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USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

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Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#271

Post by birdyrooster »

vr46 wrote: post #23
jeremymcanally wrote: post #4

Really? I find it to be a game changer for me. The fact that my laptop, Switch, iPad, and several other devices can all share a charge has made my life much easier. I can just sprinkle a few of them throughout the house and never be without power. Before it was always a hunt to find a cable, or I had to be in [x] room to charge [y] device because that's where the charger lived. Plus, I can charge my MacBook on either…

Aha - you may find that your Switch CANNOT in fact share a charge - Nintendo's port is not necessarily safe to use with anything but its supplied charger. And I've just learned this lesson with a $60 bill from Nintendo repair after the port went pop and couldn't charge the device. I only have reputable chargers in the house from Apple and one from Anker aside from the Nintendo's own. All my apple kit works fine off t…

Also if your switch battery ever gets really really low, you can’t charge it with anything other than the OEM charger.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#272

Post by falcolas »

ourcat wrote: post #206

I'd say the spec is fine. It's the implementations of it that's a mess. Mostly when it comes to the different voltages they can be set to provide. Here's a video I saw recently which explains all about USB-C 'PD' (Power Delivery): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iumAnPiQSj8

The spec drives the implementation. The greater the complexity of the spec, the fewer implementations will get it right, and those that do will be expensive.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#273

Post by leetcrew »

tpxl wrote: post #219
leetcrew wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean you can expect whatever you want. what I'm saying is the beautiful past where all USB cables were perfectly interchangeable never existed. in the last generation we had power-only cables, data-only (although this is out of spec, I believe), and various out of spec fast charging implementations. if you pick up a random usb charging block and micro-usb cable, there was never any guarantee that it would transfer…

Those cables were distinct upon physical inspection (missing pins), which USB C cables are not.

sure, if you're familiar with the pinout, you can tell whether the data or power lines are completely missing. there was still no guarantee that any arbitrary cable would work with whatever fast charge implementation you were using. you would likely get 0.5A trickle charging at least, but the device could also just refuse to charge at all.

from my perspective, USB-IF has taken a bunch of random shit that manufacturers were going to do anyway and made them proper (though optional) parts of the spec. I understand it didn't work out perfectly, but I don't really understand why they are getting so much flak for it. I'd much rather have a bunch of cables and devices that at least try to meet an official spec than to have a bunch of proprietary implementations that make no effort at being compatible.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#274

Post by spacedcowboy »

falcolas wrote: post #231
chorsestudios wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does this still occur with the latest version of MacOS?

I haven't heard of any change; my own setup is on the right. I will say that the corner of my computer where power is plugged in is uncomfortably hot.

Is it closed ?

Because I've had my MBP plugged in for the last 6 months, driving 2 external 4K displays on one side, power-in on the other, and an OWC 10Gigabit dock in the last port.

It's cool to touch, but I have the lid open (I use the LCD as the third display). I've read of people saying it gets hot when the lid is closed...

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#275

Post by japhyr »

whywhywhywhy wrote: post #37

It's honestly such a complete joke it's not even funny anymore. My USB-C MacBook Pro with it's pathetic two ports that my work bought for me is now old enough that the battery is starting to fail and we're still in a world where this single cable for power, screen and ports just doesn't seem to really exist. I'm starting to be convinced the port is fundamentally flawed, dongles with multiple ports are never reliable…

I tried some cheaper, smaller hubs for my ~2018 macbook pro 13", and nothing worked well. They either didn't work with an external monitor, or they did but they interfered with wifi.

I finally bought a CalDigit TS3 Plus. It was way more than I had hoped to have to spend on a hub, but it has worked without issue for over a year now.

https://www.caldigit.com/ts3-plus/

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#276

Post by falcolas »

bluedino wrote: post #32

I have an LG 4K monitor, a MacBook Pro, and Sony headphones that charge over USB-C, so in that scenario USB=C has been bliss. But with older machines/monitors, I need a pile of adapters. Still, I like it-for the most part. The worst thing about USB-C is the dock situation for laptops. None of them are perfect, and most of them are garbage. $200-300 is a bit hard to swallow when I've been buying Lenovo docks for $50 f…

I have an Anker hub/dock (HDMI, ethernet, USB-A), and it works fairly well. A bit noisy for a lower quality (i.e. poor power filtering) USB sound card. It does not provide USB-C power pass-through, however.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#277

Post by bluGill »

rolobio wrote: post #260
vr46 wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aha - you may find that your Switch CANNOT in fact share a charge - Nintendo's port is not necessarily safe to use with anything but its supplied charger. And I've just learned this lesson with a $60 bill from Nintendo repair after the port went pop and couldn't charge the device. I only have reputable chargers in the house from Apple and one from Anker aside from the Nintendo's own. All my apple kit works fine off t…

From my research a few years ago, this is caused by the Switch asking the charger for 20V, but it actually expects 15V. The Nintendo charger obeys this hidden rule, but any other charger will happily provide 20V. I think the difference between a 20V and 15V charge isn't significant enough to blow the Switch up the first time you use it, but, over time it will blow up.

If this is really the case Nintendo is vulnerable to a class action lawsuit. Any lawyers want to take the case?

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#278

Post by chrisseaton »

frosted-flakes wrote: post #228
leetcrew wrote: post #192

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Physical connectors previous encoded information about data/power transfer mode support. When USB C unified the physical connector, that information was lost. this is not strictly true, at least for USB. you can use a USB 1.x to connect USB2/3 endpoints, but you will only get 1.x speeds. there were power-only cables that didn't transfer data at all. they are all physically compatible. unless you're familiar with th…

USB 3 connectors and ports were pretty much always blue.

> USB 3 connectors and ports were pretty much always blue.

I’ve never seen a blue connector and ports in most laptops are just body coloured like in MacBooks.

Re: USB-C was supposed to simplify our lives, but instead it’s a total mess

#279

Post by petters »

jeremymcanally wrote: post #4

Really? I find it to be a game changer for me. The fact that my laptop, Switch, iPad, and several other devices can all share a charge has made my life much easier. I can just sprinkle a few of them throughout the house and never be without power. Before it was always a hunt to find a cable, or I had to be in [x] room to charge [y] device because that's where the charger lived. Plus, I can charge my MacBook on either…

I felt the same way as you until my laptop was destroyed by a third-party charger.
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