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New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

pcworld.com

121–130 of 276 posts

Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#121
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1 datapoint from an european country with less than 2mil ppl: Yes, ofcourse, that is the terminology we use. And if you wish datapoint from the largest (land) country (Russia): Yes I mean if you use computer then how can you parse specs any other way but the way we are used to: as written by english people?

AFAIK, e.g. in France they use Go (giga-octet) instead of GB (and analogously, Ko/Mo/To).

A French octet is a byte. The b here is a bit.

Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#122

I like my lightning cable. It just works.. anywhere

Because lightning doesn’t even support anything. Half the things you might plug in a cable for, like video out, are implemented by a chip in the cable itself (which means you still need to buy specific cables for specific jobs), and lighting doesn’t even have the bandwidth to provide real video out at an iPhones screen resolution, let alone operate at 40Gbps. Moreover you have exactly the same issues with lightning charging cables, if you buy the wrong one it will not charge at the desired rate [1].

Lightning does not come close to solving these problems.

[1] https://gtrusted.com/what-happens-when-you-use-the-original-...

Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish laptops would've standardised on the 20V barrel jack (maybe with slightly different sizes to denote current capability), like they almost did before USB-C came along.

"maybe with slightly different sizes to denote current capability" That's what we had - 10 invonpatiable barrel-jack charging connectors. At a friend's place and want to use his charge? Tough luck. Congratulations. Why do you need supplies with different current to be incompatiable?

In a 20V DC barrel jack case, so you don’t plug in a device with 4 ohms of resistance to a $2.99 charger spec’d (and only capable) to only deliver 20W of power. (Realistically, not every one of those chargers will have a current limiting supply inside.)

Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#125
post #86
post #70

This is all too confusing to me. Why isn't there a mandatory (or reference) specification string that combines all the necessary, useful information in one neat package instead of countless repetitive and easily misunderstood logos? Something like (just a basic, messy example) USB-C/ / / / / /etc. I had to buy some cables recently and really couldn't pick one nor distinguish particular features at glance, and the ite…

What's supported is indeed a mess... I recently moved my desk between rooms. After setting everything up only one monitor seemed to work. Tried multiple DP cables plugged things in and out with things in various state of power. Eventually gave up and chalked it up to karma and either having a dead monitor or dead dock. Unplugged my laptop to go work in the lounge for a bit, came back later and plugged it in again ama…

I've never seen a laptop that didn't label the thunderbolt capable ports, are you sure that wasn't just you not paying attention?

Or do you honestly expect all ports to be thunderbolt capable? If so, you'd have to expect a massive increase in price for that

Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's confusing about "USB C to Lightning Cable MFI Certified iPhone Cable Fast iPhone Charger Cable 20W PD 3/6/10FT Type C Charging & Syncing Data Compatible iPhone 12 Pro Max Mini 11 X XR XS 8 P iPad iPod (White)"?

I can't tell if this is sarcasm or not. In some ways, this sounds great.

That is what a typical Amazon listing looks like. Worse than a browser user agent string, and mostly SEO spam.

Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#127
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How true is it?

Not working? Totally true. Damaging it? There's definitely historical evidence for it [1], but I think the situation is a little improved these days. I personally had a nexus 5x charger damage a Pixel 3a such that that charger and usb a-c cables were the only ones which would work in that device from then on. [1]: https://www.engadget.com/2016-02-03-benson-leung-chromebook-...

Fwiw, I have been charging my Pixel 3aXL with my Nexus 5X charger every night since I got the 3aXL a year and a half ago without issue.

Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#128
post #39

Please, for the love of god, make it obvious if a USB C cable can be used as a display cable or not. One thing that absolutely blows about USB C is that they all look the same, but to connect my LG UltraFine to my GTX 2070 I had to do literally hours of research before I could find a reliable cable on Amazon that was a “bidirectional USB C DisplayPort” cable because I naively assumed that USB C was a general purpose…

It's in fact incredibly simple. Every USB-C cable that is not USB 2.0 (meaning 5gpbs and up) will be able to drive 4K@60Hz.

*apparently active Thunderbolt 3 cables are an exception and won't work. But it's better not to rely on Thunderbolt 3 cables to be valid USB 3 cables.

Of course, it's better now with Thunderbolt 4 where every Thunderbolt 4 cable is also an honest to god USB4 cable, and it's not as confusing for the consumer.

Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#129
I hate it how we went from simple, to simpler to totally complicated regarding computer ports.

"Back in the days", it was a bunch of different ports of different sizes and shapes, and each thing had its own cable that fit into that thing only, and into only port only on the back of the pc. Yes, you needed 20 cables, but things were simple.

Then came the USB... one cable, one protocol for all.... except video (firewire) and storage (esata). Then even those got replaced by USB, as new usb standards made it faster.

And now? You buy a new laptop... usb-c charging, great. You need another charger, you go to the store, find a usb charger, buy it, plugi it in - everything fits - but it won't charge. You need a fast charger... back to the store, bring it home, doesn't charge. You need a PD charger and not a QC charger... store again, new charger... plug it in, doesn't charge. You need a PD charger, that goes up in voltage enough (20V) to charge. Store again, a new one... you plug it in... still nothing. Even though it fits in the hole, not all holes are equal, and you need to plug it into the correct usb port to charge the laptop. Yaay, everthing works! Start a game, play, nice framerate, and bam, battery low warning. Yes, it charges, but your charger is only 45W, and that's not enough, you need a correct wattage one (eg 65W).

And then you go to the store and buy an original charger for your laptop, and you're back at where we were 20 years ago, just with a higher chance of plugging the charger in a wrong port, because it fits in more than one hole.

Re: New USB-C logos make picking USB cables, chargers less confusing

#130
post #125
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's supported is indeed a mess... I recently moved my desk between rooms. After setting everything up only one monitor seemed to work. Tried multiple DP cables plugged things in and out with things in various state of power. Eventually gave up and chalked it up to karma and either having a dead monitor or dead dock. Unplugged my laptop to go work in the lounge for a bit, came back later and plugged it in again ama…

I've never seen a laptop that didn't label the thunderbolt capable ports, are you sure that wasn't just you not paying attention? Or do you honestly expect all ports to be thunderbolt capable? If so, you'd have to expect a massive increase in price for that

I think he was talking about DisplayPort over USB-C. Thunderbolt is something different.
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