What happened to enforcing trademark rights on the USB logo? Just about every obviously non-compliant 10m long USB extension cable or retractable power-only cable has the USB logo on it. Sometimes it's a bastardized form but it's basically still the logo. If they were more aggressive in eliminating these products from the market, even one-man Amazon shops, then at you could look at the logo to decide if it at least meets the spec.
USB Type-C is still a mess
151–160 of 231 posts
Re: USB Type-C is still a mess
#152The biggest fraud of USB-C is it just doesn't do what consumers expect. I bought a USB-C device, expecting the device to then provide all the functionality that USB-C was advertised as having. But the manufacturer didn't implement any of those features, so it's just a non-standard cable that I need a dozen adapters for. What a joke.
That's just expectations which will adapt quickly enough. I doubt you'll make the same mistake again. It's not just type C either I bought a USB 3.0 thumbdrive once and it turned out to be the same speed as a normal one, so even though it was 3.0 as advertised, there was absolutely no advantage in that. Nobody complains that their bedside lamp doesn't deliver the full 2400 W that the wall outlet advertises or that it doesn't allow bulbs more than 40 W even though the same socket can take 100 W bulbs in other lamps.
Re: USB Type-C is still a mess
#153I have 3 dongles and one power plugged into my macbook pro right now (ethernet could be optional, external monitor, USB, power). Maybe there will be a nice docking station sometime, but for now, it's dongle city, and picking up the laptop a bit to connect/disconnect each one every time I transition between mobile and desktop-replacement. Maybe something like https://nerdtechy.com/best-usb-c-docking-stations , though…
Maybe there will be a nice docking station sometime, but for now, it's dongle city, and picking up the laptop a bit to connect/disconnect each one every time I transition between mobile and desktop-replacement. That's not unique to USB-C. My MacBook has no USB-C ports, just the previous gen. But right now has power, external hard drive, headphones, HDMI and a mouse plugged into it. When I transition to mobile, I'll h…
What if there was a dongle that securely clipped/glued onto the bottom of the computer so it feels like it's part of it? You'd never remove it and it would simply become a bigger computer with all the ports you want. Just like if the computer maker had put all those ports there in the first place.
I used to use a 3rd party battery that had double the capacity of the factory battery but stuck out the bottom. It doubled as a small tilt-stand. No cables or ever removing it like you would an external battery pack.
Re: USB Type-C is still a mess
#154Not putting enough ports on devices is a crucial problem. Apple with their stupid single port is just idiotic. The best port selection with usb-c is on the 2015 chrome pixel laptop. 2 usb-c, 2 usb-a. Just having a single usb-c has caused endless pain, all so apple could sell stupid dongles. The new google pixelbook 2018 is a great form factor, except they only have 2 usb-c, they dropped usb-a. The reason was probably…
This would be fine if there were good USB-C port expanders. They're all terrible, even the Apple one. If you just want power or video, you're fine. But nobody can build a working, stable USB 3.0 hub into one. So while you can charge your 12" MacBook at the same time that you're plugged into a 4k or 2560x1440 monitor, you can't use any damn external drives. They either run at turtle speeds or they randomly unmount or…
No, it wouldn't be fine... There is definitely a need for better hubs out there but apple also needs to put an acceptable number of ports on their machines. The laptop being all sleek and awesome loses a bit of that niceness when you're tethered to a jumble of daisy-chained wires.
Also, usb-c is super small, just pop like 4 or so on and it won't even effect your design.
Re: USB Type-C is still a mess
#155I still don't understand why Apple did not release a USB-A + USB-C hub / dongle to replace the Charging Brick on their new laptops. Would eliminate so many of their USB-C issues just by having a high-quality port expander in the market.
Re: USB Type-C is still a mess
#156> Port shortages Would it hurt anyone to put two USB-C ports on a smartphone? Thank goodness my phone still has a 3.5mm jack, but some people would like to charge their phone and listen to (wired) audio without having to buy an adapter. And it's not like this is an uncommon use case either, anecdotally some of my friends with iPhones face this issue.
You're not supposed to charge and listen to wired audio without an adapter. You're supposed to use bluetooth headphones called "AirPods", which cost far, far more than regular wired headphones. If you don't like this and resent being pushed to buy very expensive accessories and dongles, then maybe Apple isn't the company for you.
Re: USB Type-C is still a mess
#157I finally broke down and bought a generic USB-C charger (Insignia from Best Buy) to keep in the shop, because enough USB-C laptops come through and nobody ever brings a charger. But just because a laptop has USB-C ports doesn't mean you can charge using it, here's looking at you, Lenovo P51. This machine is a workstation and requires 130W, USB-C can only supply 100W so it won't charge at all over USB-C. Blah. Also ha…
Same is true of my Razer Blade (2016).
Re: USB Type-C is still a mess
#158Not putting enough ports on devices is a crucial problem. Apple with their stupid single port is just idiotic. The best port selection with usb-c is on the 2015 chrome pixel laptop. 2 usb-c, 2 usb-a. Just having a single usb-c has caused endless pain, all so apple could sell stupid dongles. The new google pixelbook 2018 is a great form factor, except they only have 2 usb-c, they dropped usb-a. The reason was probably…
The mind boggles at how the dongle mongerers hobbled these Mac models. From every new Mac, a tangle of dongles hang at odd angles. What a boondoggle.
Re: USB Type-C is still a mess
#159The biggest fraud of USB-C is it just doesn't do what consumers expect. I bought a USB-C device, expecting the device to then provide all the functionality that USB-C was advertised as having. But the manufacturer didn't implement any of those features, so it's just a non-standard cable that I need a dozen adapters for. What a joke.
That's just expectations which will adapt quickly enough. I doubt you'll make the same mistake again. It's not just type C either I bought a USB 3.0 thumbdrive once and it turned out to be the same speed as a normal one, so even though it was 3.0 as advertised, there was absolutely no advantage in that. Nobody complains that their bedside lamp doesn't deliver the full 2400 W that the wall outlet advertises or that it…
People do complain about lightbulbs. That's why lamps for sale list standard safety ratings, bulb socket types, and bulb capacities. But nowhere on my $450 phone did it say "No USB-C extensions supported, this is just a standard USB-3.0 device with a plug nothing supports".
If you bought a bulb that said "CFL form factor" and it was actually an incandescent bulb that just looked like a CFL, you could arguably sue for deceptive advertising.
Re: USB Type-C is still a mess
#160“Why doesn’t Apple just get rid of Lightning and use USB-C on their iPhones!” This is why. Ignoring the momentum Lightning had from being a few years older, this is a great reason not to switch. Sadly I know this has become a big problem for people on the new Macs. Plug a USB-C hub in? Now that port doesn’t do Thunderbolt or Display Port. How do you know that? Trial and error. Very un-Appley.
> How do you know that?
You label the damn thing.
The idea behind Type-C is that you don't need a million different cables because everything uses a different physical port. Now you can have fewer cables, and even fewer ports, because the physical ports are consistent. That doesn't mean anything else is consistent! It doesn't need to be!
Users only need to know what ends are what. That isn't hard at all.