Finally, a real contender for Apple’s pricey Thunderbolt 4 cable is here

OWC has released 2 caller super-long active optical USB4 cables, disposable successful lengths of astir 10 feet (3 meters) and 15 feet (4.5 meters) and offering up to 40Gbps of information throughput. According to OWC’s property materials, they’ll acceptable you backmost $98.99 and $129.99, respectively, though its website presently lists them for somewhat less. That’s a bargain, compared to what Apple is charging.

Data throughput aside, OWC says you tin besides expect the 3m enactment to supply up to 240W of power, portion the 4.5m cablegram manages 60W. The cables are covered with braided nylon, too, which hopefully means they’re bully and flexible. And though they aren’t Thunderbolt 4 cables, they’ll enactment the mode you’d expect with different Thunderbolt 3- or- 4-capable devices, including docks and hubs.

Intel mostly guarantees Thunderbolt 4 show at up to 2 meters implicit accepted copper cables. Those cables request peculiar tech wrong to support throughput up implicit longer runs, which is apt portion of wherefore Apple’s 3-meter 40Gbps Thunderbolt 4 cablegram costs $159.

You tin find immoderate USB4 cables arsenic agelong arsenic OWC’s for much little than that, but the longer ones don’t thin to connection the aforesaid precocious throughput, which OWC credits to the electromagnetic interference immunity of fiber-optics.

OWC’s cables are a spot of a throwback to Thunderbolt’s roots arsenic Light Peak, which was initially codeveloped by Intel and Apple arsenic a fibre optic cablegram modular that made its mode to a Sony laptop conscionable arsenic the companies decided to spell with copper, instead. Optical, data-only Thunderbolt lives connected astatine companies similar Corning, which has you covered if you request a $480 164-foot (50 meters) 5K optical show cablegram successful your life.

Cables aside, OWC besides precocious announced a $189.99 Thunderbolt 5 hub, which went up for preorder successful November and is disposable now. It’s got 4 Thunderbolt 5 ports and a azygous USB-A larboard and supports 3 simultaneous 8K displays astatine 60Hz.