Shekhar Vaidya is a veteran technology journalist and computer science engineer. He is the founder of TechLatest, where he has spent years providing technical analysis on hardware and Windows ecosystems. Now a Computing Writer at XDA, Shekhar leverages his deep background in NAS, storage solutions, and PC internals to help readers master their tech.
I have collected a bunch of USB-C cables over the years. They are from phone and laptop boxes or, in some cases, bought separately. And most of them end up in the drawer because on a daily basis I only use two, one for my phones and one for my MacBook. A couple of days ago, a series of events happened, and I ended up gathering them and testing them for video output. Not every cable behaved the same, even though the connectors were the same.
The cable I bought for the wrong reason
My new cable has its own display, just not the kind I needed
A few weeks ago, I got a new Amazon Basics USB-C-to-USB-C cable. It was a braided, 1-meter-long cable with a small display built in. It was rated for 100W charging. I already have multiple USB-C cables, so I got this one for the digital display. The use case? I didn’t even know at that time.
For context, I have a triple monitor setup (Gigabyte M27Q, Odyssey G5, and BenQ EX2710R), which I use on my RTX 4070 Ti gaming PC and MacBook Pro M1 via a KVM switch. Like everyone, I still have a child inside me who unnecessarily tests brand-new electronics on whatever gadgets he has. So, I thought, “I have a monitor (the M27Q) that supports video input via USB-C, and I also have a MacBook that delivers video over USB-C, so why not test this cable?”
Honestly, I didn’t know about the cable specification or whether it supported video delivery. There was just one thing in my mind: I had a new fancy cable, and I wanted to test it on my monitor and MacBook. So, I immediately unplugged the KVM cables from both the monitor and the MacBook and plugged one end of the new cable into the monitor and the other end into the MacBook.
I heard the Apple chime; it rings when a power cable is connected, which means it started charging, but I never got anything on the monitor. It was just a black screen and a small notice for a few seconds saying “No input.” I unplugged it and replugged it a few times, and every time, it was the same. To check what was happening, I opened the Amazon listing; it said nothing about video, but just 100W PD fast charging and 350Mbps data transfer.
As far as I know, USB 2.0’s theoretical maximum data transfer rate is 480 Mbps, so with just 350Mbps, it couldn’t be better than USB 2.0. And a video lane needs more than that. So, I decided to go through my drawer and the pile of USB-C cables I had gathered over the years.
I went through the whole drawer
Even the cable that came with my MacBook showed nothing
I went through my drawer and storage boxes. And I gathered all the USB-C cables I had, including the ones I use daily. There were six cables — the ones I’d bought earlier, the ones included with the phones and laptop, and the new one. I am sure I might have misplaced a few, but the other five were more than enough for the test.
I started testing each cable one by one, and I picked the cable that came with the MacBook first. Same thing: the MacBook started charging, but nothing was on the display. And then the others also gave similar results.
All the cables were either 1 meter or 2 meters, but one was about half a meter and looked thicker than the others. Then I remembered that I bought it way back before getting the KVM switch for connecting the MacBook to the monitor. I was sure that it would work, and it did. So, out of the whole pile, only one cable delivered video.
While testing and in the excitement, I totally forgot that I owned a Galaxy and it supported Samsung DeX. I have even used DeX many times in the past but never via a Type-C to Type-C cable. I only used an HDMI or DP to Type-C cable. Even though I knew in the back of my mind the other cables wouldn’t work with the S25, I still decided to try them.
I tested each cable. Same result: only the shorter cable worked with the MacBook here too, and the others charged only the Galaxy. Since they were all charging the MacBook (obviously slow because of the M27Q's 10-watt output) and the Galaxy, that meant they weren’t defective, just not carrying video.
The tests gave me a clear winner, but they didn’t explain what to look for when buying my next cable. So, I started checking each cable’s listing.
Is there any way to tell?
The cables stayed silent, but the listing had already told me
I started looking at the listing of the one cable that actually worked. Honestly, I didn’t have to open the Amazon listing; the title of the listing in my order history made the picture clear. Fast charging cable 5A/100W, USB 3.2 Gen2, 10Gbps, and 4K video compatible.
Off-topic, while going through the order history, I glanced at the price; it was around $10 when I bought it in 2022, and today it is $45. RAM and GPU prices are peaking right now, and it is justified, but why cable prices?
Back to the topic at hand, the listing set the baseline for what I needed to check — 10Gbps, USB 3.2 Gen2, "4K video." So I started checking other cables too. The Amazon Basics one didn’t mention anything regarding video delivery, just that "Cable Type: Charging & Data Transfer Cable."
I couldn’t find the exact listings for some of the cables included with the MacBook, iPhone, and Galaxy, and in the ones I did find, there was no mention of video delivery. For instance, there were three cables listed on Apple’s website, and only the Thunderbolt cable was supported for video output. The other two descriptions said they only support USB 2 data and didn’t mention video.
Zooming out, since none of the cables I owned had any markings on the cable itself indicating video support, there's no way to tell just by looking at them. Only two solutions are there: check the listing if it exists, or just plug in and test.
The label I’ll have to write myself
Only one out of six USB-C-to-USB-C cables that I tested worked for video output when connected to my M27Q. It was the same for both of my source devices, the Galaxy S25 and the MacBook Pro M1. For now, only one worked, and it already stood out from the rest because it was shorter, so there is no need to label it. From now on, for any cables I buy, I will first check the listing before buying and then label them.