I wish my Xbox Series S would work on USB-C. Some guy modded his with a buck convertor[0] and I wish there was an easier way in 2026.
I'm a USB-C Maximalist
81–90 of 461 posts
Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist
#82I wish USB power strips were common and well made.
Like AC power strips, with a long cable and a body maybe 12" long with spaced out USB-C and a few USB-A ports.
I'd also like a version that sits on top of a desk and is angled towards you.
They make things like this for AC, but not USB.
(actually there are a few out there by no-name brands, but not many)
Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist
#83I don't like USB-C because they all look the same on the outside, but they're not all the same on the inside. Especially my cheap consumer electronics. Sometimes they will charge, sometimes they won't charge, but all the cables look the same, and you don't tend to know in advance.
Usually they won't charge because they're not actually USB-C devices but are just broken and only pretend to be one (mostly due to missing resistors on CC lines, but there are other ways a device can be non-compliant too).
Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist
#84I don't like USB-C because they all look the same on the outside, but they're not all the same on the inside. Especially my cheap consumer electronics. Sometimes they will charge, sometimes they won't charge, but all the cables look the same, and you don't tend to know in advance.
I read about this so often, yet it's a problem I just never encountered. If I need super high bandwidth like connecting a display, I pick one of those annoyingly unlflexible fat cables. Easy. They even tend to feature the TB4 flash icon. Surely I would not expect any of the light and nimble ones to do that trick. When I need strong PD, it's also either one of those or one of the far more flexible but still quite thick braided ones. Often they have some hinge gimmick connector to prevent any hope for bandwidth one might be tempted to have. All other cables, I expect nothing but legacy USB. Yeah, and some of those won't do data at all (curiosly those are never the lightest cables in my stable, the lightest ones tend to do the legacy USB "gear not, some bits will eventually get through!" just fine)
Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wish there are easy ways to figure out the maximum current and wattage supported by a cable. So many cables don't label themselves except on the box!
Note there is a link at the end of the article to a device which can test cables and determine exactly that! But it's a sign of the problem that you need that thing. With USB-C cables I tend to throw them out unless they are premium cables that cost upwards of $20, I mean I could keep the cheap ones around to charge this or that but cheap cables have this way of going bad, like they are supposed to work if you plug t…
Even the simplest 3-wire cable with nothing but wires in it will handle 45W charging already, which is enough to power my laptop. It needs to be physically broken to not work. If it doesn't, it's usually the device's fault. There are many cheap devices out there that are just USB-C-shaped and don't actually implement the spec, working with some kinds of cables and not working with others.
Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wish there are easy ways to figure out the maximum current and wattage supported by a cable. So many cables don't label themselves except on the box!
You're welcome: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DYJL5Z67 This device let me categorize all my loose cables (and throw out the truly terrible ones). It was worth every penny.
These PD testers are cool (I thought about buying one), but honestly, for the price of a tester, one can buy 2, maybe even 3 good quality cables and just throw away the rest.
Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist
#87I wish USB power strips were common and well made. Like AC power strips, with a long cable and a body maybe 12" long with spaced out USB-C and a few USB-A ports. I'd also like a version that sits on top of a desk and is angled towards you. They make things like this for AC, but not USB. (actually there are a few out there by no-name brands, but not many)
> actually there are a few out there
Because the usecase of charging many (think 5 or more) devices at the same time for hours is pretty rare.
Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're welcome: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DYJL5Z67 This device let me categorize all my loose cables (and throw out the truly terrible ones). It was worth every penny.
These PD testers are cool (I thought about buying one), but honestly, for the price of a tester, one can buy 2, maybe even 3 good quality cables and just throw away the rest.
Fair point, I just have oodles of cables (literally 10-20+ per combo of micro/mini/standard-USB-A/B/C micro/mini/standard-USB-A/B/C each) and I like having them all organized by capability so that when I need one I can grab from right bin.
Before getting the tester I just kept buying new "known good" cables whenever I needed one since my cable drawer was just a huge unknown.
Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist
#89Recently bought a guitar amp which came with a cursed USB-C cable: http://oirase.annexia.org/tmp/IMG_20260709_123740.jpg
I'm curious, what amp is this? Is it for charging something? The end is TRRS, is there a DAC/ADC molded in the plug for audio interface purposes?
Re: I'm a USB-C Maximalist
#90> What are the chances that I could find the exact charger needed for a GameBoy Colour? Fairly high. Nitpick time: The Gameboy Color[0] took a standard-size battery that you can still buy today. It did not need to be charged, but you did have to turn the system off to swap batteries unless you had a barrel-jack adapter. Barrel-jack DC wasn't quite standard, but you might be able to find something compatible if you we…
To add insult to the injury, the charging port of Nintendo DS Lite was almost mini-USB, but not quite - with enough force and some metal bending it was apparently possible to make it work with regular mini-USB cable. Absolutely idiotic design, especially since that port was just 5V input anyway, anyone with soldering iron could tweak USB-A cable to work with the proprietary charging connector.