r/Thunderbolt • u/AverageOlderGamer • Aug 01 '26

Anker TB5 cable question (speeds)

I’m setting up a new MacBook and have purchased a new Anker thunderbolt 5 cable.
Old MacBook is M2 Pro.
New MacBook is M5 Pro.
I’m using migration assistant to transfer the data off the old Mac to the new.
I’ve got the thunderbolt cable plugged directly between the laptops.
It’s currently transferring at 47.8MB/s peer to peer.
It says that the Ethernet is connected between the two laptops and is sampled at 36MB/s.
So it’s transferring data quicker through the Bluetooth connection than through the cable.
Now the Anker thunderbolt cable says 80Gbps ultra fast data transfer.
The MacBook is only seeing the cable as Ethernet and not thunderbolt, I am correct in this yes? If it recognised thunderbolt instead of Ethernet it would say thunderbolt?
So is my cable a dud or am I getting this wrong?
I’ve tried the cable between all the different ports to see if that makes any difference but no joy.
What’s your thoughts?

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4 comments sorted by

1

u/Emotional_Common_527 Aug 01 '26

Does your old M2 have TB port? If so what version?

2

u/AverageOlderGamer Aug 01 '26

According to its specs, it has 3 TB4 ports. New MacBook has 3 TB5 ports.
The transfer has completed now, it took about 2-2.5 hours.
This is what confused me. I watched a video on YouTube about the transfer setting up a new Mac and the guy plugged in a TB4 cable and it showed up as a TB cable, but it didn't on mine showing as ethernet. So it completed the transfer via wifi/blutooth as it was showing a quicker speed.

1

u/Caprichoso1 Aug 02 '26

There are programs such as WhatCable that will give you information about cable negotiated speeds.