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USB Type-C is still a mess

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Re: USB Type-C is still a mess

#111

Post by andromeduck »

vertexFarm wrote: post #57
andrei_says_ wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking at the last couple of years, I’d say “very Apple-y.” So unfortunate given they are the only large company in the space which prioritizes privacy.

Yeah, unfortunately that is quintessentially apple-y. Even the charging cable has seen endless unnecessary permutation, all proprietary and all expensive as hell. And mostly pointless. It's two wires. Two wires that carry a constant DC charge. Why so complicated? I use my computer in a metal shop and my magsafe gathers iron filings, shorts itself and catches fire. I've gone through so many chargers. I've vowed that t…

And just how many people work in a metal shop and get iron filings on their connectors?!

Re: USB Type-C is still a mess

#112

Post by chipotle_coyote »

Latteland wrote: post #14

Not putting enough ports on devices is a crucial problem. Apple with their stupid single port is just idiotic. The best port selection with usb-c is on the 2015 chrome pixel laptop. 2 usb-c, 2 usb-a. Just having a single usb-c has caused endless pain, all so apple could sell stupid dongles. The new google pixelbook 2018 is a great form factor, except they only have 2 usb-c, they dropped usb-a. The reason was probably…

"All so Apple could sell stupid dongles"

I hear this charge a fair amount, but it seems really unlikely that Apple moved to USB-C solely to "sell stupid dongles," for the fairly obvious reason that you don't need to buy your dongles from Apple. USB-C is indeed still a mess, but it's a non-proprietary mess. As far as I know, Apple's 100% USB-C laptops are the first machines Apple has shipped in their history that don't have a single proprietary connector on them; there's something distinctly ironic about how annoyed we all are over it. I don't think going in on all USB-C was a great idea, but I think it's less of a problem with laptops than it is with phones; I think it would certainly be possible to label USB-C ports in some fashion to indicate their capabilities; and I think a laptop with 2 USB-C ports on each side, like several of Apple's MacBook Pros have, is really not going to create hardships for most users.

(Although they should really have a micro-SD card slot on at least the 15" model. C'mon, Jony, get over yourself.)

"Stupid single port"

Well, again to be fair, there's only one laptop Apple sells with a single USB-C port on it, the 12" uber-thin MacBook. That machine is kind of a radical experiment in some ways, an attempt to build a laptop using the principles of the iPad. (That's not just a pet theory of mine; I've heard from more than one source in a position to know that there were internal prototypes of the single-port MacBook that used Apple's Lightning port.) I'm glad it exists, but I'm also glad I don't own one, and I'm not at all glad that Apple has infected the rest of its laptop line with that keyboard. (Again: get over yourself, Jony.)

Re: USB Type-C is still a mess

#113

Post by bluedino »

kevin_b_er wrote: post #92
bluedino wrote: post #41

I finally broke down and bought a generic USB-C charger (Insignia from Best Buy) to keep in the shop, because enough USB-C laptops come through and nobody ever brings a charger. But just because a laptop has USB-C ports doesn't mean you can charge using it, here's looking at you, Lenovo P51. This machine is a workstation and requires 130W, USB-C can only supply 100W so it won't charge at all over USB-C. Blah. Also ha…

Color me dumbfounded, but does "won't charge at all" mean it accepts 0A inward or that it takes in only 100W while still draining itself at ~30W?

Doesn't take a charge via USB-C, period.

Re: USB Type-C is still a mess

#114

Post by reaperducer »

icebraining wrote: post #105
reaperducer wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nobody I know using MacBooks has a particular problem with this. A dongle would be required in most cases to connect to an external display in any case; it's not like Apple are selling more dongles. Agreed. My wife has a MacBook with a single USB-C port. Having only one port has exactly zero impact on her. The only thing she uses it for is for charging, and very occasionally plugging in a tiny hard drive to look at h…

What does she do when she has low battery and needs to look at her iPhoto library?

Hasn't happened, to my knowledge. The MacBook has way more battery than she needs. (It's a home computer, not a work computer.)

And she's a human bring, not a squirrel on crack, or a nerd caught in a social media feedback loop, so she never "needs" to look at her iPhoto library right now. She can wait 30 minutes for a partial charge to see pictures of her family or cats or whatever.

Re: USB Type-C is still a mess

#115

Post by kec »

imran3740 wrote: post #27

> Port shortages Would it hurt anyone to put two USB-C ports on a smartphone? Thank goodness my phone still has a 3.5mm jack, but some people would like to charge their phone and listen to (wired) audio without having to buy an adapter. And it's not like this is an uncommon use case either, anecdotally some of my friends with iPhones face this issue.

A second port would remove a significant amount of internal volume, as well as increasing the cost due to the port and whatever electronics you'd need to mux them. I doubt those tradeoffs would be worth it for the majority of consumers.

Re: USB Type-C is still a mess

#116

Post by themagician »

Maybe it's just me, but I've had zero major issues with USB-C and can't imagine going back. I spent maybe $100 on new cables so I have one or two of everything. I only wish they had USB-C hubs so I could drop the USB Type-A connectors all together.

I honestly find it much easier. The simplicity of just not having to flip he connector around 3 times every time you plug something in alone is worth it.

It can be a little tricky to figure out what voltages/options are supported, but this has already gotten much better. This is really just an issue with manufactures not labeling things. On the cable end I feel like this is actually already mostly solved. Cable Matters gives pretty good specs for every cable. It's really device manufactures that kind of leave you in the dark. I'd venture a guess that if the USB consortium actually created an easy to use label with some good information architecutre that this problem would fix itself.

Re: USB Type-C is still a mess

#117

Post by Eugr »

Milner08 wrote: post #73
Rebelgecko wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OTOH literally everyone I know with the new MBP has this problem. They used to be able to use the HDMI port, but now they need a smattering of adapters for HDMI and minidisplayport. They also have trouble with the adapter not working when hotswapping ethernet cables

I just have a Thunderbolt 3 hub and it connects everything I need to a single port. Its actually much more convenient than before.

Same here. Now with a single connection I get 2 external displays, USB peripherals, Gigabit Ethernet connection, external speakers AND it also provides 85W of power to charge my MBP...

Re: USB Type-C is still a mess

#118

Post by digi_owl »

The crazy part is that "reversible USB" was already a solved problem, by clever engineering of the A plug.

Never mind that on its face, the C plug is a nice reversible plug. But then someone noticed all those contact points on one side that went to waste half the time, and thought they could cram even more signals down the wire, and here we are...

Re: USB Type-C is still a mess

#119

Post by paulmd »

imran3740 wrote: post #96
MBCook wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you really have a second USB-C port over just keeping the headphone jack?

I mean, USB-C seems to be the direction we're going anyways, plus it offers a lot more flexibility for audio eg. allows for active components like a higher-end DAC or amp on the headphones. Most people probably wouldn't really care for this, and the ones who do probably have portable media players already, so I would prefer to keep the headphone jack. The reality is, though, that USB-C appears to be the future.

You don't need type-C for running an external DAC/amp. Most smartphones support USB-OTG over micro-B and many DAC units use generic audio drivers.

Of course you'd still need two ports if you wanted to charge at the same time.

It would probably be more interesting to see smartphones that could use the headphone output as a digital signal, like a coaxial output. We want the 3.5mm output anyway, so why not just let it dump a digital signal to an external amp?

Re: USB Type-C is still a mess

#120

Post by Eugr »

Latteland wrote: post #85
Milner08 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just have a Thunderbolt 3 hub and it connects everything I need to a single port. Its actually much more convenient than before.

which one do you have? as reported in this discussion, it's not that uncommon to have problems.

Not the GP, but I also have similar setup and I use CalDigit TS-3 at home and Kensington SD5200T at work - zero issues. I don't use 4K displays though, just 1080p.
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