For a "senior editor" of PC World admitting to using multiple cables, not just the TB5, that rate less than he needs, to complain things didn't seem to work right, feels like the real headline is "first, use the right cables".
The biggest problem with all this is that it's very nearly impossible to tell what kind of cable you have most of the time. If you're lucky (or purchased wisely), the cable will have it's type and class printed on it, but most don't -- certainly not OEM cables that ship with devices. And by now, most of us probably have a dozen or more USB-C cables of various sorts. Some of these may be TB cables. Some may even be TB4 cables. Some may even be data-only cables. But it's hard to keep track, and it's stupidly expensive to just replace everything every time a new standard is available [on one specific device].
Not an app, but some USB testers (e.g. POWER-Z KM003) can do this by reading an e-Marker chip on the cable. I'm not sure if there's a way to access eMarker purely through software without some sort of driver support, though.
The problem is that a cable saying that it's something does not mean that it actually conforms to the standard and can deliver that speed/power. And proper testing requires complex hardware.
That's true of every cable that has ever existed, including basic electrical wiring, and so feels like a separate problem than merely identifying what kind of cable a cable even intends/claims to be in a world where they all have the same shape connector: don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
He says that he used a Kensington Thunderbolt 5 cable, so I think that just reinforces the story that the vendors don't have things implemented properly yet.
That sounds bad, have any more details on what happened? You plugged in something external and ‘fried’ your ssd ?
I don’t know how likely that is here, but there was a class of attacks called Thunderspy which could allow an external malicious device full access to your computer via thunderbolt.
I actually think it could also have been something that resetted the T2 chip during the process..
I bought a new MacBook and wanter to transfer data using the cable / migration assistant. I think it froze. After that it wouldn't boot, and there was no partition table. The SSD worked after formatting though.
The cable was a cable directly from Apple, but yeah product return fraud on Amazon could be scary with these kinds of attacks
> And why should I need to buy an Apple cable to get my PC docking station to work?
Because https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/04/23/teardown-of-apple...
For a "senior editor" of PC World admitting to using multiple cables, not just the TB5, that rate less than he needs, to complain things didn't seem to work right, feels like the real headline is "first, use the right cables".
The biggest problem with all this is that it's very nearly impossible to tell what kind of cable you have most of the time. If you're lucky (or purchased wisely), the cable will have it's type and class printed on it, but most don't -- certainly not OEM cables that ship with devices. And by now, most of us probably have a dozen or more USB-C cables of various sorts. Some of these may be TB cables. Some may even be TB4 cables. Some may even be data-only cables. But it's hard to keep track, and it's stupidly expensive to just replace everything every time a new standard is available [on one specific device].
Has no one made a nifty app that shows you what cable is plugged in to what port? Or is that not even technically feasible?
Not an app, but some USB testers (e.g. POWER-Z KM003) can do this by reading an e-Marker chip on the cable. I'm not sure if there's a way to access eMarker purely through software without some sort of driver support, though.
The problem is that a cable saying that it's something does not mean that it actually conforms to the standard and can deliver that speed/power. And proper testing requires complex hardware.
That's true of every cable that has ever existed, including basic electrical wiring, and so feels like a separate problem than merely identifying what kind of cable a cable even intends/claims to be in a world where they all have the same shape connector: don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Just bought that tester two weeks ago! Labelling my cables now with type / speed / max power
That's an interesting proposition, I'd love to see what a USB-C port is without a cable too instead of googling specs.
He says that he used a Kensington Thunderbolt 5 cable, so I think that just reinforces the story that the vendors don't have things implemented properly yet.
Not surprising given that my experience with TB4 which has been around for a while, with an OWC dock has been pretty iffy.
If the cable alone needs to be $100+ to maybe be reliable… that’s not a great sign for widespread consumer adoption.
The Apple Thunderbolt 5 cable is $69
Quite unsatisfying read. Even for the title.
I guess he proves his point, it's hard to build a cutting edge system without much more research if you assembly it based on your own insights.
And most importantly: Connector labels don't mean what you should be able to expect them to mean. That point is no news sadly.
I would love to read from someone who actually knows what's happening and who goes on til the reason is found.
Any other articles?
I'm pretty sure certain combinations of windows and graphics cards only support 3 monitors did he even try turning off the laptop display?
This test was on PC. How about the new M4 Macs?
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Fried my MacBook SSD trying to transfer using Apple’s thunderbolt cable. Actually SSD worked, but everything was gone. So yeah, I’ll pass next time.
I don’t think plugging a cable directly into the pci bus is a great idea
That sounds bad, have any more details on what happened? You plugged in something external and ‘fried’ your ssd ?
I don’t know how likely that is here, but there was a class of attacks called Thunderspy which could allow an external malicious device full access to your computer via thunderbolt.
https://thunderspy.io/
I actually think it could also have been something that resetted the T2 chip during the process..
I bought a new MacBook and wanter to transfer data using the cable / migration assistant. I think it froze. After that it wouldn't boot, and there was no partition table. The SSD worked after formatting though.
The cable was a cable directly from Apple, but yeah product return fraud on Amazon could be scary with these kinds of attacks