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Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 Cables

SoyCapitanSoyCapitan

SoyCapitanSoyCapitan

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Jul 4, 2015
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nerdynerdynerdy said:
If new Macs are released next month, and knowing Apple's habit of minimising the number of ports; if new Mac Pros and MacBook Pros only have Thunderbolt 3, are we really expected to buy these:

https://www.startech.com/Cables/thu...rbolt-3-usb-c-thunderbolt-adapter~TBT3TBTADAP

Seems expensive and bulky. Can there not just be a cable with different plugs on each end?
Click to expand...
Some cables have chippery in the connector. They are active and not passive, this adds to cost. Converting the signal processing will also be costly.
 
N

nerdynerdynerdy

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jul 22, 2007
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SoyCapitanSoyCapitan said:
Some cables have chippery in the connector. They are active and not passive, this adds to cost. Converting the signal processing will also be costly.
Click to expand...

So a regular thunderbolt cable has chips in it? I didn't know that. You wouldn't know to look at it.

But this thing looks bizarre:

startech_tbt3tbtadap_thunderbolt_3_to_thunderbolt_1222837.jpg


I'm planning to transition my whole edit/composite system from my old fashioned Mac Pro tower to a new style Mac Pro, but most of the external peripherals I'll also be upgrading come with thunderbolt 2 at this stage.

Hopefully Apple will release a more attractive solution.
 
fuchsdh

fuchsdh

macrumors 68020
Jun 19, 2014
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That's really the size of a lot of active adapters. It's a shame, but there it is.

Wouldn't be surprised if there's a bit of a transitional period where we still have legacy USB-A ports and TB2 in addition to TB3. Not sure if Apple's aiming for an ultimate goal of *no* USB-C ports and just have everything be a super capable TB3.
 
S

Stacc

macrumors 6502a
Jun 22, 2005
888
353
fuchsdh said:
That's really the size of a lot of active adapters. It's a shame, but there it is.

Wouldn't be surprised if there's a bit of a transitional period where we still have legacy USB-A ports and TB2 in addition to TB3. Not sure if Apple's aiming for an ultimate goal of *no* USB-C ports and just have everything be a super capable TB3.
Click to expand...

Yeah its too bad they couldn't do thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt 2 with a passive adapter. It wouldn't surprise me to see thunderbolt 2 show up in addition to TB 3 on a revised mac pro. Given the limited PCIe bandwidth of Xeon CPUs it may not even be feasible for 3 thunderbolt 3 controllers. My guess is that on Macbook Pro's they ditch thunderbolt 2 entirely for thunderbolt 3.
 
NT1440

NT1440

macrumors Pentium
May 18, 2008
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TB3 is NOT required to use the USB-C connector, it just CAN.


So buy the thunderbolt 3 cable that looks just like every other thunderbolt cable you've ever seen....
 
S

Stacc

macrumors 6502a
Jun 22, 2005
888
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NT1440 said:
TB3 is NOT required to use the USB-C connector, it just CAN.


So buy the thunderbolt 3 cable that looks just like every other thunderbolt cable you've ever seen....
Click to expand...

The shape of the connector is not the reason you need an active adapter. Its due to signaling differences. Besides that, I don't think I've seen any implementations of TB3 that use the mini-displayport connector.
 
NT1440

NT1440

macrumors Pentium
May 18, 2008
15,092
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Stacc said:
The shape of the connector is not the reason you need an active adapter. Its due to signaling differences. Besides that, I don't think I've seen any implementations of TB3 that use the mini-displayport connector.
Click to expand...
It was my understanding that every instance of TB is backwards compatible with the previous, so I'm not sure why you can't just buy a miniDP TB3 to use with your TB2 gear. Also, Apple will implement TB3 however they see fit, so stay tuned folks!
 
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killawat

macrumors 68000
Sep 11, 2014
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NT1440 said:
It was my understanding that every instance of TB is backwards compatible with the previous, so I'm not sure why you can't just buy a miniDP TB3 to use with your TB2 gear.
Click to expand...

Let us know when you find a TB3 device riding miniDP. You won't, USB-C is the official connector for TB3. Apple could be silly and rig TB3 to miniDP, sure, but it would no longer be thunderbolt 3. Its not really up for debate. The connector is standard.
 
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beaker7

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Mar 16, 2009
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No real surprise here. Pushing the needed connectivity out of the Mac and onto your desk in the way of cables, external boxes, and adapters has been priority #1 for years with Apple.
 
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FireWire2

FireWire2

macrumors 6502
Oct 12, 2008
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Let assume the new Mac has Thunderbolt 3 port! Great. but using this adapter does not automatically give the user a 40Gb/s. It's complete defeat the update! We need faster and better system.

Instead of adding nothing good to the new Thunderbolt 3 port of new Mac, why not buy a thunderbolt 2 that upgrade-able to thunderbolt 3 solution

http://www.datoptic.com/ec/jbod-raid-data-storage-solutions/thunderbolt-2-products.html

T12-S6.TB2 is what I have

Edit: add a link
 
Last edited:
D

deconstruct60

macrumors G5
Mar 10, 2009
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kocoman said:
how this compare with the apple dongle?
Click to expand...

This thread is rather ancient. But...

The Apple solution is bidirectional (when used with relatively modern versions of macOS) . The Star Tech one is not. Not sure if the Apple version supplies 12W of power. (getting the TBv2-FW adapter to work probably more pressing than some heavy power draw external, old school 3.5" HDD from even much further back in time. TBv2 docks and driver with own power source won't need 12W either. ). At one point early Thunderbolt versions only went up to 10W ( by v2 it could have had a minimum of 12W , but not sure. )


Neither one supplies power in the "opposite" direction (can't use TBv2 docking station to power a TBv3 system ).

Reportedly the StarTech solution is just Intel's reference design.

"...
That one is Intel's reference design. Startech did not design/engineer anything about it. They just order it with their name printed on it and burned in its ROM, and simply design what box it comes in. ... "
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...pter-alongside-new-macbook-pro.2009881/page-5


I think Intel pragmatically priced this before Apple did what their solution did and never went back to change it. Pretty likely the bill of materials for this are whatever the Intel lab folks cooked up during TBv3 development for their 'test boards'. (not designed to be the optimal end product. Just something that works. ) Also this StarTech box probably works with more WindowsPC Thunderbolt systems with quirks than the Apple one does.

Apple KB tech doc on the adapter.

About the Apple Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) to Thunderbolt 2 Adapter - Apple Support

Connect a Mac that has a Thunderbolt 3 port to a device that uses a Thunderbolt or Thunderbolt 2 cable.
support.apple.com support.apple.com
 
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