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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

#131

Post by shadowgovt »

freeone3000 wrote: post #125
ses1984 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

Key thing is in all three cases, the same cables work.

The end nodes vary in capability, but it's nice I don't have to fish out my crescent-ended connector to differentiate from my flat-ended connector because I needed a higher transfer rate.

One stack of USB-C cables lets me connect all my devices together. Whether they make sense connected together is up to me.

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

#132

Post by jedimastert »

leetcrew wrote: post #80
buzzerbetrayed wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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.

Silly question time, why would we not expect that?

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

#133

Post by giancarlostoro »

I think one solution to the USB-C hell is to color them like USB 3.0 is colored blue. Color based on intended usage. If your phones port doesn't match the color there's a chance your phone's port will blow up. Otherwise, how the heck do you really know which cable is compatible with which device?

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

#134

Post by crazygringo »

leetcrew wrote: post #80
buzzerbetrayed wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

And how exactly are you going to keep track of which cable is which?

It might not be so terrible if they came labeled with symbols or letters or colors or something. But there is absolutely no way to know which cable does what once you've taken it out of its packaging that (hopefully) lists its specifications correctly.

Good luck remembering which white cable was which.

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

#135

Post by chorsestudios »

falcolas wrote: post #81
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…

> Plus, I can charge my MacBook on either side, so that's basically life changing on its own. Yeah, be careful with that - for some MacBook Pro models charging from the left side will cause overheating and CPU throttling issues.

Does this still occur with the latest version of MacOS?

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

#136

Post by jolux »

reader_mode wrote: post #122
derefr wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

“Enforce” how?

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

#137

Post by WolfRazu »

ip26 wrote: post #123
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.

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.

Chroma subsampling perhaps?

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

#138

Post by api »

vr46 wrote: post #23
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…

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…

That is Nintendo’s fault.

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

#139

Post by traveler01 »

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…

You have the Switch V1? Mine is the V2 and I even charged it with a powerbank and works just fine.

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

#140

Post by chmod775 »

vr46 wrote: post #23
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…

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…

>$60 bill from Nintendo

A $60 bill to fix their fuckup? I'd have returned that under the (legal) warranty.

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