The USB Situation

I write this from the latest MacBook Pro. I’ve been running this as my primary machine for almost a month. When I’m not grinding out the latest soon-to-be-released I-swear-I-am-on-schedule book in a coffee shop, I sit at my desk and plug the MacBook into a Studio Display. This braided black cable does it all: video, power, and everything else plugged into the Display.

One cable. A Thunderbolt cable.

The stakes are lower in cable selection than in charger selection, but the cables really aren’t the situation. It’s the ports.

The USB Situation
usb-c is a shape, not a speed

Same plug, seven protocols. Your iPhone cable and a Thunderbolt 5 cable share a connector and a 250× speed gap. You can’t tell by looking.

THE LIESame USB-C connector. Seven protocols. 250× speed spread.

THE AGEUSB 2 has been 480 Mb/s since 2000. The cable Apple ships still runs at original-iPod speed.

THE GAPiPad Pro’s box cable is 83× slower than the port it plugs into.

THE TRAPMacBook Neo’s two USB-C ports look identical. One is 20× faster.

THE NAMESUSB-IF has renamed 5 Gb/s four times since 2008.

THE BUYApple Thunderbolt 5 if you have Thunderbolt. Cable Matters 10 Gbps if you don’t.