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Most Thunderbolt 5 cables are $30-50. Just go look on Amazon. Thunderbolt cables aren't dumb cables like USB. They have embedded controllers for power (240w), video, audio, networking, and file transfer speeds up to 120Gbps - all simultaneously. https://youtu.be/AD5aAd8Oy84?
Last edited by RavenSEAL January 18, 2026 at 11:34 AM.
Most Thunderbolt 5 cables are $30-50. Just go look on Amazon. Thunderbolt cables aren't dumb cables like USB. They have embedded controllers for power (240w), video, audio, networking, and file transfer speeds up to 120Gbps - all simultaneously. https://youtu.be/AD5aAd8Oy84?
Thunderbolt cables ARE USB4 cables. They are just licensed by Thunderbolt/Intel. And yes, they can be just as "dumb" as USB cables.
USB4/Thunderbolt cables up to 1m in length are always Passive cables. This means that they have none of the IC's shown in that video except for a simple emarker. There is no signal processing, redriving, redriving, etc. and the cable is not aware of any data crossing it. The Apple 1m cable is no different, and is electrically identical to any other certified (Thunderbolt or USB-IF 40Gbps+) cable. This makes it quite poor value against other certified cables like the $11 Amazon Basics 1m USB4 cable https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Bas...B0C93G2M83 or $15 Cable Matters cable https://www.amazon.com/Certified-...B094STPLX3
Certified USB4/Thunderbolt 40Gbps+ cables longer than 1.5m are always Active cables. This means they have all, or most, of the complexity shown in that video. But note that 20Gbps cables typically don't require these electronics, and that there are lots of non-certified USB4 "40Gbps" cables on the market that don't have this circuitry and cannot guarantee performance.
Last edited by violentleaf January 21, 2026 at 08:52 AM.
Thunderbolt cables ARE USB4 cables. They are just licensed by Thunderbolt/Intel. And yes, they can be just as "dumb" as USB cables.
USB4/Thunderbolt cables up to 1m in length are always Passive cables. This means that they have none of the IC's shown in that video except for a simple emarker. There is no signal processing, redriving, redriving, etc. and the cable is not aware of any data crossing it. The Apple 1m cable is no different, and is electrically identical to any other certified (Thunderbolt or USB-IF 40Gbps+) cable. This makes it quite poor value against other certified cables like the $11 Amazon Basics 1m USB4 cable https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Bas...B0C93G2M83 or $15 Cable Matters cable https://www.amazon.com/Certified-...B094STPLX3
Certified USB4/Thunderbolt 40Gbps+ cables longer than 1.5m are always Active cables. This means they have all, or most, of the complexity shown in that video. But note that 20Gbps cables typically don't require these electronics, and that there are lots of non-certified USB4 "40Gbps" cables on the market that don't have this circuitry and cannot guarantee performance.
You are confidently incorrect. The USB4 version 2.0 specification, released in 2022, added 80Gbps symmetric (2 transmit, 2 receive pairs) and 120Gbps asymmetric (3 transmit, 1 receive pairs) modes. Thunderbolt 5 is built on top of this specification. There have been USB 80Gbps cables on the market for over a year.
You may also find it unbelievable, but the 80Gbps physical layer was designed to be compatible with the 40Gbps loss specification, so passive 40Gbps cables can also carry 80Gbps (and 120Gbps) signal rate because they don't have re-driving circuitry.
You are confidently incorrect. The USB4 version 2.0 specification, released in 2022, added 80Gbps symmetric (2 transmit, 2 receive pairs) and 120Gbps asymmetric (3 transmit, 1 receive pairs) modes. Thunderbolt 5 is built on top of this specification. There have been USB 80Gbps cables on the market for over a year.
You may also find it unbelievable, but the 80Gbps physical layer was designed to be compatible with the 40Gbps loss specification, so passive 40Gbps cables can also carry 80Gbps (and 120Gbps) signal rate because they don't have re-driving circuitry.
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https://youtu.be/AD5aAd8Oy84?
USB4/Thunderbolt cables up to 1m in length are always Passive cables. This means that they have none of the IC's shown in that video except for a simple emarker. There is no signal processing, redriving, redriving, etc. and the cable is not aware of any data crossing it. The Apple 1m cable is no different, and is electrically identical to any other certified (Thunderbolt or USB-IF 40Gbps+) cable. This makes it quite poor value against other certified cables like the $11 Amazon Basics 1m USB4 cable https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Bas...B0C93G2M8
Certified USB4/Thunderbolt 40Gbps+ cables longer than 1.5m are always Active cables. This means they have all, or most, of the complexity shown in that video. But note that 20Gbps cables typically don't require these electronics, and that there are lots of non-certified USB4 "40Gbps" cables on the market that don't have this circuitry and cannot guarantee performance.
USB4/Thunderbolt cables up to 1m in length are always Passive cables. This means that they have none of the IC's shown in that video except for a simple emarker. There is no signal processing, redriving, redriving, etc. and the cable is not aware of any data crossing it. The Apple 1m cable is no different, and is electrically identical to any other certified (Thunderbolt or USB-IF 40Gbps+) cable. This makes it quite poor value against other certified cables like the $11 Amazon Basics 1m USB4 cable https://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Bas...B0C93G2M8
Certified USB4/Thunderbolt 40Gbps+ cables longer than 1.5m are always Active cables. This means they have all, or most, of the complexity shown in that video. But note that 20Gbps cables typically don't require these electronics, and that there are lots of non-certified USB4 "40Gbps" cables on the market that don't have this circuitry and cannot guarantee performance.
You may also find it unbelievable, but the 80Gbps physical layer was designed to be compatible with the 40Gbps loss specification, so passive 40Gbps cables can also carry 80Gbps (and 120Gbps) signal rate because they don't have re-driving circuitry.
You may also find it unbelievable, but the 80Gbps physical layer was designed to be compatible with the 40Gbps loss specification, so passive 40Gbps cables can also carry 80Gbps (and 120Gbps) signal rate because they don't have re-driving circuitry.
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