There's no clear verdict on whether free weights or cable machines are better training aids; both have their pros and cons. In fact, cable machines are a comfortable medium between free weights and selectorized strength-training equipment. Cable machines come closer to free weights, in terms of versatility, than any other type of exercise machine.
Definition
Free weights are, by their very definition, free of--or not confined in--a weight stack. This means that, even though cable machines are usually located in the free-weight area of gyms and even though cable machines force your muscles to stabilize more than an ordinary selectorized strength-training machine does, they still don't, technically, qualify as free weights.
Appearance
Cable machines have one, two or even more pulleys. The pulleys may be fixed in place or adjustable, in which case they typically slide up and down a rail and are secured in place by means of a spring-loaded locking pin. Most gym cable machines will have an assortment of handles racked nearby. The handles secure to the cable by means of a spring-loaded clip; just unclip the handle currently attached to the cable and clip the new one in place.
Free weights are dumbbells and barbells, whether you can adjust their weight by adding or removing weight plates or whether they're permanently fixed at a certain weight. While technically any unconfined, weighted exercise aid--such as weighted medicine balls or ankle weights--might be considered a free weight, anything that's not a dumbbell, barbell or weight plate is usually classified as "miscellaneous" exercise equipment.
Exercises
Some of the most common free-weight exercises include squats, lunges, chest and overhead presses, a variety of row exercises, overhead triceps extensions and biceps curls. A cable machine is capable of duplicating some of these movements--you can do biceps curls on a low cable pulley--or working the same muscles with different movements, such as doing a triceps pushdown instead of an overhead triceps extension. With that being said, there are some exercises a person just can't do on most cable machines, such as squats, lunges and chest presses. The cable machine, in turn, facilitates some exercises that it's impossible to do with a dumbbell or barbell, such as hip extension, adduction and abduction.
Versatility
The only limit on what you can do with a free weight is how large a weight--whether it be a barbell or dumbbell--you're capable of lifting. With cable machines, however, you must take into account which pulley handles are available--you can't do a lat pulldown with a single D-handle, for example--and you are limited by both pulley position and the size of the weight stack available to you.
Risks
Free weights come with the possibility that you might drop them--on the ground, on your training partner, on your own foot, or even on your head or torso if you're lifting the weights overhead. Cable machines have no such risk unless you're working with a very low pulley. Even then you'd only be dropping the handle, as opposed to the full weight of a dumbbell or barbell.
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