Apple ThunderBolt 4 Pro cables ＄💰💰＄😬

[@oni006]

So your setup is Mac > CalDigit TB4 Cable > CalDigit TB4 Dock > Apple TB4 Pro Cable > Enclosure Array with M.2 drives? I would be interested to see the test ran again but remove the dock from the equation. Mac > Apple TB4 Pro Cable > Enclosure Array with M.2 drives

[@outwestjim]

Nice assessment

[@cwaynefox]

thanks

[@casperghst42]

Could it be down to heat - meaning chips getting warm and slow down ? I still feel that Apple is charging a substancial amount of money, some of it down to the brand. Mr. Savage compared USB-C with TB ... that make a difference.

[@cwaynefox]

Appreciate the comment. Yeah, sort of a big gaff for him to talk about them in USB C terms. But I was just intrigued by the tech revealed by the CT Scan, and got me curious of all that extra tech could really deliver anything. Thus the video and the test. maybe some of high price is due to the brand but it’s obvious to me they’ve put some substantial engineering in it and have built a superior cable to any I’ve tested so far. As far as heat, that doesn’t explain why the same M.2 SSDs can operate at over 5000 Gb/s when mounted internally. They are mounted externally in an OWC active air-cooled enclosure, not just relying on a heat sink to pull heat away. Additionally, why would the slow down occur almost immediately (after one pass) and bounce back and forth with the other cables.. It’s not like they are heating and cooling that quickly. I let the SpeedTest run for over 10 minutes with the new cable, and the speed remained completely constant. If it was heat related, the new cable wouldn’t have made a difference. So I don’t think heat has anything to do with it. I do think the tech in the cable is superior to any other active TB cable I’ve tried before. Now whether it’s worth the extra money ... guess it depends on if your thunderbolt chain has some inefficiency in it. For many it probably is overkill, other cables will perform just fine. I was actually surprised by my results, but for some reason other TB4 cables just don’t deliver. I even put the drive right next to my computer and tried using a 1 meter TB4 certified cable from both CalDigit and OWC. didn’t make a difference.

[@casperghst42]

@@cwaynefox I was just wondering, I saw something interesting with some 10GBaseT gbits some time ago where they would behave exactly like your "cheap" cables. And they were hot, like burning hot. Like you, I got one of the Caldigit TB4 cables (got it with my TS4), and the other day when I wanted to migrate to a new notebook using Migration Assistant w/TB the connection was not recognized, maybe there are gremlins in the cheaper cables, but I am glad that you spend the time looking into it - I will now add one of these Pro cables to my wishlist. Thank you for these videos.