Skip to content
Hallway
0:00 / 0:00

#usb-c#thunderbolt4#apple

A Look Inside Apple's $130 USB-C Cable

Adam Savage’s Tested

7.3M subscribers • 6 videos on Hallway

YouTube
  • Recommended by 6 people: 6 on Hacker News.
  • Presented by Adam Savage and Zach Radding

Intermediate. Assumes working knowledge.

4.4M views3 years ago6 recommendations

HardwareElectronics

Adam Savage and engineer Zach Radding analyze CT scans of Apple's Thunderbolt 4 cable to explain its complex internal engineering.

Apple's new Thunderbolt 4 USB-C cable costs a staggering $130, more than ten times the price of a generic USB-C cable. But what's the difference between Thunderbolt and USB-C? Adam is joined by electrical engineer Zach Radding to examine Lumafield's CT scans of Apple's cable as well as three non-Thunderbolt USB-C cables to understand the engineering and components that make up these cables. This video is part of a sponsored series with Lumafield. Learn more about these scans at: lumafield.com/article/usb-c-cable-charger-head-to-head-compa… Apple Thunderbolt 4 cable: app.lumafield.com/project/fedc9b09-b696-4a7f-8270-95762abd1d… Amazon Basics USB-C cable: app.lumafield.com/project/a0fd9731-994a-403f-9710-a03aa2f31c… $5.50 USB-C cable: app.lumafield.com/project/f6ec539a-2775-44d1-a9e3-54a118093b… $3.90 USB-C cable: app.lumafield.com/project/3c087b61-34e3-4836-9d2d-38b1f14b9b… How industrial CT scanning is used: youtube.com/watch?v=-eesZBRW4u0 Thanks to Zach Radding for joining us in this episode! buildcoolstuff.com/ Shot and edited by Joey Fameli Additional media courtesy Lumafield Music by Jinglepunks Subscribe for more videos (and click the bell for notifications): youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=testedcom Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks: youtube.com/channel/UCiDJtJKMICpb9B1qf7qjEOA/join Tested and Adam Savage Ts, stickers, (de) merit badges and more: tested-store.com About Tested: tested.com/about TikTok: tiktok.com/@testedcom Instagram: instagram.com/testedcom/ Twitter: twitter.com/testedcom Facebook: facebook.com/testedcom Discord: discord.gg/tested Amazon Storefront: amazon.com/shop/adamsavagestested Intro bumper by Abe Dieckman Thanks for watching! #adamsavage #apple #usb

Why it's here

6 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended for its fascinating look at the high-precision engineering and active circuitry inside premium Thunderbolt cables.

wlesieutreon Hacker News • Recommends

On “In Defense of RAM”

Bit of a stretch to call that a "charging cable." Their 240W rated 2 meter USB-C charging cable is $30 link But if you're interested in why the Thunderbolt cable costs more than charging cables, some folks put one through a CT scanner recently: link to this video
View on Hacker News

gjsman-1000on Hacker News • Recommends

On “Is there an updated list for verified good USB-C cables?”

You might want to see Adam Savage’s video about why, say, Apple’s $130 3’ Thunderbolt cable (the pinnacle of cables) actually is not overpriced. It also gives a sense as to what a quality cable is like. link to this video
View on Hacker News

al_borlandon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Vision Pro Teardown – Why those fake eyes look so weird”

For those interested, this video shows scans of what is inside Apple’s cable vs cheap cables off Amazon. link to this video For those who prefer to read and want to look at the scans in more detail, that can be found here: link
View on Hacker News

lloekion Hacker News • Recommends

On “EU law mandating universal chargers for devices comes into force”

link to this video Maybe you could consider Apple cables to be overengineered , but I can readily understand why a cable built this way - irrespective of manufacturer - is not overpriced . And it's not just about a chip. The cable is simply factually better on every metric than the hand-soldered 4 wire el cheapo one at 15~16 min. There is no cult in that. Now if one only needs to carry USB 2.0 speeds or a limited amount of power it'd be ridiculous to buy a 100+ or even 50+ cable. That doesn't make the cable overpriced either, merely overspecced for that use case.
View on Hacker News

tiffanyhon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Thunderbolt 5 vs. Thunderbolt 4: Everything you need to know”

Adam Savage (Myth Buster) did a video on why Apple Thunderbolt-4 is so expensive ($130), by looking at the detail in construction vs cheap alternatives. link to this video
View on Hacker News

ssl-3on Hacker News • Recommends

On “We X-Rayed a Suspicious FTDI USB Cable”

Lumifield quite recently showed on Adam Savage's Tested again, with some literal insights on a reasonably-diverse array of different 18650 cells: link to this video It's a good watch, and I learned some new stuff about some things that I only knew a little bit about before.
View on Hacker News

samstaveon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Generating SVG for the prime knots”

…ch is protected by the outer woven sheath from these patterns of 2D knots stretched out along an axis - certain elements can be printed such like the articulating spine of a snake. It could make a machinable-high-tensile strength cable with an optical core with protected turn radii (titanium snake spine) See here for reference to advanced cabling: link to this video…
View on Hacker News

shagieon Hacker News • Mentions

On “We X-Rayed a Suspicious FTDI USB Cable”

That tickled a memory of a video... and I hunted it up. Adam Savage's Tested : Look Inside Apple's $130 USB-C Cable - link to this video (1 minute in "we've been saying that our phones have more computing power than the Apollo guidance computer but I'm positive now that this cable has more computing power than the Apollo guidance computer") That video is a look at cables (not just Apple's) with Lumafield's CT Scan.
View on Hacker News