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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

#281

Post by zajio1am »

crazygringo wrote: post #162

I'm just surprised there are still a lot of mainstream accessories that aren't available in USB-C. I bought a Logitech C920 webcam the other day (the most pouplar model)... and it's still only available in USB-A. If you want a Logitech webcam with USB-C, you've got to pay over twice as much for a model like their StreamCam. I'm happy to use dongles for HDMI or Ethernet when I have to. But the fact that I still have t…

Even today, new desktop mainboards have 6-8 USB-A ports and zero or one USB-C ports. So it is not surprising that accessories (especially ones for desktops) are offered with USB-A connectors.

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

#282

Post by sergeykish »

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…

This explains why there are so many "no charge" Nintendo Switch in TronicsFix videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xix7qzbOT6Q

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

#283

Post by falcolas »

shadowgovt wrote: post #126

I don't think the issue is as hard as the author makes it out to be. 1) have device 2) have charger 3) plug device into charger 4) does it charge? 5) if no, write on charger "sucks" and get another charger If one is worried about buying the wrong charger, here's a hint: people review these things on online stores, and cheaper is worse.

There's also the cable between the charger and PC, and the capacity of that matters too. It might not be the charger, it might be a limit on the cable's power capacity.

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

#284

Post by hinkley »

josho wrote: post #98
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…

A good (read expensive) dongle will work fine. I have one that reliably powers 2 monitors (a 5k and a 4k), 1gb network and powers my macbook. I think the real problem is we get a lot of cheap products coming from China with very little quality control. QC is poor because they have no incentive to build in quality. E.g. you likely don't realize how flaky the dongle is until after the 30 day return policy, the branding…

Or spring for a monitor with thunderbolt on it, and ditch the dongle or move it to a permanent location behind the monitor.

I am currently waiting for thunderbolt 4 support to upgrade my other monitor, so can have a hub in there somewhere instead of some devices plugged into each monitor.

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

#286

Post by dspillett »

crazygringo wrote: post #214
warmwaffles wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it's still only available in USB-A That's because it is still the most common type of port out there and it doesn't require a huge bandwidth that USB-C provides. If anything it would be overkill and over priced for what you get. I think logitech is waiting for USB-C to become more prevalent and the cost to manufacture to drop.

So after more than 5 years, USB-C is still too expensive and "overkill"? That might be true, but then it's a massive failure. The entire point of USB-C is for the whole computing ecosystem to migrate. If that's prohibitively expensive for a common webcam, then it's an utter design failure. But I have a hard time believig it actually is true, since I can also find a bunch of cheap USB-C stuff on Amazon as well. So I h…

> So after more than 5 years, USB-C is still too expensive and "overkill"?

Yes, if you already have a working design that uses USB-A and you don't want to mess around with the manufacturing process.

Also three are a log of people out there with no USB-C ports on their machine or existing USB-C chargers so you end up needing to provide at least an A->C adaptor (OK, these aren't expensive, but it costs >$0 to include one) or if your device charges too slowly off non-PD ports then you need to provide a wall-wart where you otherwise might get away with being cheap and not.

Furthermore, I know some people who are actively avoiding USB-C (seems odd, but true) as they already have a pile of devices/wallwarts/batteries/cables that are based on the older connectors.

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

#287

Post by notacoward »

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…

This doesn't seem like a factor in favor of USB-C. I regularly charge any of two dozen USB device in my house from any of a half dozen smart chargers, using too many micro-B cables to count, and it has been months since I spent even one moment thinking about compatibility among them all. This kind of setup was already common.

My USB-C devices are the ones I need to worry about. All of the chargers I've bought (not the ones that came with devices) have at least one USB-C port, but the charger I have in my bedroom is too weak for the laptop I'm using in the family room right now, which is precisely why they stay in different rooms. And then there's the Switch, as others have mentioned. At least for the devices I own, USB-C is far more differentiated/fragmented than USB-B. The only thing that's unified is the physical connector.

ETA: I see a lot of other comments saying they don't have problems. Almost to a one, they seem to be Mac users talking about fairly static setups, and recommend "top of the line" (i.e. expensive) docks etc. I suggest that those experiences are even less representative of the typical non-HN user than my own.

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

#288

Post by dcchambers »

quicklime wrote: post #207
dcchambers wrote: post #82

USB-C is mostly a mess if you try to get away using the cheapest adapters/cables you can find, that often times won't follow the spec. Most of the issues vanish if you use high-end cables/adapters from reputable manufacturers. This is a departure from the world of Micro USB where most cheap cables worked just as good as "high end" cables. There are caveats. For example, my Nintendo Switch, a major electronics device…

Another caveat is that many monitors have USB-C ports, but many (most?) cables do not support video. Even my cable from a luxury brand in Cupertino doesn't support it, so it's not just about sticking to famous brands. I'm not sure how a regular consumer is supposed to understand this. In the past, it wasn't possible to plug a VGA cable into a PS/2 port. Now, you just have to know these hidden properties of each cable…

I think we need a better way to differentiate between the capabilities of the cable and port type. I like having a unified port, and I think it's ok that not all cables will do everything as a way to save cost, but it needs to be apparent to the consumer in easily identifiable manor.

e.g.

- USB-C

- USB-C-V (with video capabilities)

- USB-C-T3 and USB-C-T4 (with thunderbolt 3/4)

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

#289

Post by falcolas »

wlll wrote: post #230

I absolutely loath it. I have a new 16" Macbook Pro, I had a 2014 Macbook Pro. I now have to buy a crap ton of adapters to get the same functionality as I had in 2014, and sometimes they don't work. I don't know why, they are meant to, but they don't. Also, Magsafe was a game changer. If I had a choice between USB-C and ports-o-plenty as I had on my 2014 MBP I would choose the latter.

Agreed. I've been on a macbook pro with USB-C only for about 4 years now, and I am still using a dock to provide 3 USB-A, a HDMI, and an ethernet port, plus power, and plus a dongle to run a USB headset adapter.

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

#290

Post by pwinnski »

jeremymcanally wrote: post #97
buzzerbetrayed wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you not read the article? Because your response doesn’t address any of the issues brought up in the article. Mainly that all the usb-c cables you sprinkle across your house might not have the same functionality. And if you plug your switch in to one it might charge it, while another will not.

I did read it, and for my use cases, I don't have issues. I understand others' use cases may not match mine, but this situation seems basically like any other connectivity standard in the history of technology. Except this time, the universality for what most people use it for has actually managed to catch on. :)

"Universality" that involves many people finding that cables that look identical don't actually work the same way.

Interesting definition there.

Universality of physical plug, I guess?

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