Here's why cables for Thunderbolt 4 and 5 ports cost so much
Key takeaways
- Thunderbolt looks like USB-C, but there’s a lot more inside.
- Intel Thunderbolt cables are fast and versatile, but they also come at a premium.
- Intel There's a lot of advanced tech inside each cable.
Thunderbolt looks like USB-C, but there’s a lot more inside.
Intel Thunderbolt cables are fast and versatile, but they also come at a premium. The newest standard, Thunderbolt 5, can cost several times as much as a basic USB-C cable. Given that they share the same port, you might be confused about why there's such an extreme price discrepancy. Here's a quick breakdown.
Intel There's a lot of advanced tech inside each cable. For example, Thunderbolt 5 supports up to 80 Gbps of bidirectional data transfer — and can transmit up to 120 Gbps (while receiving at 40 Gbps) in boost mode. That's fast enough to move 1TB of data in just a few minutes. (With USB 2.0, that same process could take several hours.) Meanwhile, the older Thunderbolt 4 standard supports a (still zippy) 40 Gbps in either direction.