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

pcworld.com

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

#201

Post by wizzwizz4 »

javajosh wrote: post #184
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #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 (firewir…

I wonder if it's possible that we standardize on the "hole" (USB-C) and then make little square things with a male side and a female side that plug into the cable and into each other to add capabilities to the signal path. Each of those square things would have a name and an icon and every device would be characterized by a list of these widgets. (In part I propose this to validate whether this is the correct mental…

• Cables that can transmit high power have to be better at coping with high power.

• Cables that can transmit lots of data have to have more / better / shorter wires.

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

#202

Post by unethical_ban »

OJFord wrote: post #194
thermin wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of doom and gloom here; let's see if it really got that bad. >You need a PD charger and not a QC charger... Impossible, all USB-C QC chargers are also USB PD chargers. >into the correct usb port to charge the laptop The port is either marked (everything but MacBooks) or doesn't matter (MacBooks, pretty sweet). >buy an original charger for your laptop Good! Now you have a USB PD charger that covers your…

> >into the correct usb port to charge the laptop > The port is either marked (everything but MacBooks) or doesn't matter (MacBooks, pretty sweet). From https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/363337/how-to-find... : > TLDR; If your MacBook Pro runs hot or shows a high % CPU for the kernel task, try charging on the right and not on the left.

While that is a frustrating bug/design flaw, it doesn't negate the fact that you can charge the laptop from any port.

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

#203

Post by thermin »

dionian wrote: post #192
thermin wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of doom and gloom here; let's see if it really got that bad. >You need a PD charger and not a QC charger... Impossible, all USB-C QC chargers are also USB PD chargers. >into the correct usb port to charge the laptop The port is either marked (everything but MacBooks) or doesn't matter (MacBooks, pretty sweet). >buy an original charger for your laptop Good! Now you have a USB PD charger that covers your…

Plus USB-C doesn't require a correct orientation, you just put it in and it always fits. Maybe underrated but to me it's worth a lot...

Well, that's something barrel plugs had going for them way before data connectors caught up :)

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

#206

Post by ziml77 »

jdhn wrote: post #138
Tijdreiziger wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why can’t all USB C cables just do all the things? I'd guess 'cost'.

What's the difference in cost between a cable that can do the bare minimum, and a cable that can do everything, assuming they're the same length? Just seems like the USB committee is unnecessarily complicating everything.

That depends on the chosen wire gauge and length of the cable, but even the most cheaply made cable would be significantly more expensive if it supported all capabilities. You can't go lower than the cost of materials and cables necessarily use a lot of copper and plastic. Adding support for more capabilities requires adding more wires inside. And the more wires you have inside the cable, the more you have to worry about cross-talk, so you need even more material for shielding and you need to twist the wires tighter (and a tighter twist shortens the wires so you then need those to be longer to reach the same distance).

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

#207

Post by Godel_unicode »

simon1573 wrote: post #137
ajsnigrutin wrote: post #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 (firewir…

"Back in the days" you would either buy an original charger, which the store probably wouldn't have in stock, or buy one of those universal charger with a dozen plugs in which case you would have to be careful to pick a powerful enough charger anyway. You would also have to be very careful to pick a charger with the correct voltage.

Go on any manufacturer site and see what they charge for their USB-C 65w charger that's enormous. Then look at the price of an Anker GaN 65w charger the size of a d-cell battery that's half the price. I think the user freedom and choice is worth some additional complexity.

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

#208

Post by gumby »

vetinari wrote: post #109
gumby wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> On my laptop, I can apparently use a USB-C to DisplayPort cable to get 4k/60 output (while the HDMI is limited to 4k/30). But now I've got no way to charge it. I don’t know what laptop you have. DisplayPort is native to USB C cabling and the Type C connector is the modern DisplayPort connector. I have my Mac plugged into a Thunderbolt display that uses DisplayPort to display the image and also powers the computer.…

Your Mac has the more expensive Thunderbolt; Thunderbolt capablities go beyond USB-C. For computers with USB-C only the situation is more complicated.

Thunderbolt == USB 4 they are now different brand names for the same thing.

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

#209

Post by david422 »

dionian wrote: post #192
thermin wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of doom and gloom here; let's see if it really got that bad. >You need a PD charger and not a QC charger... Impossible, all USB-C QC chargers are also USB PD chargers. >into the correct usb port to charge the laptop The port is either marked (everything but MacBooks) or doesn't matter (MacBooks, pretty sweet). >buy an original charger for your laptop Good! Now you have a USB PD charger that covers your…

Plus USB-C doesn't require a correct orientation, you just put it in and it always fits. Maybe underrated but to me it's worth a lot...

I have some USB C chargers that only charge in 1 orientation. I don't know if it's my phone, or the cable, or what, but for me this isn't true.

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

#210

Post by Cycl0ps »

Reading through the comments it seems those right two logos are the best solution we have. We need a way to quickly identify speed and power ratings per cable. Users might benefit more from simplifying further down to something like colors to establish baseline requirements ("Requires gold rated power delivery") but setting those baselines doesn't provide room to grow and expand the standard.
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