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Why aren't motherboards mostly USB-C by now? (2021)

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Re: Why aren't motherboards mostly USB-C by now? (2021)

#51

Post by chungy »

cassianoleal wrote: post #50
aslilac wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

going off of you saying “micro port” I think you’re talking about USB B.

More likely they mean micro-USB. USB-B is anything but micro.

Micro-USB is a variant of the USB-B connector. The whole point of A and B was that A ports were used on the "host" system, and B were used on the peripheral. If you remember USB On-the-Go, that was an attempt to reverse the trend and allow a USB-B device (including micro ports) to act as a host.

USB-C erased that distinction in favor of a full duplex network connection between two hosts.

Re: Why aren't motherboards mostly USB-C by now? (2021)

#52

Post by eternityforest »

p1mrx wrote: post #8

USB-C was designed for highly-integrated mobile devices. Motherboard vendors don't want to deal with power delivery and DisplayPort, and users will be confused when that stuff doesn't work. When a USB-C port is out in space, rather than flat on a desk, C-to-A adapters create a lever arm that increases the risk of damage. Though this can be solved by using adapters with ~100mm of wire in the middle.

Seems like anyone who would buy anything other than a laptop would be pretty tech savvy, unless they just bought it because of familiarity and habit thinking "Desktops are what we use for home stuff, I don't wanna mess with laptops I don't know much about".

I can't really think of why an average user would want one other than gaming, and PC gamers can likely figure out USB cables.

Re: Why aren't motherboards mostly USB-C by now? (2021)

#53

Post by eternityforest »

chungy wrote: post #5

I don't even have any devices that use USB-C. Not a single one. The only USB-C cables I have are for charging phones.

I specifically avoid buying anything without USB-C. Not only do I like having everything on the same connector, MicroUSB is often the least reliable part of a device aside from battery calendar aging.

Re: Why aren't motherboards mostly USB-C by now? (2021)

#54

Post by eternityforest »

anakaine wrote: post #34
korginator wrote: post #27

USB-A should be relegated to the rubbish-heap of poorly designed interfaces for the simple reason that it has no physical indication (e.g., RS-232C) or clear visual indicator for orientation, and you get it wrong 50% of the time. It's way beyond time the USB-A interface is eliminated. USB-C can't get here fast enough. My MacBook pro only has USB-C ports, they work well for data, video out, as well as power (charging)…

This said, USB-C needs to have its standards updated, and standardised. Eg all cables must support a minimum of USB 3.1 with power and data, with appropriate shielding. Stop yielding so many concessions. I'm already in a spot where I have a number of USB-C to C cable varieties that all look basically the same, but have very different characteristics. One cable basically refuses to charge anything. Another has no data…

For average consumers it's great. I think my phone is the only thing I own that could use 3.1(I assume, I've never looked because I do most everything wireless).

Almost everything (Including my 200Wh solar generator!) Will charge from 5v at 5W on a regular USB, and almost nothing really needs more than that, slow charging is quite often fine for phones and tablets.

Phones tell you if they slow charge, so it's just a matter of keeping the good cable plugged in the good adapter.

For the way most people use USB-C, as a power cable that can do data with a little extra work when needed, it's already great.

Re: Why aren't motherboards mostly USB-C by now? (2021)

#55

Post by Zancarius »

jacquesm wrote: post #31
korginator wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

USB-C is simply more convenient to use, and you get it right 100% of the time, instead of your orientation being wrong 50% of the time with USB-A.

If you get it wrong 50% of the time let me substantially reduce that for you: logo goes 'up' for whatever the normal orientation of your device is. That should clear up 99% of the cases.

I had a Cooler Master case where the IO stack at the top of the case had the opposite orientation (logo down). Threw me off forever.

I'm at a point in my life where I've just given up and figure that I'm only going to get it right 1/3rd of the time anyway: Nope, turn; nope, turn; yup.

Re: Why aren't motherboards mostly USB-C by now? (2021)

#56

Post by eternityforest »

B1FF_PSUVM wrote: post #12
jauntywundrkind wrote: post #4

I'm ready for it. My desktop has a half dozen usb-c adapters stuffed into various ports and hubs. Usb-c cables are the most versatile. You can get all kinds of pigtails and adapters to turn them into anything else. Other connectors don't have that property of universality, because they don't have enough cables.

USB-C is the bees knees if it works right. Which does not seem to always happen. Plus, "active cable" is close enough to an oxymoron to make me afraid we overreached. (I do like that a small pocket kit with an USB C cable and a couple of adapters seems to cover most needs.)

The one thing I don't quite like about active cables is that they didn't use Dallas One-Wire or i2c or uart. Otherwise, it seems to work fine.

Hobby level stuff would be a lot simpler if any old microcontroller could talk to a PPS supply, interrogate cables, etc.

Re: Why aren't motherboards mostly USB-C by now? (2021)

#57

Post by eternityforest »

anonymouskimmer wrote: post #45

> Wouldn’t it make more sense for all of the USB ports on a new PC to be USB-C and then use adapters for legacy components? It's annoying enough swapping wireless mouse adapter and keyboard plugs between my personal computer and my work computers multiple times per hour without also plugging and unplugging adapters. Bluetooth would be even worse. But that raises the question that maybe we aren't getting a lot of USB-…

That's why Logitech has multi device Bluetooth mice! Not sure about keyboards but they probably have it.

Re: Why aren't motherboards mostly USB-C by now? (2021)

#58

Post by lbourdages »

korginator wrote: post #30
aslilac wrote: post #3

calling USB A “legacy” and a “relic” is so misplaced. we all still own USB A devices. I challenge the author to go find a wired keyboard or mouse that comes with a USB C plug. it’s possible, but not easy. the thing is, we could just have both! this isn’t some winner/loser scenario. the real question should be why these computers with enough bandwidth for 11+ connectors don’t at least split the difference with 6/5 of…

USB-C is simply more convenient to use, and you get it right 100% of the time, instead of your orientation being wrong 50% of the time with USB-A.

Typically I get it wrong 100% of the time, i.e. I was in the right orientation but misaligned so it does not work, so I flip it, fails again, and then I swear and flip it a second time.

Re: Why aren't motherboards mostly USB-C by now? (2021)

#59

Post by at_a_remove »

imoverclocked wrote: post #26
nfriedly wrote: post #13

> mechanical hard drive and a feeble 8 GB of RAM (is that even enough to run Windows by itself?) Windows 10 runs acceptably on a Core 2 Duo with 4 GB of RAM - this was my son's gaming PC until a couple of months ago. (It did have an SSD, though - a mechanical hard drive would certainly have reduced the snappiness.)

It’s pretty crazy that an operating system needs that much at all. I mean, we all get used to these big numbers but 4GB is actually a lot of bits. A single GB can store more books than a human can read in their lifetime. Somehow, we have accepted that the most fundamental piece of software on a computer should require many lifetimes worth of books of RAM. We have come a long way from thinking we would never need more…

I used to kill off services I didn't need on my Windows NT 4.0 Workstation ... I could get it down to thirteen megabytes of RAM used.

Re: Why aren't motherboards mostly USB-C by now? (2021)

#60

Post by hhh »

aslilac wrote: post #3

calling USB A “legacy” and a “relic” is so misplaced. we all still own USB A devices. I challenge the author to go find a wired keyboard or mouse that comes with a USB C plug. it’s possible, but not easy. the thing is, we could just have both! this isn’t some winner/loser scenario. the real question should be why these computers with enough bandwidth for 11+ connectors don’t at least split the difference with 6/5 of…

I understand your point, but keyboards and mice aren’t the correct target I feel. I haven’t had a non USB-C peripheral in at least 4 years.
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