Re: "I've been through many micro USB cables through the life"
"And for years Apple been nearly alone in carrying the Thunderbolt torch, an Intel technology that's beginning to benefit us users of generic PCs (laptop gamers can now have external GPUs, single cables for power video and data, etc)."
Well, Apple had an exclusivity agreement that prevented Intel rolling it out on their motherboards. Thunderbolt did appear briefly on the Z77 chipset (2011), but died away pretty quickly due to being expensive, and stupid (has to carry a display signal - not may, has, prompting all kinds of silly loop-through arrangements). My Z97 board (2014) has the option of a Thunderbolt board, and it looks hideous in use:
https://www.pcper.com/news/General-Tech/CES-2014-ASUS-ThunderboltEX-II-Expansion-Card
Biting the hand that feeds IT
