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USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

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Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#151

Post by izacus »

jl6 wrote: post #30
cletus wrote: post #11

I look forward to USB 4.1a Type C.2 Phase iii.b Gen 3E and the 482646282 different cable capability combinations that all plug in and have no distinction of those capabilities whatsoever. I also look forward to all the necessary and helpful posts telling me how the identical ports on my laptop are in fact diffferent despite their identical appearance. But at least everything uses the same plug, so that’s nice.

Is there a possible outcome where cable components become cheap enough that every USB-C cable is a universal cable that does everything?

No, since Thunderbolt needs active cables with amplifiers very quickly, which is driving the cost of TB3 cables well over 50$ for distances that a standard 15$ USB3.1 easily beats.

Physics is a problem here.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#152

Post by the_pwner224 »

baybal2 wrote: post #86

Uh.... Melting USB-C connectors at 65W are already bad enough. The problem is that there is no way to detect a bad contact, and they tend to be. Few specs of dust, and you have 5 amps going to a single pin. Even if you have split seconds momentary disconnects, you can get welds in contact pads, which will over time degrade the contact. On other note, Intel may be increasing laptop CPU power budgets into 60W-70W terri…

I used the charger + cable which came with my OnePlus 7 Pro to charge my Samsung Galaxy S8. The cable and port on the phone must have melted and solidified into one unit, because the next morning I couldn't unplug it. With more force the cable came out with the plug damaged and the USB-C male part in the phone ripped in half.

I don't think OnePlus makes incredibly high quality & safe chargers like Apple/Samsung, but they're not the cheapest Amazon garbage either.

This might be a rare issue, but it does happen. Combined with the mechanical degradation that USB-C ports go through (not as bad as micro-USB, but worse than full size USB-A - A does get loose but still makes good electrical contact), I specifically looked for wireless charging in my next device and try to avoid using the USB port as much as possible.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#153

Post by gbrown »

pa7ch wrote: post #119
gbrown wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No thanks, I’ll keep my gaming laptop. Far more portable than a desktop, lots of compute overhead, and I can use it for games. At home it’s basically a desktop with external keyboard and monitors. Oh yeah, and when it’s not being used with the dedicated graphics card, it gets 6-9 hours of battery life. Oh, almost forgot - it’s lighter and about the same size as my 2012 13” MBP.

Does it require 240 watts?

I guess not, it says 180 on the back. Haven’t bothered to meter it under full load + charging though.

To be clear, I’m skeptical of pushing that much power over USBC.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#154

Post by zardo »

baybal2 wrote: post #142
OnlyOneCannolo wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it really undetectable? A smarter USB PD controller and maybe some extra sensors should be able to mostly avoid that problem, no?

No, unless you put a sense resistor on every power pin, and add circuitry to individually measure current per pin.

If the alternative is starting house fires that sounds pretty reasonable.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#155

Post by izacus »

anfilt wrote: post #150

I still don't understand the point of all this... What is wrong with simple barrel connector... It's not like a phone is gonna need to draw 240 watts... Just keeps making the spec more and more complicated... Also are the small contacts in a USB-C connector even reasonable to run with this much current? Is there enough cross sectional area on these contacts?

How exactly am I going to charge my phone, headphones, gamepad, tablet and bunch of other devices from a barrel connector?

USB-C has pretty much eliminated forlorn MacBook users shambling around our office and looking for another soul to give them a compatible proprietary charger. Let's keep it this way.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#156

Post by ev1 »

yurishimo wrote: post #75
sonograph wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

After only reading the headlines promising the bright future of USB-C, I am very disappointed now that I carry three USB-C in my backpack for different use-cases.

Can you explain the differences between them? I don't have many USB-C devices (Switch and MacBook) but wouldn't you be able to use the most "fully featured" cable for every scenario?

The most "fully featured" cable with a USB-C tip is often like <0.5m long.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#157

Post by a9h74j »

When you look at the pinout, USB-C is comparable to a conventional ad-hoc backplane in terms of the number of functions it supports.

Except the backplane implementations (i.e. the cables) are not uniform, so fun times.

At least with DB25-ended cables you could wire your own, albeit without the performance range.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#158

Post by spicybright »

grlass wrote: post #146
ohazi wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indicator recommendations are routinely ignored. There are already color codes for type-A ports, and there's the "lightning bolt" indicator for Thunderbolt USB-C ports, but PC manufacturers ignore them when they want their laptops to have a certain look and feel (e.g. gaming laptops want red or green everything, Apple wants aluminum everything, etc.). Cable manufacturers are going to do whatever is cheapest.

Yeah, it's a bit of tragedy. Resistor style stripes on cables would be fun, a stripe for each feature such as bandwidth, power, etc; perhaps already suggested (and ignored). Though complement for ports would be trickier. Embossing symbols in the style of thunderbolt might be the way to go, even if the standard is not fully adopted.

Ha, I love the color idea.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#159

Post by ianlevesque »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #148
neither_color wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And every time I buy a new device and think I'll be able to use my existing USB-C cables I'm met with a new standard. Bought a new external GPU enclosure? My macbook charging cable wont work I need a 40gbps thunderbolt THREE(not 2) cable. Bought a new Oculus Quest? Neither my egpu or macbook cables work I need an $80 LINK cable.

My Oculus Quest works fine with a 3meter AmazonBasics USB cable that I got for like $15. I think the only advantage of the official link cable is that it gets you 5m without needing to add an extender to a 3m cable

Yeah the Quest even added USB 2 support.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#160

Post by mikepurvis »

pastrami_panda wrote: post #35
perryizgr8 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why not just use a desktop? Gaming laptops that contain high-end GPUs can consume this much power while charging the battery and running games. And such laptops are still way more portable than a desktop. You can lift the laptop and keep it in your car, drive off and have a gaming PC ready-to-use where ever you end up. Same cannot be done with any desktop.

Typically they're throttled by poor thermals. I'd be interested to know if anyone has recommendations for rtx grade laptops with nice CPUs in 15-17 inch form factor that doesn't throttle but are still somewhat portable. I have not found any but I think I've been testing too thin ones (XPS and Blade).

Have XPS 9570, can confirm that it works gorgeously for a minute or two and then throttles down to nothing. This is both before and after opening it up to clean out the fans and redo the thermal paste.
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