9 and 9.9 feet in length.
Now, each of the reasons that I go through today are going to
be like filter criteria that I would.
Use in order to figure out whether or not I.
Should buy this cable, because at.
$159.
It is awfully expensive.
But again, I will show you why it's not only the best.
Deal out there, why people.
Should buy it.
Number five, maximum compatibility.
Since the cable is Thunderbolt.
Four.
Certified, it means backwards compatible Thunderbolt three,
which means it can go.
Ahead support throughput.
As up.
To 40 gigabits per.
Second and it's backwards.
Compatible with Thunderbolt.
Three in addition to us before it is also USB 3.2 Gen
two certified, which means it will work with devices
that are capable.
Of delivering up to ten gigabits per second.
Throughput with this cable, giving you one cable
to connect.
All of your devices.
But in actuality, there are many different cables
that you can.
Buy that are going to be lower cost.
Than this.
$149.
Option, as I mentioned, the beginning.
There's a shorter option.
Which is half the length, and it's.
$129.
Apple's own Thunderbolt three cable is 8/10 of a.
Meter and it's.
3999.
So that's still a considerable amount cheaper.
But practically speaking, I wouldn't invest a whole lot
of money in buying Thunderbolt three cables because I want my
devices to be as compatible with future
devices going forward.
So I don't have to worry about buying.
Cables at that point.
But if you want to maintain maximum compatibility, you want
to make sure that you.
Have obviously the right cable and the right interface that
you're plugging into.
Thunderbolt four is the stricter version of.
The Thunderbolt three spec.
It improves reliability, improved.
Security, and it.
Improves device capabilities.
So make sure you're using the newest version of spec,
assuming that that spec is backwards compatible.
So at.
$109, the Apple Thunderbolt four pro.
Cable is not necessarily a good deal because, you know,
there's a lot of cables that you can buy.
That are Thunderbolt four.
Compliant and that offer the same backwards compatibility.
So at this point I would say let's not buy it.
Number four, build quality.
Apple's Thunderbolt four pro cables are very high quality.
This is the.
Version that comes with.
The studio display.
And you can see here that the cable itself, it's all cracked
black braided fabric.
The jackets on.
Here are, I would say they're of normal.
Length, but they seem to be good quality where you
shouldn't necessarily get the I say the common issues where
this jacket starts to fail and you lose connectivity.
This cable itself is.
Very thick, especially compared to other.
Thunderbolt cables.
But since.
This cable is brand new, it's obviously very hard to.
Test the manufacturing quality of a cable.
But I don't think it's unreasonable to come to the
conclusion that, generally speaking, Apple makes
high quality cables, and this cable should really
be no differently.
But if you don't want to subscribe to that idea, I would
say that when you look at this cable.
If you compare it against.
Maybe cables from caldigit, cables from basis, cables.
From.
Of you see the cable seem to be in line with the.
Manufacturing.
And the quality of those manufacturers.
And those cables.
Are.
I would say, very high quality.
Now, again, just because it has high quality doesn't mean that
you should pay.
$149 for the.
Cable.
All the bells and whistles.
Are not worth the $189 if you are.
Evaluating purchasing this cable strictly on the
quality of it.
Now, in terms of connectivity, Thunderbolt and Usb-C cables
can either be active or passive depending on the length.
Shorter cables are generally passive.
They don't require any type of signal conditioning circuitry
that is in the.
Cable in order to boost.
A signal from one side, the sending side to
the receiving side.
As the cable length increases, signal conditioning circuitry
does boost the signal going from one side to the other to
maintain maximum bandwidth, you know, physics and shit.
As part of the updated.
Thunderbolt, four spark cables that are under one
meter or roughly.
3.3 feet don't.
Require any.
Type of signal conditioning, allowing manufacturers to
produce lower cost cables that have the maximum bandwidth for
that cable length and make them more general available while
still offering good performance.
Now that's a.
Change from Thunderbolt three, where the cables were limited
to roughly half a meter or.
1.6 feet.
This meant that thunderbolt three cables longer than 1.6.
Feet were either high cost.
Because they length dictated the fact that you needed a
necessary signal conditioning circuitry to hit the
maximum bandwidth, or the cable was lower priced at the expense
of throughput, which was capped at 20 gigabits.
Now that's the exact problem that I have here.
I have.
A dual five key display and the five key display that I
have on.
My far side or on my.
Left hand side is in.
Vertical orientation.
And once in vertical.
Orientation, the cable length to reach my Mac is
just longer than.
The cable that I need.
So what I thought I could do is I would introduce
a Thunderbolt.
Four dock.
The one from 0wc that I've reviewed in the past.
I'll leave a.
Link up here.
To help with that.
But also I would connect one of my NBN drives, my nvme drives,
non-volatile memory exchange.
I think it's called whatever doesn't matter.
So what I introduce that I actually get one of
my devices, my.
Miner that actually powers down.
Because.
There's not.
Enough bandwidth between.
The monitor itself.
And the Nvme drive to be sent.
Over that.
Back backhaul.
Introducing Thunderbolt four as the backhaul allows that cable
length to be.
Longer and for.
Me to get maximum bandwidth with all those devices now,
I probably could have gotten the.
Shorter cable for.
Less money from.
Apple for $129 versus $159.
But the cost per inch, that's what I'm trying to
equate to, would be much.
More things like a dollar 35 or dollars, 36 per inch.
When you think about.
118 inches for this.
Nine foot.
Cable versus.
I think so roughly.
Like a dollar 65.
Or dollars seven.
You can check my math down below and let me know when you
think about the two meter cable.
So if you're looking.
For, you know.
What's the best cost.
Per.
Inch?
This is the option for you.
While Apple's cable is an astonishing 9.9 feet,
it's not the longest.
Cable out there.
Corning introduced optical over Thunderbolt.
No thunderbolt over optical.
Think back in 2017 and these cables came to market last.
Year or actually.
The end of 2020, but the cables.
Are cost.
Prohibitive.
I would say from a consumer standpoint, with the
length being from five.
Meters all.
The way up to 50.
Meters, but the price starting at $350 and.
Going way, way up from there, even if it's not
cost prohibitive, it's not the best choice in this type of.
Scenario.
In a home.
Where you have.
One, it's not backwards compatible to we can't.
Deliver power.
So if you were trying to charge your laptop.
From the Thunderbolt Cable and you couldn't do that, you would
still need to connect.
Your charger.
To it.
And in addition to.
That, there's no forward.
Compatibility.
So because of the circuitry that is on the cable,
which makes it really that expensive, it does need to
have some type of limited protocol.
That it supports.
And for these cables, it's all going to be Thunderbolt three.
Now, there's really no word from Corning on whether
or not.
These cables can be upgraded or if you have to buy new cables.
To support.
Initial protocol.
But at this point, it's unknown.
I would say at three for $10, it.
Doesn't really matter because.
That cable is two times the price this cable.
So we've ruled out the fact that you shouldn't
buy a Thunderbolt.
Four cable if you're.
Looking just to maintain or enhance compatibility.
Because there are many cheaper options that are.
Available on Amazon, you know, from UW CE, from Caldigit and
those cables because they have the same compatibility as this
cable itself, you should not buy this cable.
And we also ruled out that just because they had tremendous
build quality, other manufacturers.
Are really on par with.
This build quality.
For the most part when you are.
Buying a high quality.
Thunderbolt.
Four cable.
So that's not really a good reason to buy the Thunderbolt
four pro cable from Apple.
And as we start narrowing down on cables of
different lengths, Apple cables.
While they are very.
Nice and when we've even abstract cost from the.
Picture.
They're not backwards compatible.
They don't support USB 3.2, they don't.
Support Thunderbolt four.
So they're very narrow in their specific application.
And for me, I would rather have the ability.
To charge my Mac, charge.
My MacBook.
Pro over Thunderbolt.
When connected to my studio.
Display versus having.
An optical cable that I can have maybe at a
great distance.
But the picture starts getting a.
Little more clear when we.
Talk about data throughput and whether the cable should be.
Active or.
Passive.
And it gets even.
Further clear when we start talking.
About cables of.
Varying.
Lengths.
Obviously, if you need a five.
Meter or ten meter 20 meter.
Cable, the only option that you have is going to
be going optical.
But for most people, these cable lengths of
9.9 feet, I would say, is.
A very good scenario.
I can take this cable and.
Run it from here to the other side of that door,
and it's still going.
To be long enough.
So what is the number one reason that you.
Should purchase the Thunderbolt four pro cable from Apple for
$115?
First and foremost.
Like everything that Apple does, the sum of the.
Parts is more important than the.
Individual components.
And if you've been paying attention at home, I've listed
out all the reasons why you should buy this one.
You get maximum.
Backwards and forwards compatibility.
Across a broad set of devices, including.
Monitors, computers and drives.
Second, you have a high build quality that is, I think,
synonymous with Apple's.
Products that they offer in general.
Do you have.
The design and engineering that go into making this cable?
And quite frankly.
There are no other manufacturers.
That are making a 9.9 foot.
Thunderbolt four.
Cable that is active.
There are none, literally.
So fortunately enough, if you need a Thunderbolt.
Four cable that is longer than two meters and you want high.
Quality and you want the maximum amount of bandwidth,
the cheapest option that you have is the Thunderbolt.
Four pro cable.
From Apple.
Guys, that is going to do it for me.
If you like this type of content, anyone seem more
like it considering like on the video, maybe even
join the community.
Where I do other types of breakdown.
Videos like this.
My studio display is coming next.
Hopefully you'll be around for that.
My name is Mike and I will catch you in the next one.