The Best USB 4/Thunderbolt 4 Cable Money Can Buy

The best USB C/Thunderbolt Cable: amzn.to/3rX5pPp
OTAO USB charger with LCD: amzn.to/3M5J8pr
300W USB Charger: amzn.to/45zbhfz
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The best USB cables currently on the market are Thunderbolt 4 cables. Many cables on Amazon say "Thunderbolt Compatible" but aren't actually certified. Look for the little lightning bolt with the arrow. You also want 240 watts of power delivery. This is not standard for Thunderbolt cables but it is becoming more common.

[@FStoppers]

The best USB C/Thunderbolt Cable: amzn.to/3rX5pPp OTAO USB charger with LCD: amzn.to/3M5J8pr 300W USB Charger: amzn.to/45zbhfz Fstoppers Photo Contest: www.fstoppers.com/contests 5daydeal: bit.ly/46s5qtI

[@gordonjenkins276]

Occulink blows Thunderbolt 4 out of the water! No confusion with USB c and USB 4. Occulink supported devices are in for 2024 and 2025. Thunderbolt is a dead dinosaur petrified and lithosphered into the dirt! Do or a review of OCCULINK!

[@SoulSeeker770]

how do you know those cables aren't lying?

[@arkhikun]

Printing on the cable / mandatory documentation would be great. USBC is a cluster- even without varying Thunderbolt specs.

[@ameerali.ouarda]

Just get a Thunderbolt 4 USB 4 cable and your good

[@Slave-Of-Christ]

The specs printed on the cable are the specs printed on the cable. They give people the warm fuzzies, but don't hold your breath that those printed specs match reality.

[@thejayzed]

Exactly!! Can’t believe that he’s recommended them without actually testing.

[@daniellysohirka4258]

I have the INIU version of the 100W and it already fast charges my phone from 5% to 100% in 20 minutes. No need to go buy a 240W. It' a USB-A/B - USB-C braided.

[@twosheafilms]

Love the effort you’re putting into these Lee!!

[@harinduudapitiya369]

Thank you. You made it simple to understand

[@nykretus]

It's good to know that usb finally entered the same speeds as thunderbolt 4 and they made it the same way, not bad. I got a usb 4 zike enclosure that works for both computers but make sure buy the correct ssd if you want to transfer it between both computers

[@mortenborg]

Yes we need specs printed on the cables! Have lots of USB-C cables without markings and most of them will probably just end in the bin because it would be a pain to test them for capabilities and determine if they are outdated. I'm only buying new cables with specs printed but often you get OEM cables included with new products.

[@Alex-tu5vu]

The specs don't reflect the real world specs. Even two cables with the same specs can be different to a factor of 2 from what I've seen, so it's only a veeeery rough estimate

[@USAF-NGAD]

Keep in mind many times OEM cables included with devices aren’t the highest quality or best cable a company offers. My first thought is IPhone, the Lighting connector was always limited to USB 2.0 speeds so the cheap cable included with the IPhone was plenty for charging and data transfer. Now that the IPhone 15 Pro has a USB-C port with USB 3.2 Gen 2 support it can transfer data up to 10Gbs, but Apple only ships it with a regular USB-C 2.0 cable so you’re stuck with 300-400Mbs transfer speeds.

[@unonice]

Great Breakdown .. very helpful video .. keep up the great work 👍🏾😁🙌🏾💯

[@christofer210]

Wow nice 1M, gratz :)))

[@neo6911]

What is the name of the app I that redas and write the speed? Thanks.

[@JudgeFredd]

Great info

[@anthonymark00]

goated video. big love

[@jeremycarter]

There are limitations to USB4v2 with charging and data transfer. You’re better off keeping Thunderbolt 4 until Thunderbolt 5 comes out.

[@nowandrew4442]

Many complaints on the Amzn page regarding the 300W power hub. Max output seems to be 145w, with the 2x 100 USB-C ports sharing the 100W, the 2x 30W USB-C sharing the 30W and the 3x USB-A sharing the 15w. So doesn't seem like a win. On the other hand I have a couple of Baseus items that will do 140W on one port and 100+40W when two are used.

[@marble_wraith]

Just one small problem... Thunderbolt 5 is already incoming 🤣

[@FStoppers]

Nooooo

[@Joseph-W-Hodge]

Hey mate, great video with great advice.. i need a c to c cable for my go pro that i use to stream my racing sim but it needs to be 4 to 5 meters long as it sits behind my shoulder and points towards my monitors, can you recommend one for that length? Cheers

[@Rockhardnupe7]

Hello, I see the cable in the link provided! However it’s only 3 feet long. Do you have a recommendation for a Cable that’s 6 feet or 10 feet long but still gives you 40 gbps and 240w, thanks so much for the video and all the info.

[@NickPixelTV]

The apple thunderbolt 4 is available in 6 ft

[@WrestlingWith]

Nice video!

[@Ben-rz9cf]

I swear, USB-C PD has changed the way i work. I carry a power bank everywhere i go with my camera and it gives me virtually unlimited record time and battery. But i really only have 2 cables that work with the full 65 watts. Data speeds on those cables, i have no idea about.

[@ErnieSesameStreet]

As you mentioned, the Macbook only accept not more than 100w. Why recommend a cable for 240w

[@n6moses]

My USB type c is now 2 years of use with no issues but I can not use apple lightning cable for 2 months without buy new one

[@fletcherbrown728]

I’m confused. What is the value of a cable that can handle 240 Watts? Don’t you also need something on BOTH ends that can deliver and receive 240Watts? Is there any USB-C device that you know of the can use 240Watts? I think that my iPhone is about 15-20 watts and my iPad Pro M4 is limited to about 35Watts. What am I missing?

[@Day1Adventures]

What app did you use ?

[@ruaangrobler3035]

"It's got a dragon painted right, on, the blade; right, on, the blade." 🤣- in all seriousness, thanks though. This is one of those annoying things I've never bothered understanding and this was helpful.

[@robertbutler8004]

I clicked on your Amazon link below and ended up with a cable only saying CABLE Matters it does not say 240 watts at all.o did I get the correct cable?

[@RicanStudio]

My philosophy on this differs a little... For me there are 3 or classes of USB C cables I need: 1 - TB4 for high data rate and 100w+ for connecting my laptop to peripherals...this isn't actually that common. I need only a few really. 2 - 60 to 100W cables for charging... These are very common. I bought a charger brick similar to the 300w one with many usbc ports and many of these cables. I can plug 7, 8, 9 things in to charge at the same time. Also it's good to have many around 1 foot and a few around 5 foot. I prefer to save $200 on cables and not buy the TB4 cables. 3 - high data rate for ssds and other data transfers... Doesn't need to be more than 10 gbps 99% of the time, and 99% of the time I just use the cable that came with the device. You can find cheap high wattage cables that are also all 10gbps so if I need to use them I can in a pinch. ( Meaning that in reality I'm basically dealing with two levels of cables 100w 10gbps and TB4 the later are 7-10x the cost and I'd rather have many of these. I bought an inline wattage meter for usbc for like $15 this will tell me if a small OME cables will charge something fast, etc. In general usually the cable that comes with something works well for what it was designed for (DJI Ronin, etc) so I try to keep them packed together, and not try to just bring a minimum of cables. I guess I'm a cable maximumslist, but like Lee I got do sick of always wondering if I was using the right ones.

[@countzepplin]

Agreed - I keep numerous 60-100w cables around for charging anything up to my laptop, then a few data cables. The different cables are labeled and color coded!

[@HAMIDrezaBagheri86]

Unfortunately thunderbolt4/USB4 USB-C cable and port not suport USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 protocol ☹️

[@Chris-zu4es]

what does thunderbolt mean? I have a Xiaomi Redmi that I struggle with using with other cables and chargers. can I buy this cable?

[@D_Dubs00]

Is cable Matter thunderbolt cable faster then ANKer 515 thunderbolt type C

[@terryduerks4008]

how about longer thunderbolt 4 cables i need a15 ft cable

[@scopefactor]

Are the cables linked tested and verified as being Tbolt 4 and pd 240 or are you taking the labels word for it?

[@christofferaasted]

I'm wondering the same thing.. I'm thinking 240w like USB4. His videos seems very much like just an ad for his amazon referral link..

[@inc2000glw]

Just rename the video title to a quick demo of the charger. :) cause i want one now.

[@ScottWBaker]

great video! what is the app at top of screen that showing thru put speeds?

[@pkennethv]

iStat Menus

[@kirkydaturkey]

Also need to know lol. Ridiculous that Apple doesn't show current transfer speeds.

[@Texg1rl_]

Is usb8 out yet?

[@trumanhw]

That this guy suggests CABLEMATTERS cables means he KNOWS what's up! A+++++ FYI ... I spent LOTS on cables, drives, etc -- as I owned a Mac Repair + Sales retail store for 10 years. And I'm TELLING YOU ... of ALL the TB cables -- CM lasted the longest, worked the best and are def priced fair.

[@steven871]

What impact does wattage have if the speed is adequate?

[@FStoppers]

If the device gets enough power it doesn’t matter but many devices require a higher wattage to run. For example my MacBook will work/charge on 15 watts but if I start up a lot of apps the battery will drain faster than it can charge.

[@CDJPRODJ]

what is the fastest "usb c to usb a cable"? I need one for my external crucial 4tb ssd to use with my 2014 Mac mini. Thank You.

[@PSYCHOV3N0M]

USB-A is power limited. You need to use USB-C to USB-C.

[@EngineFD223]

The people who created the USB-C standard really did a disservice to all of us. They should have mandated some sort of color on the cable (like USB 3 did) or have it written on the cables all of the time.

[@AWEG-qu8bz]

But how can i connect USB4/Thunderbolt to Displayport 144Hz Display?

[@dyong888]

I have a set of cables for fast data transfer and another set for quick charging. I tested them all. Too bad he didn't seem to test the wattage of the cable that transfered data the fastest. Mid way through the video he seems to prioritise charging over data transfer. He then recommends a cable that supposedly also does 40gbps but doesn't demonstrate it on his mac laptop. Highly dodgy. I purchased and returned several "40gbps" marked cables. Many don't even perform at 20gbps. This video seems like another affiliate marketing video seeing all the links are amazon affiliated.

[@frankentronics]

I'd love to buy through your affiliate links, but your Amazon links do not work. Something is broken.

[@pdubsweir3]

Adam Savage just did a deep dive on why USB C quality is so much tied into its manufacturing and design. It really convinced me why Apple's Th8underbolt 4 cable is worth the price tag.

[@constitutionalright827]

Yes but Adam compared a Thunderbolt 4 cable and USB C cables, so not really a complete comparisson of say Apple vs. Anker vs. Belkin or Cable Matters.

[@TheFaustianMan]

Adam Savage is a small souled bug man, who would love the latest gadget and over pay for it. Check out what he did to his sister.

[@TrevorSachko]

@@TheFaustianMan There always has to be one...

[@Ryan-ff2db]

I saw that video. In no way were they comparing apples to apples(pun intended). They compared cheap $3 to $10 knockoff cables to a $130 apple cable. A good USB 4 cable for around $20 to $30 is every bit as good as apples overpriced cable. I can't count how many times I had to replace Apple cables in the last 12 years. Even the new $130 cable has the same flaw as all other versions. It is not adequately reinforced where the cable attaches to the connector. This has always been the main point of failure for all apple cables and the new cable is no different. Unless you're super careful with your cables, you know exactly what I'm talking about. What's sad about this is, it would cost Apple probably 1 cent to fix this flaw, but then they wouldn't be able to sell more overpriced cables when they fail. Almost all $20 to $30 cables are better reinforced than Apples, and it my experience they will last much longer because of this one feature.

[@moidfpv]

I now want to see the insides of cables, after seeing Adam's video.

[@riccardocarbo2479]

My concern here is how many times you talk about data transfer, but explain it as wattage. Why it is a measure of the total power passing through a certain point along the table per second. Behind of the wattage the more lanes on the freeway to move traffic, in a sense. Start off saying that there is a clear difference, but it was so confusing as to which you were really needing to talk about when you mentioned a number

[@mansoormohamedali122]

Easy way to guess the wattage is : - usb a to usb c: 15 watts maximum; - usb c to usb c: 60 watts minimum and up to 240 watts. Reference: Thiojeo

[@daniebello]

I wish that all 5 ports on the OTAO were USB-C cause all of my devices are USB-C and I have precisely 5 Apple devices I use daily that use USB-C

[@christopherberry8519]

Now how do you buy a Dock with thunderbolt and display over usb-c outputs? - That's under $100

[@mastermind6000]

I had a webcam that refused to work right for months. silly me, here I thought that C-to-C cables had to be USB 3. they do not. I was using a USB 2.0 cable the whole time. that week, I tested and labeled all my cables - USB 2 or 3, gen 1 or 2, 100W, etc. so now I know, which is half the battle I had not won before.

[@vivenreddy]

how did you identify/test the cables?

[@mastermind6000]

@@vivenreddy how do I know they're only USB 2? because A-type connectors would need 9 pins to be 3.0. all USB 3.0 A cable ports have the regular 4 you always had, then a smaller row of five toward the back. any cable I tested with an external SSD transfer. USB 2.0 can do about 60 MBps, USB 3 can do 600 MBps, and if t can do more, it's a gen 2. USB C connectors all have like 20 pins so you can't check any other way but see what they can do and measure it.

[@nickb5091]

Plenty of counterfeit cables that underperform are willing to print anything you want to read on the cable just to sell them to you. SOME are decent but you’re rolling the dice.

[@marl0oo]

The cable you point in the video is not thunderbolt 4. The link you post is correct. Cable Matters has all the specs and the logos. One rule I use is if the cables don’t say clearly what’s are the speeds and the specs it means they are trying to sell you trash don’t buy it.

[@marl0oo]

Be carful because a lot of logo are fake. The are different from the standard.

[@Phambleton]

What's the name of the app/programme you're using at 3:25 to measure wattage?

[@FStoppers]

istat

[@Phambleton]

@@FStoppers Thanks!

[@Aperez]

Any tech channel: “USB-C is amazing!” Also tech channels: “USB-C has cables ranging from Version 2.0 at 480 Mbps all the way up to Version 3.2 Gen 2 at up to 10-20 Gbps with varying Wattages at either between 20W or 60W.” Me: “I’m just gonna go with Thunderbolt since it’s so unique and very simple and powerful. 🤷” (yes Idm the expensive price as long as I can find a good deal)

[@theendofit]

Usb 5 should just not be backwards compatible. It should be designed from ground up to be optimized for modern day. Further be designed to be able to be tested and so that it can self report what its capable of you windows/osx/ect. Usb 1-3 can still be used for mouses keyboards, ect other simple things that font need high power or speed. C/4 if you have somthing that needs it can buy a converter for it. I have 15 usb c cords and not one is capable of max speed and max power afew are one or the other and a few are neither. But i only found this out by buying tester. Further theres almost no way to tell usb 1.0 and 2.0 apart and even alot of 3.0s. I have usb 4 has way to wide of standards. It makes sense as why would you need 240w and insane speed for a mouse that uses at most 10w and only needs a few bits. Thats why i propose we split it into two standards. The usb 1-3 standards that can use usb a,b,c,micro,mini ports. And the usb 5 that would be the high performance standard. Always high powered and high speed. Its just insane that we are at a point that a cord that stuggles to do anything looks identical to, and is impossible to test without buying expensive equipment, one that can power a whole other computer and send two 4k monitors worth of data 60 times a second or just fully run all the data of a graphics card through it keeping up with the graphics card. And as a ps. It may be time to start retire the pcie port. With the ability to run graphics cards off thunderbolt 4 we should shift to having the graphics cards take on drive bay like slots on the case itself and run the wire to it. This would mean removing all the stress of the weight of the card on the board. It would extend the avrage life of the card and the mother board by a little.and open the door to more design options for cases shape. Built in hard drives could also take advantage of this to. With what ever desing the usb5 takes it could make the inside of a pc more universal instead of having all different kinds of ports inside.

[@JosephDawson]

printing it on the cable is meaningless unless it is certified. Just because someone said they are thunderbolt 4 240 will not mean they are. Buy cables that are Intel Thunderbolt 4 Certified.

[@perm1730]

does a thunderbolt 4 cable work on a thunderbolt 3 dock?

[@spenceranderson4045]

Yes

[@DigitalNomadOnFIRE]

USB-A is never supposed to give you more than 12W in the USB spec and isn't rated for PD speeds.

[@The1onlyQ]

Useful info but such small file transfer doesn't account for variables like caching - then you ad an untested charger that even you cant believe? I'm out bro

[@knutbk]

Could just be me but I don't see a Click a Snap link.

[@tek_soup]

Did you even hook up a thunderbolt device? Buy Corning optical if you want speed but NO Charging.

[@christofferaasted]

Your videos always seems like brand marketing tbh

[@brentsmithline3423]

This is why I only purchase ThunderBolt 4 cables period. Looks like will have to purchase the newer ThunderBolt 4 / 240 watt from now on. KISS

[@djphat1736]

And people wonder why Apple took so long to move to USB-C. One, was that it most likely wasn't used that much on the iPhone. Most used AirDrop. It wasn't on the SOC. And the confusion on the spec. I have a USB-C port but it can work like you said at 480 USB 2 or up to 10Gb. The cables are not all labeled. Its a mess.

[@Lofote]

They are at usbc for years with most devices. The reason why they kept their iphone to proprietary is license earnings and sselling own cables for huge amount of money. Note that most people use cables more for charging than data transfer

[@FStoppers]

The argument against apple is usb 2 specs are much slower in data and power transfer. -P

[@djphat1736]

@@FStoppers Agreed, but not because they didn't want to give you the speed. It simply wasn't there to give. The SOC only had a USB 2 controller. Being that the new iPhone has a "Pro" labeled chip with USB 3 at 10Gb. We most likely will see another "Pro" or equivalent chip with Thunderbolt 3/4/5 in the future. As that is the one to rule them all. Still USB-C, fully backwards compatible, super fast speeds for a Pro model phone. Fast charging, etc. Previous TB under v 2 was a different connector again. More confusion. Since Apple's tech tends to carry over for a few product lines and for many years. Changing the chip design to accommodate just USB3 and or TB most likely didn't make sense. USB 2 works fine, AirDrop handles big files fine, you have wireless charging. Better to focus on other areas like power draw and performance. When down the line you can add that functionality, and do it better than anyone else. As for licensing fees on MFi. Well, as you state the confusion on the cables/speed and levels of compatibility. It's easier to "know" that a MFi cable will work as expected than to guess and hunt down the right cable and feature sets. It is limiting, but it's a "known" vs unknown. And like you state, the TB3 cable will take care of all your issues. Full power 240W, full speed 40Gb, works all the way back to USB 2 speeds and specs. Thanks for the reply, I enjoyed the video.

[@djphat1736]

@@Lofote The SOC only has USB 2 controller. There wasn't a way to make it faster. Lighting works great, and IMHO is a better "connector" than USB C. This was also made at a time before USB C so can't fault Apple for pushing a new cable to replace the 30 pin one when C didn't exist. And standards are still all over the place. Plus, Thunderbolt is better, v3 and up. Supports USB and everything else you want to do with the cable, from power to display, and of course speed. Same connector as USB-C. I'm hoping the next iPhone Pro will have TB 4. They may call that a Max chip vs a Pro chip, but whatever. It would simplify and solve all these version/spec issues with USB-C

[@teohyc]

Apple markets their phones as cameras and for videographers who create huge files. And yet they expect those people to transfer GBs worth of files to their computers using AirDrop which is slow and has consistency issues with sending loads of files. It's not that most people use AirDrop, it's so that they can license lightning port and devices.

[@javierborquez]

Very dangerous to be using the amazon product listing specs as the only criteria... especially if you are buying off-brand. Did you buy the cable you are recommending?

[@Undecided0]

Cable Matters is a reputable brand.

[@NakeanWickliff]

HOW ARE YOU SHOWING THE TRANSFER SPEEDS IN THE BAR???? Sorry for yelling!

[@NakeanWickliff]

NVRMND, Setapp!! ARE YOU F'NG kidding ?!?!?!?! $10 A MONTH TO MONITOR YOUR HARDWARE!?!?! Not sorry for yelling this time. THIS IS REDICULOUS!

[@MrX8503]

Be aware that the thunderbolt 4 and usb4 240w are official logos printed on the cable. If the printed label isn’t the exact official logo, it’s a fake.

[@Coldgecko]

Transfer speeds are 40mbps... Wattage is not transfer speeds as far as I know.

[@AlexKall]

Where do you see 40 mbps? And I don't remember him connecting wattage to transfer speed.

[@QuicksilverSG]

USB-C is already a more confusing mess than all previous USB versions combined.

[@TurtlePower99]

usb-c is such a mess... its been so many years now & we just have to guess what speed the cables are. Needs mandatory markings or whatever asap.

[@Utrilus]

I'm realizing that we got to mark em ourselves.

[@rawmediano]

How you get the speed in the toolbar on your mac?

[@pkennethv]

iStat Menus

[@AKAEalansari]

For some odd reason your video isn’t loading as fast as the others. Am I too early? I do have a respectable internet connection

[@FStoppers]

Just finished uploading seconds ago

[@WonderSausage]

You think something printed on the cable from a no-name Amazon seller is an indicator of anything, I've got a bridge to sell you.

[@therealjimmy5411]

The promise was USB-C would unify. It just made another mess.

[@Cognizance4]

Thunderbolt cable do Not Work with USB 3.2 2x2, you wont have 20 GB/s only 10 GB/s.

[@gavranpero]

The charger presented in the video is nothing special, and it is not even the first with a display. ISDT makes much better chargers (140W on just one port, and there are 4), which even have BT to connect to a smartphone and monitor status, create spreadsheets in Excell and more.

[@TrevorSachko]

Apple use a simple "3" for Thunderbolt 3 and "4" for Thunderbolt 4. Most if not all Thunderbolt cables on Amazon are chinese garbage.

[@glbernini0]

We all know IF ITS PRINTED ON THE CABLE IT MUST BE TRUE!!!

[@Errr717]

You believe everything Amazon tells you? 😁

[@Coldgecko]

100W vs 240W? Why do I care?

[@frankentronics]

I also want to add that one shouldn't necessarily always want to use the fastest charging cable. Fast charging will reduce battery life, sometimes drastically. The best longevity we get from batteries is if we slow charge them and if we keep them at around 40%. We should only fast charge as our last resort. Same goes with fully charging and fully draining.

[@mastermind6000]

yeah, but that would get regulated by the laptop itself. limiting high current draw by using a cable that gets maxed out by it sounds even worse.

[@sdchew]

Battery life is typically governed by number of cycles. A properly designed device will not degrade whether you fast charge or slow charge. Trying to maintain a device at 40% charge all day when outdoors is seriously tough

[@pbrigham]

The information printed on the cables itself? Yeah the Chinese scammers care about that a lot.

[@threepe0]

3 ft? naw.

[@Coldgecko]

Sorry, brain fart -- 40 GB/s...

[@PsYprophet]

First comment from india.. and the cable is very pricey here… any idea about the apple 240W 2m type c to c cable ? @fstoppers

[@FStoppers]

That cable is garbage. It has really fast wattage but horrible transfer speeds.

[@PsYprophet]

@@FStoppers yeah usb 2 lol

[@PsYprophet]

@@FStoppers does this cable matter what you say can it be used for 15 pro max brother… since it supports usb 3

[@PsYprophet]

@@FStoppers and also please say which cable is best for 15 pro max

[@arkhikun]

​@@PsYprophetthunderbolt will only matter if both ports it connects to are thunderbolt. otherwise it will go to usb3 (if say using a Mac to an iPhone 15 P/PM you will get usb3 instead of TB speeds as iPhone is not Thunderbolt-equipped).