Best cable to connect M4 Mac Mini, which has a thunderbolt 4 port to Apple Studio Display, which has a thunderbolt 3 port.

Question

Level 1

8 points

Best cable to connect M4 Mac Mini, which has a thunderbolt 4 port to Apple Studio Display, which has a thunderbolt 3 port.

The Apple Studio Display comes with a Thunderbolt 3 port and a cable with Thunderbolt 3 at each end of the cable. The M4 Mac Mini has a Thunderbolt 4 port.

1) Will the Thunderbolt 3 at each end of the cable provide the optimum performance?

2) Does it make sense to use a Thunderbolt 4 cable with Thunderbolt 4 connector at each end of the cable?

3) Or would a cable with Thunderbolt 4 at one end and Thunderbolt 3 at the other end work optimally?

Thanks much.

Mac mini (M4)

Posted on Jan 16, 2025 1:45 PM

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Answer 1

samtenor

Level 4

1,912 points

Jan 16, 2025 8:09 PM in response to GummoMarx

There is no difference between my M1 Mac Mini (TB3) or M4 Mac Mini (TB4) when connecting to Studio Display (equipped with TB3); no matter TB3 or TB4 cables I was using.

I have not seen any cable with "TB3 at one end" and "TB4 at the other". If any doubt, choose TB4 cable --> it is backward compatible with TB3.

Best

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Answer 2

Jan 19, 2025 5:32 AM in response to GummoMarx

There should be nothing wrong with using the Thunderbolt cable that comes in the monitor box.

If you are tempted to use another cable, make sure that it is a genuine Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 cable that is no longer than 1 meter (~3 feet). Current versions of macOS do not like to see display transmission errors and may cut resolution or signal if they see them. Using long cables increases the chance of such errors.

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Answer 3

tbirdvet

Level 6

14,921 points

Jan 18, 2025 6:27 AM in response to GummoMarx

I have tested TB3, TB4 and TB5 cables with the Studio display and no difference using my Mac Mini M4.

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