I tried a cheap and expensive Thunderbolt 4 cable

[@AZisk]

I recently re-tried this test using a 40Gbps enclosure and the Samsung 990pro, which gave me pretty high speeds of about 2800Mbsp. Both cables worked fine and gave same results in speed. Let me know if you want to see that in a follow up video.

[@MarcosElMalo2]

Yes. I was disappointed when I got to the drive test and you weren’t testing with a high performance drive.

[@rotarydude07]

I was about to post that a USB Gen 3 3.2 speed device is not going to use the full speed of the Thunderbolt 3/4 standards. At least you went out and got a thunderbolt enclosure. I also have one and done this test before. same results. cheaper cable works just as good.. just the quality is lacking

[@OGSGTWOBBLE]

Hey Alex did you ever end up testing the 3m cable? I need one for my Apollo audio interface. Please let me know thanks!

[@Spironic]

Any update on the longevity? After 9 months, does the AliExpress cable still work?

[@AZisk]

@@OGSGTWOBBLEi haven’t tried the 3m one yet. haven’t had a need to myself. did you try one? depends on how mission critical my work is, i would likely trust the apple one a bit more. just because of that snap, and the fit.

[@diogoalmeidavisuals]

The display test came down to if a picture was displayed or not, no input lag, display tearing, high resolution or framerates support... The power test was performed on a charged device that wasn't demanding a high power draw from the charger. And the data speed test used a drive with speeds not even close to the capabilities of thunderbolt. This could just be a regular USB-C cable and nowhere in the test would you be able to detect if that is the case

[@TV_Covers]

Yeah I don't like writing reviews on bad videos but there wasn't a single saving grace on this one. Very inept for a tech video 0/10 for effort.

[@fooboomoo]

I think the power draw test would have been more conclusive if your MacBook had a low charge on the battery

[@qi6]

Iam thinking the same

[@sdchew]

Yeah. The power draw test done was pretty useless in my opinion

[@javiej]

Apple certified cables are overpriced and under performing, they only support as much as half the power than some other brands. Xiaomi already has 210W charger & cable in the market, which are cheaper and can fully charge their flagship Smartphones from 0% to 100% in under 10 minutes. In this aspect they are way ahead of Apple, which by the way also use Chinese cables (although they are made by inferior manufacturers than Xiaomi).

[@rauland]

@@javiej do you have any studies that show such an extreme quick charge does not damage the battery or shorten the lifespan of the battery?

[@javiej]

@@rauland Ask for the study to Xiaomi and the other manufacturers that are.selling them. To me, as a consumer the 3 year warranty is enough to believe that it works.

[@TheIrisCZ]

From my experience, these cheap cables work just fine as long as you don't need to really fully utilize them. When connecting for example external GPU, you will find out, that many of the cables will just straight away fail and stop working (you have to unplug and plug everything back in) or they provide subpar connection resulting in bugs and unexpected behavior. I am definatelly not a fan of Apple pricing, but to be honest, the Apple Thunderbolt 4 cable is the only one which give me literally zero issues while using eGPU, fast external SSDs, 2.5Gbps Ethernet, a couple of 3.1 USB-Cs and two displays. So yeah, for 95 % of the people, the cheap cables are the way to go. But for heavy duty use, go with the from a reputable brand.

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

you mean just like every other cable that has ever existed. give it time the special trust fund kid priced 'apple' wires will fail . OWC would be as close to 'apple brand' I would go.

[@yael_valle]

@@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777 Apple utilities almost never fail, and if they do its cuz you treat them like shit, and yes this can be said for most things, but there is also the case of build quality which will determine durability and lifetime of the cable

[@MaverickM1]

@yael_valle Never failed any original apple cable or charger or any other hardware for me tbh. The only exception was my radeon 6970m after 13!!! years of hard work on my iMac, but replaced the card and my good old system is good to go another 13 years :D My doughter needed charging cable replacements in every year or so. But she used to put her phone on the bed while it was on charger with wired earphones (back then) and in the morning she woke up with all the cables around her body...so no wonder those cables failed. Tried to buy a non original once and it broke in weeks.. So with normal treating apple cables are lifetime solutions. I feel such videos very bad where they "testing" a tb4 cable with a single 4k display.. typical. Back then in the tb2 era a cable was able to feed 2 2560x1440 cinema displays simultaneously... So tb4 test is definitely wrong with a single 4k screen. Also comparing the power draw... lol. Power transfer limits? maybe but that is not the point even the cheapest crap can hold those limits. The high speed communication is the only question. The quality of the chip and electronic inside the 2 plugs. And in that comparison the original is the only real tb4.

[@АлександрМилорадович]

So you'd like to say Apple thunderbolt 4 is the best one for eGPU? Is that cable will be working with my windows laptop ?

[@JoeTourist]

The reason Aliexpress vendors can't give accurate shipping times is because they use China Post, which is super cheap. Also, they can't predict how long the destination country's customs service will take to clear the item (or wave it through), since China Post doesn't use a broker like the regular couriers do. So, it may take a month, or it may take 10 days to receive your goods...

[@N0N0111]

The month to 10 days duration can largely be because of air or sea shipping. They have shipping targets, when you just miss a target it will usually be that 1 month or couple days/week before it arrives.

[@senditall152]

ahh thanks

[@piereligio_ds]

I think the best way for testing bandwidth of these cables, is to use high refresh rate 4k or qHD monitors and check they're using the maximum hz supported by the monitor. EDIT: no it's not (read replies here), but it's a useful test for checking the cable video output claimed specs

[@fooboomoo]

Or benchmarking two NVME PCIe 5 drives in parallel

[@John-ub3su]

No, bandwidth is nothing to do with monitors, you can think of data transfer and video out is two separated channel.

[@piereligio_ds]

@@John-ub3su EDIT: oh I believe you're right. Effectively even 40Gbps would not be enough for 8K 60hz signals, but they exist cables that support that because displayport is able to do up to 77 gbps. My monitor uses 25gbps through displayport signal, so I finally solved my doubt of why my 20gbps cable that I ordered on aliexpress can drive it at its full capabilities. Thanks ahah

[@a9udn9u]

@@piereligio_ds > My monitor uses 25gbps through displayport signal, so I finally solved my doubt of why my 20gbps cable that I ordered on aliexpress can drive it at its full capabilities This is a misunderstanding, video and data share the same data lanes. Your 20Gbps cable can do 2-way 20Gbps data transfer, but video is a 1-way transfer so the downlink of the cable can be repurposed for video transfer as well, that's why it can send 25gbps video signal without problem.

[@piereligio_ds]

@@a9udn9u Oh thanks. So John wasn't correct actually

[@maxvamp]

@Alex, as high frequencies run through a cable, especially longer cables, the higher frequencies tend to roll off. Think about it like this. You are listening to analog signals over a cable connected to your stereo. You use a 6 foot cable, and you can hear in your music, say Rhapsody on Blue, all of the horns bright and clear. You unplug that and you plug in a 250 cable, and you notice that the horns are not bright, they are almost dull sounding, maybe a little muffled. The other instruments, such as the drums, or harp or obo sound fine. With the very high frequencies capable of TB3/4 ( they cap at the same rate, with a very short cable, the capacitance of the cable isn't a factor, so if you want to drive a TB dock driving 2 6k monitors over one TB cable from the doc to the laptop, and it is a cheap short one, then you are likely to have no problem. However, if you take that same doc, and the same 2 6k monitors, and drive them over a 3 meter cable, the quality of the cable, the shielding, and even the insulator the wire is wrapped in, become immensely important. Since the tolerances of the materials are tighter, they are more expensive, mostly to guarantee longevity at a minimum performance. I noticed that the apple cable is stupid expensive, but it also the longest of all that were measured, and I am positive they are able to run at the full bandwidth of TB4, for many years. What you are paying for is quality of materials at extreme conditions, and longevity of said materials. Its funny that how we use cables today is extremely different than when I worked in Video Engineering with high def video decades ago, but how they charge for cables that handle extreme frequencies, hasn't. This was the simplest explanation, but I thought I would give a hint on why its so. If you were to get a longer cheap cable from AliExpress, and drive it hard ( video plus data likely being the hardest ) , you may see effects on your screen. Especially at high refresh rates.

[@AZisk]

that’s where the longer cable test would be a great indicator of quality. I am not fooled by the cheap cable - it won’t last. However, depending on usage it might be enough for what most people are doing. very few people will be listening to Gershwin over a 250 cable, and those that will, know to get the better cable in the first place, and they will also have the budget :)

[@RunForPeace-hk1cu]

@@AZisk cheaper cables also have higher SNR (signal to noise ratio). If you drive the cable closer to the 40GBps throughout, you will likely encounter problems. Tolerances just isn’t the same as a high quality cable. Also if your cables is too flexible, it means they didn’t put enough shielding. There’s a reason why all high quality TB cables of any decent length is a bit stiff Finally, apple made the 3m cables is pretty incredible. To be able to keep the signal integrity at this length is a feat (full 40gbps, not 20gbps) Expensive for most users but people who need that 3m length … it’s a steal. You won’t find it anywhere else.

[@Alex-jv6ye]

Would have liked to see a longer cable tested. These cheap cables are generally problematic when they are pushing the capabilities of the spec.

[@Diode5]

Agree. A Toyota Prius can keep up with a Ferrari if told to both drive at 40km/h. The problems usually occur when you're using a function of the cables spec that pushes it to the limit. As a consumer if you know the task the cable needs to do isn't ground breaking, then the cheap option is possibly viable. If you want to do something more cutting edge like drive an 8k/10k screen, then you may want to avoid the cheap option. Particularly if you need longer cable lengths too.

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

you should do that test and make the video.

[@hailstorm7868]

It's not about actual speed (it will be the same if cable is up to spec at all), it's about features. Apple's 2m cable is pretty special in that it has retimers for ALL of tb3, usb3, usb4. Normally cheap tb cables only do tb3 if they are over 2 meters (only usb 2 speeds if you are not using thunderbolt). Basically Apple cable is the ultimate usb-c cable. It can do everything at once, while with other ones you have to carefully check it it will support your usecases.

[@walmartpimp2]

I have two to the Apple Thunderbolt 3 braided cables. I didn’t know the Pro Display XDR came with one so I bought one and then found out after the fact.

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

can I type upper and lower case with the Apple branded special magic cable?

[@rtmclean484]

Apple fanboys will justify anything ffs, You cultists just love being ripped off.

[@Techning]

I think when it comes to high refresh monitors it becomes interesting. I had a lot of problems in the past with Displayport cables and also Thunderbolt cables. Some of them just don't reach for example 3840x1600 @ 144 Hz.

[@xmetaldome]

I dont know what this test was about ? These TB4 cables have 2 highlights, that is, data bandwidth and power bandwidth. You need to have necessary hardware to super load those bandwidth. You will need to have expensive over 5000MB/s speed nvme in an thunderbolt 3/4 enclosure to touch the transfer limit of these cables. 2-3$ cables will perform the same as what you showed. I like your videos tough and please continue making them. Thanks

[@AZisk]

this is a test of whether a cheap cable from aliexpress can do simple day to day tasks with a t4 load. few people have the really high end equipment to fully load up a t4 line.

[@Yufflez]

As an electrical engineer and I.t. Professional, don’t do this. Unless the company you’re buying from is reputable and has documents providing detailed specifications on their cables, you’ll end up bricking or frying your devices. The cable will melt or you just won’t have a device that won’t work again.

[@BrianSFischer]

If you're looking for a fast SSD for testing. The combo I use for production is the ORICO-M2V01-C4-GY enclosure and the Samsung 2TB 970 Evo Plus. I get 2794 MB/s Write and 2638 MB/s Read when connecter to an M2 MacBook Air. I hope this if helpful.

[@boogiedownbronx73]

i bought Ugreen 40gbps with 1tb SK Hynix P31 and I get like 3700 MBs...while my mac mini m2 with 256gb only gets 1750 mbs...my external drive is much faster

[@spelledfunny]

You should have done a sustained data transfer like backing up/copying your home directory to that external drive, then formatting it and doing it again with a different cable.

[@AZisk]

shoulacouldawoulda. 😂 jk. next time. keep the suggestions coming!

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

you should

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

@@AZisk I always tell these shoulda people they shoulda go an do it.

[@hazelnuts23]

As someone who's living in South East Asia, I used Orico thunderbolt 4 cable and it works great with my WavLink TB3 dock!

[@katzsamuel]

Orico's braided cables put Apple's overpriced ones to shame. These braided cables are built to last at least 50 frickin years!

[@NCXitlali]

So you speak Bahasa Melayu

[@majd00shka]

From about 6 years dealing with USB type-c including thunderbolt 4, cheap cables will degrade superfast if you use it on a daily basis. If you want to get a thunderbolt 3 or 4 cable that is more than 1 meter, make sure you got it with active chip not with passive chip. (learned that the hard way :D)

[@MrLuis85698]

which brand you recommend ?

[@Okurka.]

What's a passive chip?

[@Blingem14]

Also wondering on brand you recommend

[@Yufflez]

@@Okurka.means it’s not supplying voltages to keep the signal from degrading after the certified length of 3.3ft or 1 meter. This can brick your devices using a cheap cable without the specified components or build technologies. Stick to name brands, Anker is one if you don’t want to buy the Apple recommended ones.

[@Okurka.]

@@Yufflez That's the same as no chip then.

[@BCE-111]

Thanks Alex. Great video. Although AliExpress didn't mention it directly in their emails, I think they were trying to hint that if you buy and wear a wig from them while using this cable the performance of the cable would increase dramatically. Pink wigs are preferred and work best from what I've heard.

[@AZisk]

😂

[@MarbsMusic]

For me the difference between a questionable cable for $11 vs one for $40 is not just the initial cost but also my time and hassle. The last thing I want is for it to go bad when I need it then I have to wait or waste time getting another one. As you only tested 1 cable, it might have just gotten a good one even if it didn't fit right. I'm not suggesting buying the Apple one (except perhaps the 3M) but a $30 difference for something I will use daily from a brand I have experience with is worth it to me.

[@arthurbttf]

For that much money, buy many cheap ones and they'll likely last way longer than the apple one

[@SwordFastic]

cheap cables might break your device, just like cheap products since they might have poor insulations and stuff

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

you're living on the edge old boy - how do you factor in your time and hassel cost? what is it worth? The apple cable will fail just like ay cable.

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

@@SwordFastic 'might' .. I've seen many Apple branded official products destroyed by themselves. And then what.

[@garynagle3093]

I went through this process not long ago went I bought an external thunderbolt enclosure with an nvme m.2 drive. Went with own cable due to reputation for being good and lasting. No regrets

[@AchakBrooks]

Quick note, I see a lot of people ask, or compare thunderbolt to USB, prices/effects/why “this and that”. From my own experience, the thunderbolt cable specs do mater and the prices do reflect the specs ( especially if using things like EGPUS w. 2m cables.) There’s a noticeable issues/degradation when using an incorrect cable and the pricing deferential does reflect that. IT IS NOT “JUST” the typical CABLE scam. It is dependent on the use case. Personally, using thunderbolt for sustained small files I/O writes with thunderbolt3 m.2 external drives, I have not noticed any difference between cables (bandwidth doesn’t really stress it/ IO seems to be accurate over long periods 1~4 hours, huge swaths of differing data sizes… unlike usb). With EGPU’s I have had issue with cable type/spec/quality. When using non-active 2m thunderbolt cables there was evident degradation of application quality (ones that needed bi-directional throughput), ie gaming 10-20% frame-rate decrease + stuttering (using a EGPU vs internal for gaming is already at 10% frame loss already.) Applications that needed realtime rendering (UE4/5/EEVEE) also experienced temporary lockups/ poor user ui experiences. I never tested things like GPU rendering with non-spec cables, and I notice there is little difference I found from speed with internal PCIE. (USED: Aktio EGPUx2/imac pro/macbook pro 16…. w. 2080tix2 or Radeon7x2 or 3090x2 or 6900xt x2) Hardware matters too. I found with windows/pc/laptops thunderbolt integration/use to be a poor experience, ie laptops, most split the thunderbolt controllers, in many cases giving only 2 PCIE lanes per connection vs the full 4 you would get with most (if not all apple hardware?) As well as using adapters in-between your connection, ie hubs/interconnects, most if not all do not run to spec or are sharing/dividing resources through the same pipe slowing/causing new issues.

[@amosreginaldjr.4200]

I got the Apple thunderbolt on a deal (30$) and I used to to charge my iPad from my portable. Usually the portable drains by 40% to charge the iPad But with this cable, it drained ~20%

[@Zarag0d]

"Oh these little mini ducks are super cute... FOCUS ALEX" Famous first words when browsing Aliexpress (If your name is Alex of course) LOOOOOOOOL I IMEDIATELY sub'd hahaha!!! Great video!

[@andre-le-bone-aparte]

@08:30 Yes... Working with a Developer setup with a Mac Mini and and an external Seagate Firecuda 520 2TB SSD PCIe Gen4X4 NVMe as the boot drive via Thunderbolt 4. Versus upgrading the MacMini with an over priced ssd. Getting around 2500mb read and write as the external boot drive compared to the internal Mac Mini nvme which is around 3100mb read and write.

[@00SNIVY00]

To test the power draw, you absolutely have to drain the battery to actually *charge* it, otherwise there isn't any power going anywhere. If the battery is full, it's not going to accept charge it doesn't need. The cables at least provide power, but any USB cable could do 10W. Most USB C cables should do 60W, and you need a particular chip for 100W. I'd suggest actually draining the MacBook down to 20% or lower to actually do any sort of charging test. You'd also want an actual ThunderBolt SSD to get any useful speed tests out of it, or a dedicated monitor as another comment suggested, as that can properly saturate the bandwidth.

[@RomPereira]

100K! Sweeeeeeeet! Well deserved, man, congrats!

[@AZisk]

thank! and for the continued support!

[@stevetash5032]

New subscriber. Clear, concise and thoughtful explanations....thank you.

[@steveedina]

Please test with a faster drive. You need to test the limit of the cables, you only tested the easy stuff.

[@AivarsMeijers]

I need dozen of those mini ducks for debuging

[@maximus6884]

Hey love the way you use the camera and the angles of speaking to it. Creative!

[@deangrande7002]

congrats on 100K subs Alex!!! 🎉🚀

[@AZisk]

🎉

[@johnwalter6410]

The apple cable is for sure superior. Cheap cables have solder voids which cause impedance variations, the wire has impurities in it, less copper, cheaper chips and the list goes on. You will get slower data speeds. slower charging. And audio will not sound as good either. I use apple TB4 for my studio interface and it does make a difference.

[@rcs2749]

The apple cable has some pretty incredible engineering on the circuit board/ processors.

[@DaVinc-hi7hd]

it's quite lovely seeing Bear Grills making tech videos !!

[@badrekb5175]

congrats alex on the 100k subs

[@AZisk]

ty

[@UrbanGuitarLegend]

I have the exact same Thunderbolt 3 dock from OWC. I have been using that dock for the past 3 or 4 years with my late 2013 Macbook Pro. Now I switch to the LG Gram Pro 16 inch and am using the dock with it.

[@minorrhoads5318]

Thanks for the info and cheerful presentation, subscribed . 👍👍

[@AZisk]

welcome!

[@minorrhoads5318]

@@AZisk and thanks for replying .

[@andrecastro5862]

Great video! really liked the style of this review

[@jayg339]

They do actually sell the apple thunderbolt 4 cable in a 1meter variant for 69.99(ive seen it on sale for 60). I think thats a more reasonable option if you just need a very reliable, high quality thunderbolt cable. Now if you need a longer cable that shit adds up real quick in price. It's a lot, but it is a really nice braided cable that should last a very long time.

[@fantv525]

Thanks for this very useful video !

[@grugbrain]

Oh you love those mini ducks. They help you debug your code.🤓

[@senditall152]

That was quite interesting. Regarding delivery I think they ship with ships :) And those can be delayed by months depending on weather est. I would also say that maybe they only go to the US when they have a full cargo hold so that could also count for delays.

[@gaiustacitus4242]

I looked into purchasing in volume from a manufacturer in China and selling the items with my logo on them. The prices were great when ordering in quantities of 1,000 but the lead time was 3 to 4 months. The lead time increased significantly if placing an order for 5,000+ units.

[@ByronPhuket]

Excellent audio quality, nice job.

[@utssavshanmugam1587]

I am curious what a speed test with a faster ssd would be like. Also, maybe I should mention this. I bought a cheap thunderbolt 3 cable for $30 from Amazon about 2 years ago and it doesn't work with one of my monitor and an audio interface. I had to buy the more expensive Belkin one and that worked fine.

[@dedevg7841]

I had this on expensive cables with egu (including those from the kit), as a result I bought a used cable from Apple on ebay.

[@genomind]

The thing is to make the data rates quicker, the cable is usually one of the bottlenecks, as it isnt that easy to just send data with high frequency and or have high charging power that is also stable. The cables metal and especially the connectors resistance (that's why longer cables get especially expensive and rare) has to be more pure and near perfect to support those high rates and that comes at a higher price compared to older usb and thunderbolt versions. Luckily you will probably only ever need a thunderbolt hub and two or three cables and adapter for storage devices/lan cables or monitors and charging to profit from the combined connectivity of thunderbolt as even USB 3.2 from a hub is plenty fast for most stuff and storage/lan are probably the biggest use case for data thunderbolt 4 bandwidth and most thunderbolt hubs provide 100W power delivery while also providing plenty data bandwidth and ports for monitors, lan cables and storage devices. I guess it's a one time buy and enjoy kind of purchase, so it might be whise investing in a better hub that provides plenty of connectivity :-)

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

did you work in audiophile marketing? 😅

[@Gokul_Yt]

I think the power draw test can be improved in number of ways - laptop should have the same charge when the test starts for example 50% to remove the battery charge variable -if the laptop is not charging at the full power throw some benchmarks on it (some laptops while charging above certain %of charge use slow charging to decrease the wear on the batterys so throwing a bench mark uses the incoming powe there for it can be equal to the total Power usage of that device (Normally when plugged in laptops dont use battery)). Allow the systam to reach normal temps before testing the next cable to avoid thermal throtiling (batter or overall systam) as well. Also you could take two or more measurements to ensure there is no errors like the cheap cables storage speed test

[@trumanhw]

FYI ... I owned an Apple sales // repair retail store for about 10 years. I can't confirm if this TB4 isn't 'better' ... etc, but CableMatters cables were my favorite, BAR NONE. They're made EXCEPTIONALLY WELL. Lasted longer than Apple -- and they're thinner (better flexibility). A++

[@FlamingRobzilla]

Integrating differential processing into a cable to error check when shielding the cable would suffice, is absolutely something I would expect Apple to do. The idea of simplicity in engineering does not comport with their business model. And the slight boost in speed is due primarily to the Apple computer's PCI hardware, not the cable itself. But try telling that to the average Apple fan boy or girl regardless of how you define those terms these days. To quote Scotty; "The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain," which means the more complicated somethings are, the more things that can go wrong. And in my opinion going wrong includes a substantially lower bank balance, which for Apple is a design feature and not a bug. Just buy a good quality USB-C cable and you'll be golden.

[@gengpan]

depends how customers consider what the durability really means to them. broken? same price you can buy it 12 times. considering this condition, cheap one gives us longer time of usage. And maybe, before we buy the 4th one, it is time to upgrade devices to thunderbolt 6. of course, comparing durability of a single cable, it is not rare that cheap one springily gives better durability. such as planed worn out of offical apple power cables.

[@yifuhood]

People don’t know this? I bought external thunderbolt 3 drive enclosure for half the price than in Europe .I bought bike parks , Exactly the same as I can buy in Germany, I mean exactly the same. cost 1/4 the price. Also I bought a thunderbolt cable for 18 euro. Works well.

[@ChosenOne6666]

I have 9000 points on AliExpress and the products are really good. They sell the latest products before they hit U.S. market.

[@MostAlpha]

ANKER is a good brand. However, the quality of the Apple cable is off the charts.

[@TexanUSMC8089]

First off, there's a huge difference between a USB-c cable and an Apple USB-c Thunderbolt cable. A lot of USB-c cables work for charging a device, but they don't transfer data. A company called Lumafield did a Cat Scan of a bunch of cables. The Apple cable had a mini circuit board with a micro processor and about 20 wires inside that little handle. The knockoffs were mostly just wires soldered to a connector. There is a reason why the Apple cables cost so much more. The Thunderbolt cable is a data transfer cable. If all you want to do is recharge a device, get a quality USB-c cable.

[@seattledude2022]

4:31 I totally believe AliExpress's prediction that you like these , LMAO :)

[@andre-le-bone-aparte]

These types of videos are a nice addition to your usual content. Excellent review - helpful to see other "expensive" cables and cords that developers use!

[@TareqAstroPhoton]

For about $129 i bought so so many cables from Aliexpress and Amazon already, and i have zero issues, imagine not only Thunderbolt but any cable from Apple be it just a regular USB, it will cost a lot too, so i don't buy Apple products if i am not a dedicated to Apple, in fact i am using old Apple Mac Mini with whatever brand monitor using a cheap 2m Thunderbolt cable, working like a charm.

[@akashkallumkal]

I don't know but if you have the kind of money to buy a thunderbolt compatible device in the first place why would you cheap out on the cables and accessories is my question? Personally, if I were to buy cable I buy it from a known brand.

[@synthesis12]

I have 3 Dell Thunderbolts, and had bent the USB C power cables male adapter on one of them and had to replace it. Ebay is your friend in this case. Amazons prices were very high, and I ended up just buying another Thunderbolt 3 without the power pack for about $20 with shipping.

[@Jorrell81]

Thanks for doing the tests for us.

[@paypig919]

I've bought a thunderbolt 3 for my phone to transfer things please help me it doesnt work...

[@Mr.AIFella]

Please keep being awesome. I know this comment is not related to the video, but I'm sending this to you. Please keep doing experiments and things related to ML and AI projects on those fast computers you have. Please keep doing not copying others. Congratulations on your 100K, you deserve more, and I hope double it in the coming months. Best,

[@mortenthorpe]

FYI… most of the cheap thunderbolt 4 cables max out at transfers at around 900 mb/second… the expensive ones support the link bandwidth, enabling me to read and write from my external nvme at 2900 mb/second!

[@psoon04286]

Just a comment about using Ali Express vs Amazon. They seem to have a ton of sellers offering the same item you’re shopping for and the description of the item requires some careful scrutiny before clicking on the ‘purchase now’ button. Next is the estimated delivery date. As they are shipped out of China delivery to your actual address can be very difficult to accurately predict. Im in Canada on the west coast but my delivery from China has to go first to a main distribution centre in the eastern part of Canada, clear customs and then redirected to the western part of the country to my address and that adds to the actual delivery time- sometimes by as much as 10 days! On the whole my experience has been positive, but it requires a lot of patience on my part

[@AZisk]

patience yes. if you’re in a hurry, go to the local store. if you aren’t, then this may be worth the wait for some folks.

[@d3bianninja284]

What TB4 dock do you have ? I’m looking for one I can hook up multiple TB4 devices to (among which a 4K 60hz monitor)

[@GenilsonOficial]

Larger cables require an amplifier and that is exactly why they are so expensive. Perhaps in this case there is a huge difference, especially for use with devices such as audio interfaces.

[@MKA63]

Easy answer - just don't buy apple. You just get sucked into their marketing mechanism.

[@gaiustacitus4242]

Many of the items sold on Amazon are purchased in bulk by the sellers from AliExpress. Also, several of the different brands are made by a single manufacturer to the same specification, the only difference being the logo on the items.

[@craven3190]

You need away faster drive to test out the two different cables. I’ve run into this issue with a cheaper cable only doing 20 Gb per second. When I purchased a better cable I got my 40 Gb per second. And the cheaper cable came with the dock and was supposed to do 40 Gb per second.

[@Mahaloginger]

I have to say this "comparison" isn't good at all. Firstly, you didn't have your Macbook's battery drained to the point that it would actually be able to show how fast it could draw power. Secondly, you have an external SSD that's maxing out about 800 Mb per second so you're not showing any type of actual transfer speed... because most cheap cables can achieve that speed. Also the cable you saw in the store was for the 2m it wasn't for the 1m which is actually $69.99 not $129.99.

[@mtb5778]

good review. thanks

[@Errcyco]

At this point, everyone should have at least one USB4 or Thunderbolt 4 cable around. USB-IF certified, backwards compatible with USB 2.0, 40gb/sec data, 240w charge. All that and the cables are mostly the same price as the non-data fast charge type-c cables. Just go get one. The Amazon Basics USB4 Cable that’s 3’ is $10. Can’t go wrong with that.

[@SPINNINGMYWHEELS777]

the computer world is not getting a taste of what the audiophile marketing arm has perfected.

[@SevenDeMagnus]

Hi, what's the resistance values for Thunderbolt cables- comparing it to USB-C fast charger cables (w/ data). Does the cheap cable heat up at high wattage 100w? Is Thunderbolt cables better than USB-C? God bless.

[@enzomarzari]

Your SSD is limited to 1050MB/s… so How are you gonna test the real limit of the cheap T4 cables ? 👀😅

[@AZisk]

i don’t know. I don’t have anything that fast. And probably most people do that either. 😝

[@LukeBarousse]

My dude, congratulations on 100K!!! 🙌🏼 P.S. great test; it's REDICULOUS how expensive thunderbolt cables are.

[@AZisk]

thanks 🙏

[@uolarteyturo1902]

Thank You for video

[@efrenlopez92]

I would love to see any test you come up with!

[@jinwang4905]

Nice video bro!! please do a benchmark video on Microsoft Volterra!! thank you :D.

[@AZisk]

soon

[@ph11p3540]

I am no Apple fan but this cable takes the cake for super complexity under the skin. There is literally an entire set of micro circuits and a micro motherboard hiding encapsulated inside that fat plug. Maybe this is why they cost way more than other so called Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) cables. First learned about this on Adam Savages Tested, A Look Inside Apple's $130 USB-C Cable.

[@moidfpv]

I just saw Adam's video too. There's no comparison.

[@rokiedecentra9656]

all USB C cables with the higher capabilities need the e marker chip, even the cheap one will have it

[@pcxdrone]

2:34 although I've heard of Orico for good/decent quality external hard drive enclosures, there is absolutely no way to have a Thunderbolt Cable @ 40Gbps at a 4+ meter length without it being an Active cable. Actually anything longer 1m gets you into active cable territory. That's why the lion's share of Thunderbolt4 cables are 0.8m in length, especially the ones that are Certified.

[@AZisk]

you could go with a light cable. made a video a couple months ago on this

[@chrisnewman7281]

had a similar situation a few months ago where I was looking to buy a lightning to USBC adapter cable. Apple charges $49 Australian and I was able to source one from Amazon for half that price.

[@sarmed741]

thanks, very useful vid.

[@Karl-Benny]

Nice honest Test

[@DaveEtchells]

FWIW, OWC is a good supplier, I’ve been buying from the, since the days of the Mac SE :-) (No affiliation at all, they’re just solid.)

[@7shing]

Thunderbolt 3 and 4 are similar. Thunderbolt 3 cable should satisfy most needs normally. Just like usb cables, the differences between high and low quality cables are safety, stability and durability. If it is always actively charging things with 100W passing through (with certain amount of heat), I would not take this risk. Probably i would buy some mid range brand like owc / cable matters / anker / plugable / caldigit.

[@nick066hu]

a similar test is becoming due, now with Tunderbolt 5 in play, I guess it will push the limits of any cable much further

[@gregsLyrics]

Driving your cheap-o cable at 10 miles per hour with wobbly tires does not mean it can go 180 miles per hour...so to speak. Unless you are pushing the max specifications, the review did not really prove anything. The reason for the super expensive cable is precisely because of the extreme data and power handling capability.

[@AZisk]

so, in other words, most people don’t need the expensive cable, and will do just fine with the cheap cable. which was the point of the video :)

[@CuentaIgnorantex2]

The Apple tb4 have 14 cables with 4 protections , the Apple have 24 pins in the USB made with 24k gold for protection

[@磁鬼頻率]

i purchased a brand name headphone cable from Ali to test it... It looked legit but way cheaper - also with many positive reviews. Once received and comparing it to the original cable sound-wise, it was obviously counterfit as the sound quality was terrible. So buyer beware. It's not always the case, but I would imagine that there are a lot of copied or no-name items where the quality is less. However there are also some good products that are much cheaper from overseas as sometimes, its just a case of a business importing the item from overseas and making profit in your local country by selling it for a lot more.

[@yanstev]

I remember when Monster audio cable was the rage for high end stereo equipment, and justified their high prices by convincing people that higher purity of metal that made up the wiring and superior insulation of the jacket would result in noticeable differences. After testing various competing cable types on a network analyzer, it turned out to be a marketing scam. A similar test would need to be done on these cables to determine differences, but I doubt that wiring and insulation construction will be significantly different to justify high cost, as modern wiring manufacturing is pretty consistent. The quality and durability of the connectors does make a difference, in terms of durability znd reliability, but doesn't justify 10x cost difference.

[@AZisk]

you might be right. but i’ve had my collection of monster cables for 24 years and they are still working flawlessly. and i don’t feel any bad about using them. the plastic hosa cables on the other hand, while they also still work, i just don’t like handling them. probably all mental

[@AndersHass]

Was PCIe tested as I would think that is the biggest cost to support for the cable (at least what was shown in an Adam Savage video)?

[@suzwaltz]

I keep going through USB C charger cords for my phone. Going through them like there's no tomorrow. Do you have recommendations?

[@aravjain]

You should do a "DIY SSD" by getting a really fast NVMe and a 40gbps Thunderbolt 4 enclosure and then test that.

[@polska905]

11 bucks for a cable is still a lot, it just seems like a good deal because all the others are totally ripping off the consumer.

[@brianwest2775]

Why choose one with only one review that's one star? Find a popular cheap one that we might actually buy. And then you test power draw with 100% battery? Come on, a cheap USB C can do 20W. drain your battery and add some peripherals. Even better, the day before see at what battery percentage there's the largest draw. Got to test at a high res and frequency too. And maybe bring some emf noisy electronics near the cable, like motor to see if it affect data transfer speeds to a 10 or 40 gbps nvme.

[@easonzheng2774]

I have some opinion with your test! 1. Thunderbol 4 cable supposed to go with 40 Gbps(data can reach to 32Gbps), but you only test with 10Gbps SSD....,that makes no different a lot of cable can do that. 2. The Thunderbolt 4 supposed can connect two monitor with "4K" ,does the cheaper one can do that? I doubt that. 3. I was wondering when you plug a lot of divices on thunderbolt dock and connect with Thunderbolt 4 cable was both test the same?

[@PERCENTAGEHUNDRED]

Amazing class🎉

[@towlie911]

Can you test if both work as a display cable for an external monitor? I would like to avoid paying $160 for the apple cable to use my monitor 3m away.

[@Micha-cc8hf]

Try to establish tcp ip connection using thunderbolt 4. I made it between MacBook m1 max and Mac m2 mini. No matter what I would do, which cable I would connect it sucks with 20gbps instead of 40gbps. I switched many tcp params including jumbo pockets and still 20gbps. So I don't understand the price

[@Alex-Lys]

I'd rather go for OWC or Anker as they're both respectful brands in terms of price/quality, avoiding the AliExpress lottery altogether, and for Apple if I'm buiding a project to "last for ages", e.g. a music prodiction studio) Their cables are indeed expensive as hell, but once you invest they last for decades being accidentally stepped upon, even moved furniture on (shame but also true;) I still use the now 'ancient' TB2 cables here and there, that seen pretty much everything, and they still perform just fine👌

[@BuzzJones]

I have a Thunderbolt 2 Macbook Pro and bought a OWC Thunderbolt 4 Docking Station along with a Apple Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter but my Computer does not recognize anything connected to the Dock. I was told the Dock would work with it hooked up this way, would you know if this is correct >?

[@CraigCruden]

Did you plug 2 x 4K monitors into the hub? i.e. did you test the difference between thunderbolt 3 vs 4