Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

They make USB-C cables with displays now

ounapuu.ee

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

141–150 of 164 posts

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#141

Post by gnabgib »

rjh29 wrote: post #133
theodric wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're suggesting I plug it in upside down so I can't read it, or plug it in on the right side of my machines which have no ports on the right side?

I own this cable. You literally put the cable in the left side at an orientation that has the display facing upwards. I feel like I'm missing something! It's bidirectional so you can just twist the cable so the display is facing up..

Looks like two definitions of up are being discussed..

- upside down the display is pointing towards the table (useless) - which you have a solution for

- upside down, the display is visible, but the text is rotated 180° (as people would say when a calculator is upside down) - you cannot twist your way out of this except facing the computer away from you (99=66, 70=0L 5537=LESS etc)

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#142

Post by [deleted] »

metaphor wrote: post #13
whycome wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do you know for the cables without displays?

The USB-IF publishes a list of member companies[1]; purchase products from these qualified manufacturers, and perhaps more importantly, from authorized distributors. This is a good enough "policy control" for the average consumer. [1] https://www.usb.org/members

[deleted]

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#143

Post by tecleandor »

jimbobthrowawy wrote: post #126
tecleandor wrote: post #102

I'd be very wary of a $7 cable that claims to be USB4.

Does usb4 require any circuitry in the cable? I'd expect a 20-odd connector cable to be available for $7 (direct from china) pretty easily. I haven't bought many, but the best type C cables (usb3) I ever bought were €2.12 each.

USB4 is like USB3.2 plus some other stuff. It tunnels USB3.2, PCIe, DisplayPort, should be Power Delivery enabled and Thunderbolt 3 compatible.

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#144

Post by Cheer2171 »

TwoNineFive wrote: post #136

These have been on the market for years. I have a bunch of them. They are a bad gimic in every way. They generate heat. They waste power. They create light pollution. They are distracting. Their measurement capabilities are often very limited or mediocre or don't update quickly. And finally they often burn out and stop working anyway. If you want a USB power meter, buy one for $10 or less.

> They generate heat. They waste power.

Marginal. A laptop display uses 1000x power and heat than these LCDs. Turning your brightness down for a few seconds saves the same amount.

> They create light pollution. They are distracting.

Personal preference, but for me it is no more distracting than the battery percentage icon next to my taskbar clock.

> Their measurement capabilities are often very limited or mediocre or don't update quickly.

The chip used in all the Aliexpress cables updates multiple times a second and is in line with my standalone power meter.

> And finally they often burn out and stop working anyway.

I'm using these as my daily drivers for all my USB C devices for over a year, and haven't had to replace them. Gave them as stocking stuffers to the family last Christmas and have heard no complaints.

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#145

Post by ngcc_hk »

mopenstein wrote: post #104
infogulch wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Payment processors are de-facto regulators.

That answer to various governments.

Is copying machine even your all in one printer with scanner cannot copy banknote is somehow regulated I wonder ?

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#146

Post by rjh29 »

gnabgib wrote: post #141
rjh29 wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I own this cable. You literally put the cable in the left side at an orientation that has the display facing upwards. I feel like I'm missing something! It's bidirectional so you can just twist the cable so the display is facing up..

Looks like two definitions of up are being discussed.. - upside down the display is pointing towards the table (useless) - which you have a solution for - upside down, the display is visible, but the text is rotated 180° (as people would say when a calculator is upside down) - you cannot twist your way out of this except facing the computer away from you (99=66, 70=0L 5537=LESS etc)

okay so this is people being bothered about reading numbers upside down, which my brain seems to do automatically. Got it.

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#147

Post by rdslw »

cosmojg wrote: post #62
hackernewds wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

those are not regulations

Industry-imposed regulations (as opposed to government-imposed regulations) are still regulations, and payment processors have teeth.

this is not industry-imposed regulations. this is not industry.

this is single party ToS atmost.

Do not whitewash harmfull practice as the law.

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#148

Post by ahartmetz »

geepytee wrote: post #31
Izkata wrote: post #23

Look for "power meter" if you want stuff like this. I bought this one a year ago: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B99Z2GJK/ And this one for USB 3.0 four years ago: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019RHJRM8/ Modern ones give a whole lot more information than the one in the article.

Out of curiosity, why did you buy a power meter? Does it help with troubleshooting hardware?

One thing you can do is check battery health by observing the charging process with a power meter that supports charge counting.

Another use case was when the battery in my laptop was completely empty, which made it switch to some emergency charging mode that didn't like the normally fine USB-C power supply. I found that it did accept charge from an external battery, so I charged it using that for a while until it booted.

I have a cheap device that costs about 2€ on AliExpress. It is not a cable but a little box.

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#149

Post by gumby »

hansvm wrote: post #56
ikekkdcjkfke wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since US doesnt have GDPR it would be the fiduciary duty to install mic's in all cables and record all conversations

I'm all for some privacy protections, but doesn't 2-party consent cover that particular use case already? In CA, it swings a bit far the other way, and if you have a hidden mic recording a business lying through their teeth with the intent to defraud you, you might have a little wiggle room, but the recording is likely to be thrown out of any civil actions (and some criminal actions).

Such a recording can be used for parallel construction

Re: They make USB-C cables with displays now

#150

Post by radicality »

jajko wrote: post #83
dnpp123 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. Those killed a couple of my (expensive) devices. Strongly advise against it.

Chargers, cables, batteries - you literally get what you pay for. In this category, the ultimate risk is nothing less than burning down whole house. I ain't rich enough for that cheap crapware. Anker it is for me.

For cables, I usually go for TrippLite. I have some Anker power banks and chargers and they work well, but a few cables from them just stopped working after a while.
Post reply on HN