20 Best Thunderbolt 4 Cable (2022 Updated)

Bought it ’cause my iMac hd died, so I thought I would load the OS to an external drive. Bought a TB3 drive from B&H ’cause my regular G drive kept saying it was incompatible but of course since it’s Apple I had to buy these outdated cables and a converter to fit the new TB format at the Apple rigged prices.

Well it does not power the new TB3 SSD drive thereby does not recognize it. Tried the new drive on an new M1 iPad and it worked. So I have to see where the problem is in the cable. converter or iMac TB-2 port.

So I will change review when I see what the problem is. Love some of their software and apps but Apple gets you coming and going!.

This was the wrong cable for my needs. Its extremely important to be 100% sure when you order to be sure the thunderbolt cable you order is the correct one as they are deceptively similar to other cable terminals, Its a vipers nest of trouble out there if you mess up as I did.

The cable itself is ok and I will add it to my vast array of cables I have accumulated since I started out with a Mac Pro in the late ’80s.

Works great. It’s an Apple product, and it’s pretty much the only way to be sure that you’re ordering a Thunderbolt 2 cable in the mini-DisplayPort form factor. I needed to connect two old MacBook Airs, and this made it possible.

I was unable to go to Best Buy to get my laptop a new charging cable. My husband told them exactly what I wanted and even took my old cord in so they would give him the same thing. He came home with this short cable.

It was only about two to three feet long so I can’t charge my computer easily with this cord. I don’t know why they gave him this short thing but I am not happy with it. I had no choice though because I was unable to walk so I was stuck with this expensive short cord that I have to use an extension cord with.

Not happy.

I am very happy and pleased with the performance of the monitor being able to work with both types of laptops that when I consulted the Apple Specialist, asking what I need to buy to keep a spare cable around.

They let me know it is this Thunderbolt 3 cable that works for this situation. As long as there is a lighting bolt not he cable, it is a Thunderbolt 3. When I got it in the mail, I plugged it in to test, and wola! Works! I now have a spare in case the original one gives out.

Its perfect! The USBC outlet on the HP laptop is 2. 0, not even meant to work for anything but standard charging. Yet, the Thunderbolt 3 cable was able to transfer the data and let my monitor work with the laptop.

Used this cord to transfer data from my old iMac Pro to my new Macbook Air. It sped up the transfer of data tremendously over WiFi transfer. The Macbook Pro did not have a Thunderbolt port so I used an USB to USB C adaptor to connect the cable to the Macbook Pro.

The length was just right for my set up. The cable seemed expensive though was consistent with apple certified products.

I have an OWC Thunderbolt Dock and purchased two of the Thunderbolt 4 cables (two different sizes). Both cables appear to be defective, and are only around six months old. When using these cables with the OWC Thunderbolt Dock, the Dock keeps blinking an alternating blue and white light.

Basically, the Dock looses connection every two seconds with these cables. If I connect a regular USB C cable, I don’t have an issue. I sent back the Dock to get a replacment to see if that would fix the problem.

It did not. I would not recommend this product.

The cable does data transfer flawlessly and there is little to add to that. The Achilles’ heel is that the connectors are a bit ‘iffy’ and easily dislodged, whether from the OWC Thunderbolt Hub with which I had ordered the cable, or from the Macbook Pro – 2021.

This can be disconcerting, or worse and it is a frustrating weakness, for me. OWC sells a gadget to more securely attach the cable to the Tbolt dock; I considered ordering them but frankly was discouraged by the high price — high at least in proportion to what they are: small plastic blocks to reinforce the cable anchorage in the port.

The engineer in me protests: but I have other Tbolt and Type C cables that seat more securely in their ports.

I bought this to allow me to connect my Acasis 10-in-1 hub to the Thunderbolt port on the back of My Mac Studio Max. This is providing me with 33% higher read and write speeds from the SN750 2 TB NVMe drive in the hub compared to using the USB-C connection on the Mac Studio Max.

Using Thunderbolt and the Acasis hub I now gert 931 MB/s Read and 1005 MB/s Write testing with AmorphousDiskMark 4. 0. I am satisfied with this performance given the inexpensive cost of the hub and the NVMe slot it provides.

This cable came through and provides sufficient length to let me move my hub around on my workstation.

I bought this to be used for my eGPU (which is a Razer Core X in tandem with my Razer Blade Stealth i7-8550u) just in case I needed a much longer TB3 cable, and it works for that use case. I don’t have the know-how in doing performance benchmarks in finding a performance loss if you’ll use a much longer cable like this one than the included cable in the Razer Core X (I’m saying this because it’s commonly asked).

But after testing it out on games I didn’t really notice any major performance loss. But I’ll say that using the included shorter cable feels more responsive overall, but I think it’s just me. The cable quality is good, the cable is sturdy enough to handle a daily in and out bag throw, but I’ll strongly advise to still take care of this, why? Because this is too expensive for a cable.

Now regarding the TB3 specification, again in the case of using it for an eGPU it does work but if you’re looking at this and (NOT JUST) using it for TB3 devices but a “one USB-C cable to rule them all”, this is not it.

This is relevant because USB-C should simplify the cable & ports specification problem we’re having, but with the TB3 specification this isn’t helping. This cable is what they specify as an active TB3 cable which means you can only use this at its actual TB3 specs when IT’S connected ON both ends to a TB3 enabled device.

This means if you want to use this as a native DP (Display Port) cable for your monitor, this cable will not work. Another thing is if you try to use this as a normal USB cable, it will only WORK AT THE SPEED of A USB 2 (480 Mbit/s) NOT the speed of USB 3.

0 (5 Gbps) or 3. 1 (10 Gbps). But obviously if you don’t plan on using this cable for those cases, then this should do you fine. And lastly, the thing that I don’t like the most is the price, these things are just too expensive.

So just make the most out of this if you decided to go the TB3 ecosystem. Side note: The TB4 specifications is on the works as of writing, so if you don’t really need this but just wanna try out TB3, I would advise to wait until the end of this year or until next year for the TB4 to make its appearance.

The TB4 specs seem to address the problems of TB3 standards and also that may hopefully drop the prices of TB3 accessories and cables.

I have a Macbook Pro and I wanted to drive a huge 49″ monitor using a single cable while getting the maximum resolution I needed. Now, unless your monitor has a USB-C Thunderbolt 3 compatible output, accomplishing this task could be difficult.

I have a Caldigit TS3+ which acts as a middle-man between my MBP and my monitor. I wasn’t especially happy that I had to spend this kind of money on a cable, but I did understand that Thunderbolt cables are not cheap.

And, you can’t just buy any Thunderbolt cable for this purpose. It needs to be 4K 60Hz – 40Gbps. Without that spec, you can’t use a single cable. I am surprised to read a few negative reviews about this brand.

It came highly recommended from monitor users on the Mac/Apple forums. In fact, this brand was specifically mentioned over and over again as one of the more reliable Thunderbolt 3 cable manufacturers.

This cable has worked flawlessly for me for several weeks now. Additionally, the plug is very durable as I am constantly moving my laptop from my office monitor to my lap so I am constantly connecting and disconnecting the cable.

The connector seems very durable which is a very important factor when considering a product like this. I can confidently tell you from my experience thus far, this is a great cable that works exceptionally well.

I have a 2018 MacBook Pro and a Dell U4320Q monitor. The cable that ships with the Dell monitor is really short and I wanted a longer cable so I could position my laptop to the side of my desk. The StarTech cable charged my laptop and connected USB devices but the display was never detected.

I tried various troubleshooting but no luck. Using the Dell-supplied cable in the same configuration worked instantly with no issues. I guess there is some subtle hardware or software compatibility issue, but it’s inscrutable from the product description.

I know StarTech has a good reputation for quality and the build quality seems high, but it’s frustrating that the product description doesn’t indicate compatibility issues. At least with DisplayPort or HDMI you can tell if it works by looking at the connector.

With USB-C it’s a mystery.

TL;DR – Worked as expected. I plugged into my Pegasus 4 drive Thunderbolt 1 enclosure to my Pegasus 6 drive Thunderbolt 2 enclosure to connect to my Mac Pro (2013 model) and all works as expected. I purchased this cable to daisy chain connect my 2013 Mac Pro and 3 Thunderbolt enclosures.

2 units are Pegasus 6 drive enclosures with Thunderbolt 2 connections and the third is a Pegasus 4 drive enclosure with Thunderbolt 1 connection. This cable connects on the end of the chain, so it is Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 1 and the drive is accessible and works as expected.

The speeds have not been slow in usage but I have never tested speeds. I have over 3TB worth of data on the drive and access it with ease. All of these enclosures sit side by side in distance. The price on it is slightly more expensive due to Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C style cables being the new standard.

Not much you can say about a cable, other than “it works”. This one works. It’s actually a Thunderbolt-to-Thunderbolt cable (I’m using it to connect a monitor to a Mac Mini); the illustration and description are correct but the title is completely wrong at present.

(I notified Home Essentials Direct, so it may be fixed by the time you read this. ).

I connect a Th. 2 device sitting on my desk, to my desktop computer that actually is under the desk. The computer has Th. 3 interface, and I use an adapter, into which I plug the other end of the cable.

Since I don’t move either end of the cable, nor the cable itself, nor do I unplug them, the durability of the connectors is not such a big concern. The cable is black, so it blends well with other black cables.

The connection speed is adequate from what I can judge (I have no way to benchmark the throughput). The length is more than sufficient for my use. I am happy with this cable!.

This Apple Thunderbolt cable is far and away the most expensive interconnect cable I possess. Consequently, its very high performance attracts a high price tag, one which I found difficult to justify.

However, its a cable that in some applications is both indispensable and irreplaceable. It becomes a must have. I have several MacBook Pros but only one of them is equipped with Thunderbolt ports and this laptop, which was my main portable laptop until recently, is now seldom used, like my iPad 3, both being superseded by my iPhone 7 Plus 256.

I would usually give Apple equipment a 4 or 5 star rating but this cable is so expensive that I feel it only deserves a 3. Otherwise its performance is first rate.

Way too expensive. Shame on Apple for charging so much for cables. The material of their cables is very prone to damage and disintegrating over time. Its like its absorbing the moisture and natural oils of fingers and slowly biodegrades and breaks.

Migrating between my two MacBook pros, on 2012, one 2015. Thought that this would be quicker than waiting 24 hrs for it to copy my data over the wireless network. This cable is supposed to be 2xUSB 3 speeds.

Despite the price, I couldnt afford to be without my machine for parts of two days, so I paid the frankly ridiculously high price. It took me a while to work out how to put my old Mac in target disk mode, but when I sorted that out, I plugged it in and started the migration.

It got to a peak of around 70Mbs, which was faster than wireless, but nothing like as fast as claimed. It did the job quicker, but not as fast I had hoped, or feel I paid for. Given the crazy price, I am left disappointed.

The Thunderbolt cable produced by Apple is extremely expensive expensive but it is more than just a cable, it has active components built in to enable it to actually work. There are a number of cables that look just like it but only the thunderbolt (with the lightning flash on it) actually gives the incredible fast connection to enable two computers to fully connect and be able to be viewed and used by a fsngle display.

This was a good purchase for me as it was the only cable that would do the job I needed,.

The price of Thunderbolt cables never ceases to amaze. I was happy to buy a discounted, damaged packaging otherwiseasnew cable from Stationery Packs. I use it to connect my MacBook Air to an old 2011 iMac as a second monitor and it works a treat.

However, 50cm is very short. Its fine for me, as the laptop is sat directly in front of the iMac, but there is very little room for manoeuvre after that. As another reviewer has pointed out, the connector on each end of the cable is about 2.

5cm long, so order this only if youre sure you wont need anything longer.

Had to troubleshoot two Mac Book Pro’s with Thunderbolt-2. This allows direct connection between the two and worked flawlessly as expected. Too bad the drive was encrypted.

Seems to work perfectly fine. I’ve got mine connecting a G-Technology G-SPEED STUDIO external disk array to my iMac. I just spent the past few hours running disk benchmarking utilities and I’m achieving the same transfer rates that everyone else with the same array is seeing, so that tells me there is no signal degradation in the cable.

I noticed some reviews indicating the cable was warm. I assume they mean the connectors on the ends are warm, which is to be expected since there is an actual transceiver inside the connector. My Thunderbolt Display’s connector is warmer than this cable, so I see no issue.

I’ll update my review longer term since I did see a few mentions of the cable failing after a few months.

These cables are EXPENSIVE! They have a tiny circuit board at each end and that is what makes it difficult or impossible to duplicate. They are proprietary and licensed to only a very few Companies to sell under their own names.

This is the ONLY way I know of to achieve that FAST transfer rate. What cha gonna do, eh! Anyways, it seems like a well constructed cable at that. Nice tight ends and fits snugly where it should. I absolutely do LOVE this cable because it definitely works as it should.

I do have a gripe in that it’s as expensive to own a MAC as it is to own a SPARK! I wish Linux has these It won’t be long till they do or else I just didn’t look diligently enough. If you have the money it’s well worth buying one otherwise you can’t use the Thunderbolt adaptor either!.

I already purchased one Thunderbolt 2 cable (10 foot) to connect my audio interface to my Mac Studio. Then my cats chewed through it. I pray they will not also chew through this one. Little derps.

Bought to transfer data between 2012-2014 era macs. Do you like 8 hour data migrations? I dont. OWC price was comparable to other vendors, and in the same shipment as main unit meant no waiting. Migration was smooth.

Hold down t, plug in mac as a target disk and attach to mac getting the Catalina install. One hour later new mac has all the data.

you folks need to get a cable with the new usb c end on it to fit in the the new mac thunderbolt inputs ,or sell an adapter that fits it ,i had to buy one from apple. Your customer service guy ,helped me out and got me the web site where i could buy the adapter.

Ive been purchasing parts from OWC for about 20 yrs and have been very satisfied with the quality and service.

This works flawlessly for both my iPad Pro add my MacBook Pro when connected to a thunderbolt 3 display (2019 LG UltraFine 5K). The display I have has a 4 port USB-C hub on it, personally I use it to connect to an Ethernet adapter, keyboard, a Logitech wireless mouse receiver and a USB sound card.

All devices are detected instantly and work perfect. The only issue with this cable is that at the moment (03/21) it only comes in one length, one color, and has no marking (as shown in its page), other Monoprice cables usually have lightning logo or other indication that they are USB 3, I get why they didn’t add any, they didn’t add because this can work as either TB3 or USB3 however, in reality.

if you have many other usb-c\thunderbolt 3 cables. its hard to tell which one is the one that does it all. Still give it 5 stars, works as advertised.

It works just like it is supposed to. Hard to find good fast USB C cables and this one does just that. Most USB C cables are not fast just charging with 5 Gbps but this one is great for fast devices.

Got this cable to replace my almost 4 year old Thunderbolt 3 cable that I was using as a USB-C cable (it finally gave out at the bend points) – absolutely no issues with the cable or speed from my TB3 port.

Not using it for monitor though – just connecting phone and memory card reader.

Well designed with a couple of flaws. The Thunderbolt input port (from the computer) is much too loose. My input disconnected with the smallest motion (such as inserting a USB key or even gently moving the hub an inch).

That disconnects my USB-C second monitor (and any other linked devices), immediately rearranging my desktop. A Clingon helped a bit (why charge for such a device when the design all but requires it?).

I finally pulled it off and used a folded paper shim on top of the inserted male Thunderbolt plug. That secures it better than the Clingon (and it’s free!). But it sometimes disconnects anyway even if the plug seems secure and doesn’t appear to move.

The connection is much too delicate! The three rear connections work much better, yet are less critical. And why not put this input on the SIDE to avoid cord clutter when having the USB slot facing forward for access??.

Overall very pleased with this hub as I’d previously been constrained to 2 USB-C Thunderbolt 3 ports on my 2019 iMac. No setup required aside from rearranging cables, it’s plug and play. Through the hub I’m driving a 1TB external SSD drive, a WD Duo external (spinning) disk unit via an Apple Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter, and a second display using USB-C to HDMI.

All is working perfectly!I benchmarked disk speeds for my SSD external drive and the older WD Duo unit just for fun, and disk speeds all check out nicely. Disk operations perform speedily. Very minor quibbles which are why I rated the hub 4 stars and not 5 stars: (1) The power brick (AC adapter) is really big by today’s standards, like a laptop power brick from 10 years ago.

You’ll need a bit of space to tuck it away. (2) I’d like to be able to turn off the light on the top of the hub if I want to. It indicates connectivity but it’s also a 1-inch diameter OWC logo so it’s not small.

(3) I wish all the ports were all on the same side. Clearly everyone’s setup will vary (your mileage may vary) but because there are ports both front and back the hub takes up significant desk real estate when there are cables plugged-in to either side.

(4) Positive locking of cables into the USB-C sockets feels only just okay. I knocked the unit lightly while it was sitting on my desk and the incoming USB-C cable slightly dislodged, enough to lose the data connection into the hub.

The USB-C sockets on the back of my iMac and other peripherals I own like disks have really solid-feeling click lock home when plugging-in a cable. So should the sockets on this hub. I don’t know what it is but it needs to be a little better to ensure your data connection doesn’t drop if you heavily nudge the hub.

Product is great. Compact and high speed, connects to multiple devices. However, customer service is terrible. There is apparently a software bug that affects how the unit is viewed in Macintosh “System Report”.

This made it hard for me to debug why the peripherial wasn’t working. I was mostly trying to give OWC a bug report. But Jasper kept misunderstanding and asking for repeat info. Third email, his main solution to a software bug report was to tell me to power cycle my Mac and the hub-connected peripherals.

After that didn’t work, he asked my address to send a free replacement. Don’t recall every having such unclear and time-wasting customer support interaction. Case: 01583258In short, great hardware but you’re on your own in support.

Needed a T2 cable to connect between a pair of iMacs. This fit the bill regarding proper length and build quality. The sales associate on hand helped direct me to the right place in-store.

This cable does not fit into my iMac or MacBook and is unable to be used for what I had intended. Although discussed in store what I needed it for. I was unable to go back to the store to refund therefore is a waste of money for me.

I chose this cable because I needed to connect a Microsoft Surface Pro tablet to a nearby monitor via a Surface Dock 2 and a CableMatters HDMI switcher. The cable length is 15 feet, running around the edges of the room, even though the monitor is closer to me than that.

The compatibility list includes the Surface Dock 2, and I plugged in both ends in and it works exactly as expected. What more could I ask for?The display runs with 1920×1080 resolution and 60hz refresh (SDR).

This is a standard, good quality 27″ desktop monitor; nothing fancy. I use it for sharing with other people what is on the tablet’s 13″ screen, and for watching videos from a few feet away. I have tried the Uni cable with both back and front USB C dock ports, and it works equally well.

The photo shows the rear ports (Uni cable on the right). The HDMI jacks on the switcher are closely spaced, but the straight sides of the Uni HDMI connector present no issues. It is a perfect fit.

I’m currently using this to connect my Acer Predator XB271HU bmiprz monitor to my laptop’s USB-C (Thunderbolt) video output (MSI GT72S 6QE DOMINATOR PRO G). Granted, the monitor is typically capable of 144Hz, it will only do 60Hz when hooked up via HDMI.

I realize this is a restriction of my video card, and not this cable. When I tried to hook it up via USB-C to DisplayPort, it wasn’t being recognized by my laptop. Luckily it DOES recognize the monitor when it’s hooked up via USB-C to HDMI 鈥 hence the reason I bought this cable.

The 10 foot length is super handy, especially when you have multiple monitors that are far away from the PC output. Cable quality and connections are great quality too. Will definitely buy more from UNI brand when needing additional video cables in the future.

:).

I’ve had the cable for about three weeks now and it’s not disappointed. The cable itself is strong but flexible. The ends themselves are durable and have a good quality casing. Picture and audio perfect.

Pretty standard but a good quality non the less.

Amazed that people are giving this cable such a poor rating. It’s a very solid cable and achieves exactly what it’s supposed to do. Size of male ends are standard and have never experienced the cord “falling out” of ports it has been plugged into.

I primarily use this on my MacBook Pro to connect to my USB-C portable monitor since it’s 3. 1 and is able to deliver power and handle video on the monitor. Disregard people who are saying this is a bad cable.

I’ve had bad Belkin cables in the past but this one is solid and well-made. Increased cost due to the capabilities of the cord itself.

This cable works great for setting up Thunderbolt bridge between two Macs with USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports. Transfer speed is super fast with large files.

It worked for what I needed. Booting my old MAC as an external hard drive and connecting to my new MAC to transfer GIGs of data was a breeze with this cable.

I have a 2018 Mac Mini with Dell U2720Q display. I use the USB-C cable that comes with the display, and when using this cable, I have to choose between High Resolution–4K @60Hz, but USB speed is 2. 0 DP cable and USB-A to USB-C cable to connect to he display.

The apparent build quality seems fine, and the cable is not as stiff as the Dell USB cable. But it will NOT do 60Hz ever. So no other choice but to return for a refund.

Got this cable to connect a Sonnet Breakaway Puck eGPU (which is awesome in its own right) to a Dell XPS 13 7390 for some casual gaming. Knowing about the throughput constraints with longer Thunderbolt 3 cables, needed an active 1.

5m cable to be able to get max performance from my eGPU from it’s home away from my laptop. This active cable performs flawlessly, has great connectors, and quality build. Highly recommend it. I researched a lot of cables for this job and this one is a clear winner.

I got the cable because I had to have my laptop to close to my docking station, so my 1 meter length was not cutting it. Thinking it would be cool to be able to have laptop further away from station I shelled out the cost of this cable.

The docking station controls 3 monitors, which worked fine with the shorter cable, but when I used the new cable, it showed three monitors present on the laptop, but would not show any image on the monitors.

Went back to the shorter cable and all worked fine again. Now I have this cable just laying around collecting dust.

Cable works on both a Dell Laptop and MacBook Pro. The article indicated the cable would also charge the laptop’s however the cable will not charge either one. The cable is connected to a OWC Thunderbolt Doc, which has two monitors and various other devices connect to it.

Both monitors work, and I can also use the Laptop for three monitors when needed.