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USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

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Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#71

Post by sq_ »

julianlam wrote: post #3

Sometimes it seems like I'm the only person with absolutely zero issues with USB-C. I have a Lenovo monitor that delivers power+HDMI+usbhub to my laptop, and having to only plug one thing in to access all my peripherals is amazing. I used a bog standard Anker USB-C cable for this.

> I have a Lenovo monitor that delivers power+HDMI+usbhub to my laptop, and having to only plug one thing in to access all my peripherals is amazing.

I've been all-in on USB-C for a while now, and I just finally got to use a friend's monitor with that feature set the other day. It was so awesome! I expected to have to plug a keyboard and mouse in, etc., but I just sat down and plugged in the USB-C cable to my MBP and everything just worked.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#72

Post by reader_mode »

philplckthun wrote: post #48
vr46 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aha - you may find that your Switch CANNOT in fact share a charge - Nintendo's port is not necessarily safe to use with anything but its supplied charger. And I've just learned this lesson with a $60 bill from Nintendo repair after the port went pop and couldn't charge the device. I only have reputable chargers in the house from Apple and one from Anker aside from the Nintendo's own. All my apple kit works fine off t…

I think it's fine to point out the Thunderbolt mess, or the PD vs non-PD devices (although non-PD is becoming exceedingly rare as far as I can tell at least for "larger" devices), but using the Nintendo Switch seems like a bad example in my opinion, since it explicitly does not follow all USB standards, especially in fact on charging.

Why ? You have the same plug but it's not actually compatible - this to me is a good example of confusion - I would be the first to assume you can charge it with whatever USB-C power cable available and not bother checking the docs.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#73

Post by sandworm101 »

jeremymcanally wrote: post #4

Really? I find it to be a game changer for me. The fact that my laptop, Switch, iPad, and several other devices can all share a charge has made my life much easier. I can just sprinkle a few of them throughout the house and never be without power. Before it was always a hunt to find a cable, or I had to be in [x] room to charge [y] device because that's where the charger lived. Plus, I can charge my MacBook on either…

>> The fact that my laptop, Switch, iPad, and several other devices can all share a charge has made my life much easier.

It must be nice to have all new things. I cannot afford to renew all my devices every few years, nor do I want too. Just looking around my room now, I probably have several thousand dollars worth of SDR dongles, battery packs, wifi adapters, raspberry bits and external drives for various projects. They are all on the old connectors/standards but work perfectly well. I have no intention of tossing everything because there is a new cable standard with go-faster stripes.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#74

Post by wlesieutre »

sandworm101 wrote: post #51
dubcanada wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USB 4 is using USB C connector.

Same connector, but different standards. We will likely still have to buy new cables/devices to take advantage of the new features.

Or you can not take advantage of the new features?

I didn't throw out my USB 3 flash drives when USB 3.1 came out.

There's no compatibility problem here that would make you change anything at all, just ignore it.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#75

Post by SifJar »

philplckthun wrote: post #48
vr46 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aha - you may find that your Switch CANNOT in fact share a charge - Nintendo's port is not necessarily safe to use with anything but its supplied charger. And I've just learned this lesson with a $60 bill from Nintendo repair after the port went pop and couldn't charge the device. I only have reputable chargers in the house from Apple and one from Anker aside from the Nintendo's own. All my apple kit works fine off t…

I think it's fine to point out the Thunderbolt mess, or the PD vs non-PD devices (although non-PD is becoming exceedingly rare as far as I can tell at least for "larger" devices), but using the Nintendo Switch seems like a bad example in my opinion, since it explicitly does not follow all USB standards, especially in fact on charging.

> it explicitly does not follow all USB standards

I think that is very non-obvious though, especially for the typical consumer

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#76

Post by 3np »

While it's a mess, my limited understanding is that as long as cables actually do what's advertised, the following three types should cover all scenarios (until TB4 is a real thing at least):

  * USB-C PD: For charging/PSUs
  * TB 3: TB stuff (displays/network/GPUs/etc)
  * USB 3.2 data: other data stuff

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#77

Post by megous »

amelius wrote: post #5
julianlam wrote: post #3

Sometimes it seems like I'm the only person with absolutely zero issues with USB-C. I have a Lenovo monitor that delivers power+HDMI+usbhub to my laptop, and having to only plug one thing in to access all my peripherals is amazing. I used a bog standard Anker USB-C cable for this.

Just wait until you have to write an embedded driver for it.

I did, it's not pleasant. :)

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#78

Post by znpy »

sq_ wrote: post #50
jeremymcanally wrote: post #4

Really? I find it to be a game changer for me. The fact that my laptop, Switch, iPad, and several other devices can all share a charge has made my life much easier. I can just sprinkle a few of them throughout the house and never be without power. Before it was always a hunt to find a cable, or I had to be in [x] room to charge [y] device because that's where the charger lived. Plus, I can charge my MacBook on either…

100% agree with you on how convenient USB-C can make things. Being able to carry one 60-90w brick with multiple USB-C PD outputs and charge pretty much all of my devices off of it is amazing. On the other hand, I would say that all of us here on HN probably aren't the target audience for this article. Collectively, I'd say HN readers are likely to understand that different USB-C bricks, cables, and devices are going…

> The article seems to be more targeted at people who will grab a $3.50 gas station cable and expect it to charge their phone at 18w and laptop at 65w.

In their defense, all those cable look exactly the same.

I haven't gone through the whole usb-c/thunderbolt reading yet [1], so I might as well make the same mistake. And the fact that you're supposed to do the whole reading thing is probably the source of the problem.

You see the same plug, same colors on the connector, you EXPECT to work the same.

--

[1] Most of my devices are micro-usb, my Dell work laptop charges via thunderbolt/usb-c but I've got the Dell dock for that.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#79

Post by duxup »

throw0101a wrote: post #47

To paraphrase Winston Churchill: USB-C is the worst form of interface, except for all the others that have been tried. My pet peeve is nomenclature of USB versions: 3.2 Gen 1, Gen 2, 2x2, USB 4 Gen {2,3}x(1,2}.

Normally I'm not a fan of semi-silly short comments but man that really hits home for me.

USB-C has simplified my life a great deal compared to all the others. It's not perfect, but the gains have been very significant compared to the past.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#80

Post by leetcrew »

buzzerbetrayed wrote: post #19
jeremymcanally wrote: post #4

Really? I find it to be a game changer for me. The fact that my laptop, Switch, iPad, and several other devices can all share a charge has made my life much easier. I can just sprinkle a few of them throughout the house and never be without power. Before it was always a hunt to find a cable, or I had to be in [x] room to charge [y] device because that's where the charger lived. Plus, I can charge my MacBook on either…

Did you not read the article? Because your response doesn’t address any of the issues brought up in the article. Mainly that all the usb-c cables you sprinkle across your house might not have the same functionality. And if you plug your switch in to one it might charge it, while another will not.

> Mainly that all the usb-c cables you sprinkle across your house might not have the same functionality.

this is a problem if you expect things to be like USB2 where you can collect all these random cables and power blocks and use them interchangeably. this wasn't always true with USB2 anyway, with all the out of spec "fast charge" implementations.

there are a lot of optional features and speed tiers for USB3, which is certainly annoying. but you have the option of buying a bunch of cables that support everything you need/use and scatter those around your house. they will work with any standards compliant equipment, which is really the best you can hope for with any standard.

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