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USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

theverge.com

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Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#101

Post by tobiasSoftware »

nindalf wrote: post #14

This is pretty good for the people who have such laptops, but I’m just struggling to understand the use case for a laptop. A laptop that consumes that much power can’t possibly have much battery life. At that point, are you getting much portability out of your laptop? Why not just use a desktop?

There are two use cases for laptops. The first is the normal one where you carry your laptop around wherever you go, and actually use it on your lap sometimes. The second is to view your laptop as a mobile desktop, where you have a few stations. The laptop would always be plugged in, but it might be plugged in different places.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#102

Post by salamandersauce »

Eric_WVGG wrote: post #28
Filligree wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't take a desktop with me on an airplane.

You can’t take a laptop with a battery larger than the 16” MacBook Pro on an airplane either! https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/13/20962380/apples-16-inch-...

Nobody sells laptops with batteries bigger than that! Guess why? Because you're not allowed to take them on planes. Just means gaming laptops have less battery life is all.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#103

Post by ak217 »

flyinghamster wrote: post #26
cletus wrote: post #11

I look forward to USB 4.1a Type C.2 Phase iii.b Gen 3E and the 482646282 different cable capability combinations that all plug in and have no distinction of those capabilities whatsoever. I also look forward to all the necessary and helpful posts telling me how the identical ports on my laptop are in fact diffferent despite their identical appearance. But at least everything uses the same plug, so that’s nice.

USB-C sure turned into a mess, didn't it? So far, I only have two such devices (a cell phone and a set of headphones), and there's no problem charging either. But even there, we already have proprietary extensions (Qualcomm quick charging, for instance), and then there's Thunderbolt, and now this. I'm not enthusiastic about wading into the world of "every port looks identical but isn't" that USB-C has given us. I hav…

I don't know, the flipside is that Thunderbolt delivers genuinely cutting-edge interconnect capabilities. I can run two 4K60 displays and a dozen peripheral devices, and charge my laptop, all via a single cable off of my $100 Thunderbolt 3 dock. There is no other technology that comes close to this capability at this price point.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#104

Post by Dagonfly »

rini17 wrote: post #61
cletus wrote: post #11

I look forward to USB 4.1a Type C.2 Phase iii.b Gen 3E and the 482646282 different cable capability combinations that all plug in and have no distinction of those capabilities whatsoever. I also look forward to all the necessary and helpful posts telling me how the identical ports on my laptop are in fact diffferent despite their identical appearance. But at least everything uses the same plug, so that’s nice.

Are there cheap devices that measure USB cables? So that user plugs the cable into it (both ends) and it will list what protocols/bandwidth does it support. And electrical resistance of course.

https://www.chargerlab.com/category/power-z/

These read out the e-marker and tell you the supported power delivery and USB data speeds.

The irony that their product comparison table has 30+ rows should not be missed!

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#105

Post by KingOfCoders »

cletus wrote: post #11

I look forward to USB 4.1a Type C.2 Phase iii.b Gen 3E and the 482646282 different cable capability combinations that all plug in and have no distinction of those capabilities whatsoever. I also look forward to all the necessary and helpful posts telling me how the identical ports on my laptop are in fact diffferent despite their identical appearance. But at least everything uses the same plug, so that’s nice.

I know design and all this, but I would prefer red, blue, green plugs and corresponding colors on my laptop to make it easier what I can plugin where - with my desktop I which has around 10 USB ports I always struggle to find the right one.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#106

Post by crispyambulance »

georgyo wrote: post #81
chmod775 wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I haven't had dealings with these new USB cables yet. Can anyone enlighten me what is happening here? In older USB cables you used to have four, five, or nine pins that were directly connected via copper wire to the pins on the other end. With the exception of charging-only cables that didn't connect the data pins. Is the issue just that the new cables tend to only connect a subset of the 24 USB-C pins?

USB-C cables can have all sorts of logic embedded in the cable, including inline resistors to signal capabilities. However, when it comes to power delivery. For both old style USB and newer USB-C, the thickness of the copper matters for how much amps the wire can carry. IE apple has a 30W charger that comes with a different thickness than their 61W charger. And using the 30W cable with the 61W charger. https://suppor…

  > The best part is that the cables look nearly identical with some very small print on the cable that says they are different.
If you're lucky, that is.

One would think that after nearly 2 decades of USB cable confusion the standards bodies and vendors would make an effort to make the cable identification easy, but no.

I suspect it's because they actually want consumers to end up buying lots cables and the churn it causes.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#107

Post by [deleted] »

cletus wrote: post #11

I look forward to USB 4.1a Type C.2 Phase iii.b Gen 3E and the 482646282 different cable capability combinations that all plug in and have no distinction of those capabilities whatsoever. I also look forward to all the necessary and helpful posts telling me how the identical ports on my laptop are in fact diffferent despite their identical appearance. But at least everything uses the same plug, so that’s nice.

[deleted]

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#108

Post by asdff »

ak217 wrote: post #103
flyinghamster wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USB-C sure turned into a mess, didn't it? So far, I only have two such devices (a cell phone and a set of headphones), and there's no problem charging either. But even there, we already have proprietary extensions (Qualcomm quick charging, for instance), and then there's Thunderbolt, and now this. I'm not enthusiastic about wading into the world of "every port looks identical but isn't" that USB-C has given us. I hav…

I don't know, the flipside is that Thunderbolt delivers genuinely cutting-edge interconnect capabilities. I can run two 4K60 displays and a dozen peripheral devices, and charge my laptop, all via a single cable off of my $100 Thunderbolt 3 dock. There is no other technology that comes close to this capability at this price point.

At the same time, I have no idea if the cable I have is a thunderbolt or usb-c cable. There is no standard marking.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#110

Post by kayodelycaon »

croon wrote: post #9
jeffrallen wrote: post #7

Plus, if you thread the cable through your hot dog, it will be warm in time for lunch. Meanwhile, Apple's M1 chip is showing us that 240 watt laptops are the problem, not the solution...

Having one USB-C dock powering your laptop (maybe with a hungry GPU), as well as a couple of monitors with everything through just usb-c cables is my hope, and this is one step closer.

Already doing this with my 16" MacBook Pro using a 24" LG 4k display. Got a second (much cheaper) 24" 4K display, a couple of dongles, and an externally powered USB 3 plugged into the back of it.

Paying $700 for a monitor was a bit painful but I have no regrets.

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