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Teardown reveals why Thunderbolt cable costs $50

by Chris Rawson Jun 30th 2011 at 12:00AM

When Apple debuted its Thunderbolt cable, I imagine a lot of people said the same thing I did: "Fifty bucks? For a cable?!" However, iFixit did a teardown on Apple's Thunderbolt cable and found that it's not just a length of copper wire with connectors at either end. It turns out the Thunderbolt cable comes with some embedded chips designed to manage the high data transfer rate made possible by the Light Peak tech underlying Thunderbolt, and those chips are probably the main factor behind the cable's relatively high cost.

Ars Technica has an in-depth overview of the tech behind this cable and why these chips are necessary for the whole Thunderbolt thing to work. Ars also notes that the tech is eerily reminiscent of Firewire in that it has a high cost barrier compared to USB, applications limited to high-speed storage and video, and is a protocol that has yet to see widespread adoption outside of Apple and a proprietary variation from Sony. When they put it that way... yeah, it does kind of sound like Firewire all over again.



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If you were wondering why Thunderbolt cables cost fifty bucks, iFixit found out.
 

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adobephile@mac.com

What's interesting to me about Thunderbolt is the fact that this new bus might be able to handle the data traffic like the plugin card bus inside the current Mac Pros. This could mean that Apple could finally produce something like a mid-size tower(-like) machine without any internal slots, but with, say, more processors, and rely on the Thunderbolt port to connect to an external card box for customers to custom configure. This would make such a machine far more affordable and configurable and satisfy a much broader market, which would in turn justify the company's investment in such.

June 30 2011 at 6:01 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
SeishiZero

So are we now gonna need Kensington locks for our Thunderbolt cables?

June 30 2011 at 12:19 PM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to SeishiZero's comment
timl2k11

Lol. No you'll be able to buy a Thunderbolt cable with a built-in lock for $100.

July 04 2011 at 7:17 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Eric LaRue

Hopefully, any Thunderbolt devices will just include a cable in the package, and we just make sure to take good care of our Thunderbolt cables (everyone retake the course on proper cable care) so that we don't have to make an emergency replacement.

June 30 2011 at 10:00 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Eric LaRue's comment
John

Unforunately I doubt that will be the case. Looking at the Pegasus Raid storage they do not include a cable. So people that do not read the box contents will order one and find out that when it arrives they need to go out and buy a $50.00 cable to use it.

June 30 2011 at 11:23 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
jimmy

This goes to show how too many people are too quick to jump down apple's throats. It was stated from the beginning that the tech required extra circuitry in the cable but not many news sites remembered that when posting sensationalist articles about the price.

everybody's jumping on apple cos of final cut pro. I understand where the pro's are coming from but I think apple will win it in the end because like the iPad.. the price will make it a successful product and apple will be legitimised in continuing with its trend to cater for the middle ground. It will not be the choice of the pros until it catches up with its previous versions in certain features but it will still be successful.

June 30 2011 at 6:54 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Murando

A german compute magazine tested the cable. They connected an iMac to a MacBook Pro in target disk mode. Result:
Thunderbolt: read 42,9, write 20,9 MByte/s.
FireWire: read 38,2, write 36,1 MByte/s.

http://www.heise.de/mac-and-i/meldung/Kurztest-Apples-Thunderbolt-Kabel-Update-1270249.html

June 30 2011 at 3:03 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Murando's comment
impossiblerednek

The speed was prob. limited to the internal drive of the MacBook Pro in TDM.

June 30 2011 at 12:02 PM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
Chayuth Pirotesak

What I don't understand is... why they didn't just include such chips in the ports and make cable just wire and connectors? At most they just ad $25 to a Mac and $25 to a device, to think logically.

Now we have to cherish a cable in addition to devices. And replacing a cable would be in great pain.

June 30 2011 at 2:32 AM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
3 replies to Chayuth Pirotesak's comment
 Mike Beasley

Who at iFixit thought to teardown a CABLE?

June 30 2011 at 2:09 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to  Mike Beasley's comment
dewfm11

someone who wanted to find out why apple feels they should charge $50 for it

June 30 2011 at 9:50 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
doubledeej

And yet it's still less than the HDMI cables at Best Buy.

June 30 2011 at 2:06 AM Report abuse +2 rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to doubledeej's comment
Mike Gaudiello

I go/refer to bargain outlets ALL of the time for HDMI cables - places like Five Below or Ollies, they literally cost $5 and you can have them that day. HDMI (like Thunderbolt) is data only, it either works or it doesn't. I hate that retail wants so much for these cables. They, unlike TB, can't justify the costs that places like Best Buy charge for them.

Still.. if you can wait, Monoprice FTW. I wonder if they'll have a Thunderbolt cable anytime soon...

June 30 2011 at 5:56 AM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Mike Gaudiello's comment
Kyle Farris

They probably will, but, not for a while. Depending on the cost of those chips, they still might be pricey. But, "pricey" in Monoprice terms like like $6.

June 30 2011 at 4:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down
Dan Knowles

I usually suggest monoprice.com for all cable needs.

June 30 2011 at 9:53 AM Report abuse +1 rate up rate down Reply
alchemistmuffin

Well, at least it's not from Monster Cable. (they are rip off)

My first reaction for Thunderbolt Cable price: WHAT THE _____...

Now I know why.

June 30 2011 at 12:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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