Apple Cuts Price of Thunderbolt Cable, Adds Shorter Option

By Catherine Cai
published

If you've been thinking about buying a Thunderbolt cable, this might be the best time.

Apple peripherals, like all of Apple's products, don't come cheap. It's why it's a good idea to hang onto the cables that come with the product's original purchase, as most of Apple's connectors cost at least $19 to replace.

Apple's Thunderbolt cables, first introduced in 2011 to connect to external peripherals, used to run for $49. The hefty price is matched by its hefty length of 2.0m.

Thankfully, the company's seen fit to slash the prices and the length on its Thunderbolt connectors. Now, a 2.0m Thunderbolt cable costs $39, and the more compact version, sitting at 0.5m is an almost reasonable $29.

Thunderbolt cables can be purchased via the Apple Store here (opens in new tab) (for the 2.0 m cable) and here (opens in new tab) (for the 0.5 m cable).

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Catherine Cai
24 Comments Comment from the forums
  • enzed
    I suppose this is what has become of Tom's.. No wonder I've stopped coming here as often. I'm expecting negative votes for even adding this comment, but seriously, is this even news?
    Reply
  • luke738
    enzed: Why isn't this news? It's an article about a price drop on cables, and would be essentially the same for any other tech related product.
    Reply
  • Haserath
    hydac710 bucks for a meter of copper wire , best way to con suckers everYou mean I could buy some regular ol' copper wire for a buck and do what thunderbolt does? Cool!
    Reply
  • alidan
    HaserathYou mean I could buy some regular ol' copper wire for a buck and do what thunderbolt does? Cool!
    you are kind of missing the point.

    its really just 20 thin as can be copper wires, and a plug...
    if it wasnt for that stupid chip, which i believes only purpose is to stop cheaper cables from being bade, than you wouldn't pay more than 5$ for 6 foot cable,
    Reply
  • Benihana
    Ah, $10 discount. That must be the discount you get after you bend over.
    Reply
  • house70
    luke738enzed: Why isn't this news? It's an article about a price drop on cables, and would be essentially the same for any other tech related product.I hear you.
    There has been a recent price drop on certain micro-USB cables on Amazon, how about an article about that?
    /s
    Reply
  • alexthager
    alidanyou are kind of missing the point. its really just 20 thin as can be copper wires, and a plug...if it wasnt for that stupid chip, which i believes only purpose is to stop cheaper cables from being bade, than you wouldn't pay more than 5$ for 6 foot cable,
    That wasn't his point though. He was simply ignorantly hating on Apple. Is it overpriced? Yes, but it's much more than a copper wire. It's got active processors in each end, that's why it's so quick and remarkably consistent. Though, I wouldn't say the price is entirely justified.
    Reply
  • alidan
    alexthagerThat wasn't his point though. He was simply ignorantly hating on Apple. Is it overpriced? Yes, but it's much more than a copper wire. It's got active processors in each end, that's why it's so quick and remarkably consistent. Though, I wouldn't say the price is entirely justified.
    ok, lets take a look at this here for a minute.

    You can connect a DisplayPort device to a Macbook using the laptop's Thunderbolt connection, for example, but you can't connect a Thunderbolt device to the laptop's DisplayPort connection

    and

    DisplayPort version 1.2 was approved on December 22, 2009. The most significant improvement of the new version is the doubling of the effective bandwidth to 17.28 Gbit/s, which allows increased resolutions, higher refresh rates, and greater color depth

    now lets convert that to mb

    2211.84 mb per second
    over 2 gb per second

    thats display port, sure its not full duplex... but not really the point

    honestly, i don't think there is a single thunderbolt thing that needs thunderbolt...
    the only reason they use it is to sell the cables that you HAVE to have to use thunderbolt.
    Reply
  • rbagany
    Apple haters should simply skip these news articles. I am not a fan of Apple at all, but c'mon don't read it if you don't like it. How old are you, 12?
    Reply
  • wlachan
    Apple is nothing as nobody have pulled off better scams than Monster Cables.
    Reply