Couldn't agree more. Will that HDMI dongle work with your device? Is it a Power Delivery port or just half an amp? Who the heck knows when the manufacturer themselves give conflicting information!
USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess
121–130 of 624 posts
Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess
#122Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Because it could have happened just as well with any other plug. It could have been a non-conforming micro-USB charging port. Either way, it would have nothing to do with “the mess that is USB-C” (i.e. the inability to identify which of the various wire protocols that work over USB-C cables that a USB-C port follows/supports), because such a port isn’t following any of the USB-C-cable compatible standards. It’d be li…
>Because it could have happened just as well with any other plug. It could have been a non-conforming micro-USB charging port.
But if you have a standard aren't you supposed to enforce stuff like this ? Precisely to avoid the confusion and protect your standard.
Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess
#123Sometimes 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.
For some reason text doesn't render sharply over USB-C on my 4K. So I just switched back to display port instead, and continued with life. That's been the only issue.
Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess
#124It's a mess, but it still seems much better than the situation before to me. It's true, you currently need to be careful when buying cables, but if you are, you can charge all your devices with the same plug. And usb-c video means your monitor can act as usb hub for keyboard and mouse over the video cable, so you only need to replug a single cable to move video and mouse and keyboard between computers. I use this a l…
Yeah, but try explaining to your non-technical friend with two monitors why connecting their laptop to both via USB C works, but their phone only gives video output on one. There are at least 5 ways to transfer video over USB C: Straight USB, HDMI alternate mode, DisplayPort alternate mode, MHL alternate mode, and Thunderbolt. Then it's also possible for an alternate mode to only use a subset of the available lanes,…
Would the situation be better when you'd have to explain why does his monitor have 3 different connection ports but not the 5th one he needs? Or that he's lacking the right converter cables for all different 5 possible types?
Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess
#125I really like interoperability and ubiquity of USB-C, but I think the part that I find frustrating is that the actual cables themselves are not standardized around data transfer rates. I recently bought a small USB-C hub that allowed you to connect to it with your own cable, and it has an HDMI port. I also decided to buy a longer, but cheaper USB-C cable to connect it to my machine, thinking it would work. Well the H…
It's a consequence of consolidating on a single connector format. It doesn't make economic sense for every cable with the same connector to support the same power or data rates. Sometimes you just need a phone charging cable, sometimes you want to charge and drive a laptop at over 100w, and sometimes you need to carry 4k60hz hdr video over 10ft which is pretty dang hard.
So now we're in a world where the cables have different functionality, but you can't tell them apart. So you have to keep the cable with the device it came with and you lose the benefit of having the single connnector format entirely!
Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess
#126I don't think the issue is as hard as the author makes it out to be.
1) have device
2) have charger
3) plug device into charger
4) does it charge?
5) if no, write on charger "sucks" and get another charger
If one is worried about buying the wrong charger, here's a hint: people review these things on online stores, and cheaper is worse.
Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess
#127Really? 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…
I wish the iPhone used USB-C...
Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess
#128It's a mess, but it still seems much better than the situation before to me. It's true, you currently need to be careful when buying cables, but if you are, you can charge all your devices with the same plug. And usb-c video means your monitor can act as usb hub for keyboard and mouse over the video cable, so you only need to replug a single cable to move video and mouse and keyboard between computers. I use this a l…
For "normal" people like my mother, it is worse. She ended up in a situation recently where something worked with one cable, but not with a different cable. She thought the cable must be broken. I explained the issue to her, and she understands now, but she still has a hard time remembering which cables and adapters to use for the various purposes. She can't just keep them in a drawer all together. She also has trouble telling USB C from USB micro and mini A since they are all somewhat similar in appearance. She still has many non-C USB devices.
It was easy for her to set up her computer back when we had color-coded and large, distinctively-shaped ports. For example: PS/2 for keyboard and mouse (violet and green), VGA for monitor (blue), 3.5mm audio for speakers and microphone (green and pink), C13/14 for power. Obviously, usability is way better these days; she can use her laptop without plugging in anything, and mostly things Just Work. However, I think these basic child's-toy-like usability cues were valuable, and maybe we need something similar to keep USB C easily-understandable.
One day I hope that it will all be sorted out. Every USB cable and adapter will have full support. You can plug any USB C into any USB C and it will work like magic.
Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess
#129USB-C is the dumbest thing ever and case in proof the foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.
We went from a situation where no plug fits but if it does it works to a situation where every plug fits but none of them works.
All USB-C cables appear identical but can be different. For example:
- Does it carry power? If so, how much power?
- Will it charge my device? Not all USB-C chargers charge all USB-C devices.
- Does this cable carry data? If so, what speed?
- Does it carry a Thunderbolt 3 signal?
On Macbooks we lost utility when we lost Magsafe but "gained" the ability to plug power into any of the 2/4 ports. Frankly I'd rather have Magsafe. I'm sure that every port supporting power must increase cost. It has issues too as using ports on one side can lead to overheating, for example.
And of course no cable can really do everything. The only cables that can are necessarily short (Where before I had the right ports on my MBP. Now? It's almost unusable without a dock or adapter. It's so dumb.
Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess
#130We used to have multiple incompatible chargers that looked different so you could tell them apart. Now you have multiple incompatible chargers that look the same, so you need to use trial and error to figure out what can charge what. It's a mess.