StarTech.com 2.6ft (80cm) Passive Thunderbolt 3 Cable, 40Gbps, 100W PD, 4K/5K Video, Thunderbolt Cable, Compatible with USB4/DP Alt Mode, Thunderbolt 4, USB 3.2/Type-C (TBLT34MM80CM)

I have a Macbook Pro and I wanted to drive a huge 49" monitor using a single cable while getting the maximum resolution I needed.Now, unless your monitor has a USB-C Thunderbolt 3 compatible output, accomplishing this task could be difficult.I have a Caldigit TS3+ which acts as a middle-man between my MBP and my monitor.I wasn't especially happy that I had to spend this kind of money on a cable, but I did understand that Thunderbolt cables are not cheap. And, you can't just buy any Thunderbolt cable for this purpose. It needs to be 4K 60Hz - 40Gbps. Without that spec, you can't use a single cable.I am surprised to read a few negative reviews about this brand. It came highly recommended from monitor users on the Mac/Apple forums. In fact, this brand was specifically mentioned over and over again as one of the more reliable Thunderbolt 3 cable manufacturers.This cable has worked flawlessly for me for several weeks now. Additionally, the plug is very durable as I am constantly moving my laptop from my office monitor to my lap so I am constantly connecting and disconnecting the cable. The connector seems very durable which is a very important factor when considering a product like this.I can confidently tell you from my experience thus far, this is a great cable that works exceptionally well.

I am using this to connect a Razer Chroma eGPU containing an RTX 2080 Super GPU to my HP ZBook 15 Studio G3. I can't speak to the charging capabilities of this cable since my laptop does not support charging over Thunderbolt, but the speeds are identical to the speeds I was getting out of the 0.5m included cable with the Razer Chroma eGPU. I had used that cable for about 2 months before deciding I wanted to move my GPU further from my laptop. After using this cable for a month, I can say I see no performance difference (good or bad) compared to the included cable when playing games or during normal use. The connectors feel a little bit on the flimsier side, which isn't ideal since I connect and disconnect this cable once a day. That said, so far I can't notice any fatigue so only time will tell (I will update this review if / when the cable does fail - until then, you can assume this cable lasts with daily plugging and unplugging from March 2020 to present day).

On a Win10 machine with Robocopy and actual folder transfers of 40-150 GB I see 56+ GB/min all the time. This is a fast cable. That is from a SanDisk Professional CFExpress reader into a NUCi9Extreme Thunderbolt port to M.2 dirves. This cable also performs good at USB 3.1 levels. With an external M.2 in a Orico 3.1g2 case into a Thnuberbolt port I see 20write/30read GB/min.

I got this cable because I wanted to have a high quality USB-C cable that can handle top end power and data throughput, and also be of reasonable length (I didn't have any long USB-C cables on me). So far, I have not tested it in any high speed data applications, but I have been using it a lot with high speed charging for my devices. The length and build quality are the strongest selling points to me. The 6ft of cable lets me route it anywhere I need it to go on my desk and between devices, and the relatively thick cable is durable but flexible enough to be easy to manage. Overall, no complaints, it is exactly what I was looking for.

I bought this to be used for my eGPU (which is a Razer Core X in tandem with my Razer Blade Stealth i7-8550u) just in case I needed a much longer TB3 cable, and it works for that use case. I don't have the know-how in doing performance benchmarks in finding a performance loss if you'll use a much longer cable like this one than the included cable in the Razer Core X (I'm saying this because it's commonly asked). But after testing it out on games I didn't really notice any major performance loss. But I'll say that using the included shorter cable feels more responsive overall, but I think it's just me. The cable quality is good, the cable is sturdy enough to handle a daily in and out bag throw, but I'll strongly advise to still take care of this, why? Because this is too expensive for a cable.Now regarding the TB3 specification, again in the case of using it for an eGPU it does work but if you're looking at this and (NOT JUST) using it for TB3 devices but a "one USB-C cable to rule them all", this is not it. This is relevant because USB-C should simplify the cable & ports specification problem we're having, but with the TB3 specification this isn't helping. This cable is what they specify as an active TB3 cable which means you can only use this at its actual TB3 specs when IT'S connected ON both ends to a TB3 enabled device. This means if you want to use this as a native DP (Display Port) cable for your monitor, this cable will not work. Another thing is if you try to use this as a normal USB cable, it will only WORK AT THE SPEED of A USB 2 (480 Mbit/s) NOT the speed of USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) or 3.1 (10 Gbps). But obviously if you don't plan on using this cable for those cases, then this should do you fine. And lastly, the thing that I don't like the most is the price, these things are just too expensive. So just make the most out of this if you decided to go the TB3 ecosystem.Side note: The TB4 specifications is on the works as of writing, so if you don't really need this but just wanna try out TB3, I would advise to wait until the end of this year or until next year for the TB4 to make its appearance. The TB4 specs seem to address the problems of TB3 standards and also that may hopefully drop the prices of TB3 accessories and cables.