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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

#181

Post by edoceo »

ahmedalsudani wrote: post #158
pen2l wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t think it’s necessarily « disrespectful « to doubt another’s account. This reminds me of the « bend gate » problem with iPhones. There were some here who reported the problem... but somehow it was not a problem in the grand scheme of things. We have a lot of skeptical folks here (a good thing!) so we should be respectfully skeptical of the skeptics at times, without an exchange of ill feelings. :)

Honestly it’s mostly about the tone. Skepticism is welcome. What was bend-gate?

iPhones would get the frame bent

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8288566

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

#182

Post by oftenwrong »

josho wrote: post #60

The solution, I believe, is rather simple. The standards group should require any cable/device with USB 3 support to include a label on its packaging detailing which capabilities of USB 3 are supported. Think of the nutrition labels on food packaging, instead showing what the device does and does not support, something like this: Power Delivery——–30w max Thunderbolt————No support Bandwidth————–800Mbps max Video——————…

Much like nutrition labels, this will probably be confusing to the masses to the point of near uselessness, and will mostly be ignored. How many people know the difference between USB 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, superspeed and superspeed+, etc? Furthermore, how will a person know what a cable supports after it is removed from its packaging? You can't fit a table on a cable.

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

#183

Post by gruez »

ahartmetz wrote: post #117
gruez wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>USB-C charging is truly revolutionary. Is it? I guess it's nice that I can charge my phone with my laptop charger, but it has the same issue as usb-c data where everything physically fits but are incompatible. eg. having to worry about whether a aftermarket charger provides enough voltage/current to charge your laptop.

Well, I tried, and I could charge my Thinkpad using a 5V/2A phone charger and an A->C cable. Very slowly of course, but it worked. If I was somewhere and I had forgotten my laptop charger, I could worry about whether a phone charger will work, but without USB-C, I could be sure that it won't work.

>Well, I tried, and I could charge my Thinkpad using a 5V/2A phone charger and an A->C cable.

Is yours a recent model? AFAIK most laptops can't charge using phone chargers. They require high voltage that isn't available on low wattage chargers.

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

#184

Post by leetcrew »

jedimastert wrote: post #132
leetcrew wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

I mean you can expect whatever you want. what I'm saying is the beautiful past where all USB cables were perfectly interchangeable never existed. in the last generation we had power-only cables, data-only (although this is out of spec, I believe), and various out of spec fast charging implementations. if you pick up a random usb charging block and micro-usb cable, there was never any guarantee that it would transfer data to your phone, fast charge it, or even charge it at all.

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

#185

Post by NikolaeVarius »

CubsFan1060 wrote: post #99
baconandeggs wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are not all the issues. For example, you can't get a usb-c hub to get more usb-c ports, they don't exist.

Yeah, I've noticed that too. That mystifies me.

My completely unfounded on anything guess is that it might have to do with breaking the chain of "trust" between the different connectors on negotiating how much power an actual downstream device can handle.

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

#186

Post by nonbirithm »

shadowgovt wrote: post #126

I 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.

I bought a set of cables positively reviewed by Benson Leung for my new phone, and they worked fine.

Recently I bought a new laptop and it doesn't charge with it, or any other USB cable in my place, except the one it came with, which is too short, and only ends in USB-C so I can't use it with any other power adapter I own. I don't know why it doesn't charge with any other cable.

If not even Benson Leung's recommended cable works, what then?

This is the frustration. All USB-C cables should have some bare minimum features that all of them supply, and be clearer about which ones have which features. Labeling it all the same USB-C leads to the frustration so many people are talking about.

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

#187

Post by CogentHedgehog »

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…

Same, USB-C is one of those things that for me just works.

I buy USB-PD chargers and cables from reputable brands, and everything just charges. When I use the cables for data transfer, it just works -- no muss or fuss like there were with some of the charge-only converter cables for charging micro-USB devices.

Now if I were using Thunderbolt 3, yeah, you need a higher-end cable and there are restrictions on cable length for speed purposes (or moving up to a more expensive active cable). But I think that's a fair trade-off for being able to use that same cable for everything else as well.

We cannot WAIT until our household says goodbye to the last couple devices with legacy ports and we can throw the last few converter dongles in a drawer. Looking at you, Apple and Amazon Kindle -- when are you going to get with the program and ditch your legacy Lightning and micro-USB ports respectively?

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

#188

Post by antman »

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…

My HP Elite X2 G3 tablet charges with other usb chargers only when off. When on, a HP windows utility pop ups that says not a good charger and then stops charging.

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

#189

Post by princevegeta89 »

I will leave Apple products out of the equation, because I think they're a mess in terms of changing ports with every generation. Maybe that's what the OP is worried about.

USB-C has really simplified a lot of things: - Which way do I plug in? Any way. - Can I charge my new Ultrabook laptop with the same cable as my phone? Most certainly. - Is the port easy to recognize? Yes, just give it a quick look - Forget the Micro USB from now on? Yes

I'd say we're still at 70% along the transition, but compared to other solutions the C is way better and more convenient.

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

#190

Post by wlesieutre »

remote_phone wrote: post #90

My friend and I ran into this mess over the last few weeks. I’m trying to find a longer cable for my MacBook. Right now the 2m cable that came with it is too short. So I started looking. I couldn’t find one that was at least 3m long from Apple and I couldn’t understand why. I had to look on Amazon and only these cheaper manufacturers made them. Except they are fully USB C, they are USB C 2.0 to USB C 3.0 or some nons…

I don't know about the higher wattage ones for the 87W or 96W chargers, but for the 60W adapter there are tons of 3m cable options including companies like Anker that make better cables than Apple does. For example: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0832DC7W8/

And anyway, compare this to before USB-C. "My MacBook's magsafe cable isn't long enough, can I get a longer one?"

No, it's soldered to the power brick, comes in only one length, costs $80 to replace the whole thing if the cable frays, and no reputable 3rd party options exist because it was Apple's special sauce patented power connector.

I'll take USB-C over that.

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