OWC Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C Cables Released – One Cable for All Standards

Computer Accessories

by Olaf von VossMarch 31^st, 2022

USB-C is a great way to simplify the way we connect peripherals to our laptop on the go. But sometimes the USB-C connection cable doesn’t work the way we hope it would. That’s because of the myriad of different protocols and standards. And that’s why OWC offers a USB-C Thunderbolt 4 cable that works with anything you throw at it.

USB-C cables are great because all we have to worry about is one universal USB-C cable for all our modern devices and be done with it, right? Well, it’s complicated. While USB-C (the connector) is indeed unified, what protocols and standards a particular cable can deliver is a whole other discussion, and it’s often up to the end user to wade through this mess of logos and promises manufacturers put on their packaging to hopefully find the right one.

Just scroll to the very end of the official USB Implementers Forum page to see a quite confusing variety of logos for different standards…

Time to change that! OWC recently released a truly universal Thunderbolt 4 cable (which, following the specification, is of course equipped with a USB-C connector). This cable implements all the current standards you would expect from such a cable, without compromise. That may sound a bit redundant, since the Thunderbolt 4 specs already call for support for USB 4, Thunderbolt 3 and others, but it’s OWC’s way of offering the highest standard possible to make sure everything else is fully compatible and certified.

OWC Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C cables

I think the biggest confusion with USB-C is that the term USB-C does not refer to a protocol (data transfer, power delivery, or anything else that takes place between connected devices over such a cable) but only to the physical connection itself.

Just as you wouldn’t say, “My computer has 4 USB-A ports” but 4 USB-3 ports, it doesn’t make much sense to say “It has 4 USB-C ports” if you don’t know what protocols those ports can handle. And that’s especially important since USB-C is used for so many things these days: Thunderbolt 4 (and 3), USB 3.2 (and 3.0 and lower), DisplayPort, PowerDelivery, Ethernet, the list goes on.

So basically, USB-C cables don’t necessarily have much in common, other than the physical USB-C connector of course, and that’s why some cables just work well with the task at hand, others will fail. So bringing just one cable and expecting it to work with everything is nothing but a risk.

OWC is trying to solve this problem by implementing and properly certifying the highest standard available to date, Thunderbolt 4, so this line of cables (0.7M, 1.0M and 2.0M) should deliver on the promise of being easy to work with.

Pricing

The price is not exactly cheap, but we’ll see that it’s not too bad for what we get here:

• OWC Thunderbolt 4 / USB-C cable 0.7M: $24
• 1.0M: $34
• 2.0M $57

Each of these cable is capable of lab test certified safe power delivery up to 100W, up to 40Gb/s of data performance, and up to 8K of video delivery. OWC also makes some decent Thunderbolt 4 Docks, such as this one.

Apple also has so-called Thunderbolt 4 Pro cables on offer (link here), these sell for $129 (1.8M) and $159 (3.0M). Remember, these are not just copper wires, there’s quite a bit of electronics inside the connectors.

Conclusion

In general, I like the idea of having a few comprehensively specced cables on hand to make sure everything works as intended. On the other hand, if you only need USB 3.2 and no Thunderbolt, that might be a bit overkill. But to really establish USB-C as a universal standard, we need to make sure we use the most advanced implementation to achieve the widest possible compatibility. This would make USB-C truly universal.

Link: OWC

What do you think of it? Is USB-C a confusing mess? Is this high-end cable approach the safe way to go? Share your experiences in the comments below!