Thunderbolt 3 and 4 cables

The Mesa uses Thunderbolt 3 as the interface to your computer.  Thunderbolt 3, 4 and 5 all a USB-C connector on each end of the cable, however not every USB-C cable is capable of supporting Thunderbolt.

We have tested Thunderbolt cables from Belkin, Cable Matters and StarTech and all of them work fine with Mesa.

Passive Cables

Passive cables have no internal repeater, so they can be 0.8 meters maximum.  As such they are much less expensive than active cables.

Belkin: 0.5 meter Thunderbolt 3 cable

Belkin: 0.8 meter Thunderbolt 3 cable

Cable Matters: 0.8 meter Thunderbolt 3 cable

Cable Matters: 0.8 meter Thunderbolt 4 cable

Active Cables

Apple: 1 meter Thunderbolt 4 cable

Apple: 1.8 meter Thunderbolt 4 cable

Apple: 3 meter Thunderbolt 4 cable

Belkin: 2 meter Thunderbolt 3 cable

Cable Matters: 2 meter Thunderbolt 3 cable

Cable Matters: 2 meter Thunderbolt 4 cable

StarTech: 2 meter Thunderbolt 3 cable

Please note that there is really no difference between a Thunderbolt 3 and Thunderbolt 4 cable, as long as they both support 40Gbps.

Optical Cables

If a cable longer than 3 meters is required, optical is the only option.

Cable Matters: 10 meter Thunderbolt 3 optical cable

Corning: 5 meter Thunderbolt 3 optical cable

Corning: 10 meter Thunderbolt 3 optical cable

Corning: 15 meter Thunderbolt 3 optical cable

Corning: 25 meter Thunderbolt 3 optical cable

Corning: 50 meter Thunderbolt 3 optical cable

Please be aware that optical cables are more fragile than copper wires, so they should not be bent or curved around tight corners, and should generally be treated much more carefully. Optical cables cannot provide power delivery to downstream devices.

Thunderbolt 1 or 2 connections

If your computer only supports Thunderbolt 1 or Thunderbolt 2, you can still use the Mesa, you just need to purchase a Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter cable.  We have tested the Apple adapter cable and it is the only one we can recommend:

Apple Thunderbolt 2 to Thunderbolt 3 adapter

Connect this adapter cable directly to the Mesa and use a Thunderbolt 2 cable to connect to the computer.