111–120 of 174 posts
I travel with a single dongle that cost $15: SD card, HDMI, 2xUSB 2.
I have not had to buy any extra cables, besides what came with the computer.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not only that, but the USB-C plug itself is the worst-designed plug I have seen in a decade. It's flimsy sheet metal on the plug side with a nice big cantilever, and flimsy sheet metal soldered to a PCB on the other. Perfect recipe for broken ports and cables. I break about a cable a week and break a device every now and then. Mostly doing very normal things like charging a phone in my pocket while hiking. USB-C seem…
> I break about a cable a week and break a device every now and then You're doing it wrong then. I have about 5 USB-C cables and have never broke one in 3 years... Kinds of cables I have broken over my IT life: - A few Apple charger cables (on the Mac connecting end) - A few headphone cables
What about IEC cables? They're super rugged and virtually impossible to break. Proportionally downsizing that connector to be small enough would likely maintain the same level of ruggedness while being small.
I'd appreciate if people don't downvote me just because you disagree with me. That discourages useful discussion on HN. I downvote trolls and people who abuse the system with spam, not people I disagree with.
The USB-C spec is an insane mess. The fact that every port used to be different is actually a feature, as it helps you identify which device supports what based on the ports it had. If you see an HDMI port on a laptop you can be sure it's going to output some kind of video signal over that. If you see Thunderbolt then you're sure the machine supports Thunderbolt. USB-C just jams all these incompatible standards into…
You have to be a detective to track down which cable is compatible with which port on your computer. Of course most e-commerce platforms don't show features of the cable, it's usb-c and be done with it...
Ditto dongles to connect to older devices. Will it work? No way to know, just try it and find out.
Last night, I was ready to pull my hair out trying to figure out what dock + cable I need, so this article is quite the blessing. However, I’m still left confused on whether I need a USB3.1 usb-c cable or Thunderbolt 3 cable. In light of the MBP16 announcement, I wanted to plan my purchase, including the peripherals. I currently have 2 4K monitors on a PC. I’d still like to use that PC from time to time, but it’d be…
I wonder how many problems like this could be solved if people just had a bit more information about which ports supported which standards?
The USB-C spec is an insane mess. The fact that every port used to be different is actually a feature, as it helps you identify which device supports what based on the ports it had. If you see an HDMI port on a laptop you can be sure it's going to output some kind of video signal over that. If you see Thunderbolt then you're sure the machine supports Thunderbolt. USB-C just jams all these incompatible standards into…
Once this is sorted out we would have a wonderful world. Using a single Thunderbolt port I connect my notebook to a dock and immediately convert the small notebook into a desktop with three external monitors plus many other ports. I can also magically use the same USB-C hub I use in the notebook in my mobile phone to add a keyboard and mouse plus an HDMI monitor. I have never seen this in the past: my previous notebo…
My point being that the scenario you envision is now being sold by some manufacturers, but not necessarily delivered. These docks also have their own firmware, sometimes _multiple_ different firmwares, and at least those I've tried only let you update via Windows. There's UEFI updates that are supposed to help as well, again only updatable via Windows. So far, I can't say I'm super impressed with the reality of non-Mac Thunderbolt.
The USB-C spec is an insane mess. The fact that every port used to be different is actually a feature, as it helps you identify which device supports what based on the ports it had. If you see an HDMI port on a laptop you can be sure it's going to output some kind of video signal over that. If you see Thunderbolt then you're sure the machine supports Thunderbolt. USB-C just jams all these incompatible standards into…
Not only that, but the USB-C plug itself is the worst-designed plug I have seen in a decade. It's flimsy sheet metal on the plug side with a nice big cantilever, and flimsy sheet metal soldered to a PCB on the other. Perfect recipe for broken ports and cables. I break about a cable a week and break a device every now and then. Mostly doing very normal things like charging a phone in my pocket while hiking. USB-C seem…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can plug in a X1 carbon thinkpad in my monitor (some ultrawide dell) with USB-C support just fine. I then get video, audio, USB (the monitor has a hub where I have mouse and keyboard connected) _and_ charging/powering my laptop over a single link. Works today with Linux here! It's just magical, I tell you. The world started to happen already, it may not become all that good and 100% universal soon or anytime, but g…
I also recently bought a monitor with USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) which I can plug it's single cable into my DELL XPS and charge it, output 4K@60 to the display, and have my mouse and keyboard which are connected to the back of the monitor. The downside is when I want to use the same kb/mouse with my desktop, I have to unplug them from the monitor and plug them into the desktop.
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I think in future devices are supposed to support as many popular functions as possible. Due to trend of thin devices we need smaller ports and fewer of them. Multiple possible use of same ports helps. > As a user there is no easy way for me to tell the 12-inch Macbook's USB-C port is different than the Air/Pro unless you explicitly search for it in the tech specs Seems like manufacturer failure. > If you see an HDMI…
> Due to trend of thin devices we need smaller ports and fewer of them. People keep repeating this lie for some weird reason. Similar to the "3.5 had to go because phones are too thin for it" lie. Why? Why do you keep lying? What possible incentive do all these people have? Is it self-deception? "Oh yeah I'm totally fine with losing X, Y and Z because I get thinness and weight reduction in exchange!" You get neither.…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not only that, but the USB-C plug itself is the worst-designed plug I have seen in a decade. It's flimsy sheet metal on the plug side with a nice big cantilever, and flimsy sheet metal soldered to a PCB on the other. Perfect recipe for broken ports and cables. I break about a cable a week and break a device every now and then. Mostly doing very normal things like charging a phone in my pocket while hiking. USB-C seem…
> I miss the old DC barrel connectors -- they never broke, and they were usually designed such that housing of the electronics took the brunt of everything, not the PCB. I've patched up so many of these over the years, that doesn't really seem that accurate. Though it is relatively true for properly designed stuff (connector bottoms out on the case and not on the jack) and things using the rather rare panel-mount jac…
And then there's all the guitar pedals I make with chassis-mounted jacks... they can take an amazing amount of abuse.
Same for audio jacks. PCB-mounted 3.5mm jacks need resoldering often enough, but panel-mounted lasts forever.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I also recently bought a monitor with USB-C (Thunderbolt 3) which I can plug it's single cable into my DELL XPS and charge it, output 4K@60 to the display, and have my mouse and keyboard which are connected to the back of the monitor. The downside is when I want to use the same kb/mouse with my desktop, I have to unplug them from the monitor and plug them into the desktop.
> The downside is when I want to use the same kb/mouse with my desktop, I have to unplug them from the monitor and plug them into the desktop. I use a cheap USB hub which has a button that can switch between two outputs for this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MXXQKGM/