Apple Releases High-Speed Thunderbolt Cable for New iMac, MacBook Pro

Killian Bell (4:38 am PDT, Jun 28 2011)

Screen Shot 2011 06 28 at 12 34 37

The latest addition to Apple’s online store is a fancy new high-speed Thunderbolt cable designed to connect your Thunderbolt-equipped devices to the latest iMacs and MacBook Pros.

Thunderbolt technology supports blazing-fast data transfer with two independent channels of 10Gbit/s each. Use the Apple Thunderbolt cable to connect your Thunderbolt-equipped peripherals to your new iMac or new MacBook Pro.

Apple Thunderbolt cable can also be used for Target Disk Mode between two Macs that support Thunderbolt, or to use a new iMac as a display for a MacBook Pro equipped with Thunderbolt.

The cable is 2 meters long and costs $49 in the U.S. and £39 in the U.K.

At the moment, only Apple’s latest iMac and MacBook Pro families feature Intel’s high-speed Thunderbolt technology, however, we’re expecting to see it introduced to the MacBook Air, Mac mini and Mac Pro with the upcoming refreshes.

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18 comments »

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_H6MLY53ZM7GYSE5HALC5JWYWIM Mark W

    ….and we would hook it up to what?

    • Anonymous

      now you can finally connect both thunderbolt ports of your 27″ iMac with each other

  • Petter Niklas

    And with a price tag that screams “rip off”! $5 or £3 would be more appropriate.

    • Anonymous

      Then go buy a piece of trash third party Thunderbolt cable that will break in a week. Since you have absolutely no idea how difficult it is to make these, how much of the price is R&D, and what componentry goes into a Thunderbolt cable, you have absolutely no room to talk.

      • http://www.facebook.com/tanner.godarzi Tanner Godarzi

        I’m curious about the tech behind making such a cable.

      • http://flavors.me/kioshi kioshi

        Same as any cable but after you multiply the price times five. PROFIT!

      • Petter Niklas

        Aaw, come on get real and don’t be such a drama queen. A cable is a cable – not hardly any rocket science involved whatsoever. What distinguishes different brands are usually the markings on the connectors and the packages, that’s because third party often manufactures even the “original” ones. It’s a shame that customers still accept these horrid price levels for a pieces of basic technology.

      • Anonymous

        >A cable is a cable

        And this one costs $49. Until we even have another alternative, because NO ONE else makes Thunderbolt cables, you still have no room to talk. The tech is brand new. You probably don’t remember when USB cables cost this much.

      • Petter Niklas

        Why are you so hostile and why can’t this price policy be questioned? BTW, I remember when Apple charged an arm and a leg for a spare RS-422 lead back in ’84, do you?

      • Anonymous

        Its a CABLE.  That means it has WIRES in it.  Not stargate technology, buddy.  Go buy a gold plated USB cable with that duhh-rency that you’re full of.

  • Anonymous

    what’s the difference between this one and the mini-display-port to mini-display-port cable ( for just 29 €) ?

    • Anonymous

      The Mini DisplayPort is not Thunderbolt compatible — it’s purely for displays.

    • Anonymous

      That’s a Mini DisplayPort cable. This is a Thunderbolt cable. That’s the difference. Go read about why these have absolutely nothing in common save for the port shape and legacy support.

    • Anonymous

      That’s a Mini DisplayPort cable. This is a Thunderbolt cable. That’s the difference. Go read about why these have absolutely nothing in common save for the port shape and legacy support.

    • Anonymous

      That’s a Mini DisplayPort cable. This is a Thunderbolt cable. That’s the difference. Go read about why these have absolutely nothing in common save for the port shape and legacy support.

    • Anonymous

      That’s a Mini DisplayPort cable. This is a Thunderbolt cable. That’s the difference. Go read about why these have absolutely nothing in common save for the port shape and legacy support.

  • Anonymous

    They say you can now hook up thunderbolt peripherals…GREAT!  Sooo…where can I get some thunderbolt peripherals from???  That’s the real problem here, there are no good peripherals released yet that I have heard of.  Hooking up one mac to another is good, but that’s not really as common as say…syncing my iPhone, or hooking up my external HD.  Right now having thunderbolt is like owning a lamborghini but no one has invented wheels yet.  It’s cool to say you have one, but until it can be put to practical use, it’s just fun to look at and talk about.  Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like it’s taking to long for peripherals to support thunderbolt, and am concerned that what could be a great innovation (10 gbits/sec) could get killed before too long.  I would honestly love to see thunderbolt make the current USB completely obsolete, I just think it needs a little more help from third parties.

    • Anonymous

      Not to mention, I would imagine if thunderbolt became much more common, all the prices on cables, etc. that support thunderbolt would begin to drop also.  Let’s face it, $50 for a cord (even at 6 ft) is a little ridiculous.  Look at HDMI…when it first came out, you couldn’t find a cord for much less than $50, but now, I can get 3 for a dollar on ebay.

About the author

Killian BellKillian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also writes for TechnoBuffalo. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell, or through his website.

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