4 ms·

Up until USB 2.0 and to a degree, 3.0, USB was pretty straight forward in the fact that EVERY USB device plugged in worked. Now you have USB C with a laundry l

Up until USB 2.0 and to a degree, 3.0, USB was pretty straight forward in the fact that EVERY USB device plugged in worked. Now you have USB C with a laundry list of supported features and protocols which may or may not be present on your device and most consumers are completely clueless. Does that USB C port on your device support Displayport? Does it do Thunderbolt? Can it be used for charging? What does it do exactly? Too many technical features in a consumer plug.

nsxwolf 9y ago
I wonder if they'll ever start giving the plugs different shapes to differentiate them :/
- wil421 9y ago
  I might have to wait for the plug wars to end before I buy a new laptop. I remember when I thought FireWire was going to be the future...then thunderbolt...display port...usb c...usb n + 1
  - fooey 9y ago
    Apple encumbered tech will never be the tech that wins the future
    - ZenoArrow 9y ago
      Only one of the standards listed was developed by Apple (FireWire). Thunderbolt and USB were both developed by Intel, and DisplayPort was developed by VESA. In all three of those cases Apple was just an early adopter.
      - ZenoArrow 9y ago
        To be clear, Apple is a member of VESA, so they may have had some input into the design of DisplayPort. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Electronics_Standards_Association https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Electronics_Standards_...
    - wil421 9y ago
      Forgot FireWire was an Apple push. Nice to see they didn’t push lightening cables to Macs. I can name others I adopted on PC including eSATA and Zip Drives.
doughj3 9y ago
> most consumers are completely clueless In my experience even many techies are clueless, myself included. I recently purchased a Lenovo* Thunderbolt laptop dock for my new Lenovo laptop that has a USB-C port, but quickly found out that this laptop does not support Thunderbolt: the dock plugs-in fine, but doesn't actually work. Apparently there is a separate "USB-C dock" in addition to their Thunderbolt dock, but I wasn't aware this was something I had to take into consideration. I'm also left wondering what would happen if I took the USB-C charger for the laptop and plugged it into the USB-C port on my phone, or vice versa. How "universal" is USB-C anymore? * I'm not a fan of Lenovo in general but that's what's available through work.
- wlesieutre 9y ago
  The charging should work if they've adhered to the USB Power Delivery standard. Laptops should be pretty good about this. Basically there are a couple of pairs of voltage/amperage ratings and the charger/device will negotiate the highest rate that both are capable of. It tops out at 100W (5A at 20V). Qualcomm has their own "Quick Charge" system which is not generally compatible. A lot of phones (Samsung) are doing this, but a quick search says it might also work with USB-PD chargers. In other words, it sounds nice but it's actually a bit of a mess. FWIW I use an Anker 5-port + USB-C charger at my desk with a Macbook Pro and it works fine (though it's 29W instead of 61W so it doesn't charge the battery during use). http://www.usb.org/developers/powerdelivery/ http://www.usb.org/developers/powerdelivery/ https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS8/comments/69xox4/the_galaxy_s8_supports_usbpd_5v3a/ https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS8/comments/69xox4/the_galaxy...
- yorby 9y ago
  isn't Thunderbolt for Apple devices?
  - berbec 9y ago
    It's been around for PCs for a while too. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it started as an Apple/Intel extension to DP. I've yet to see it in an AMD PC yet.

nsxwolf 9y ago

I wonder if they'll ever start giving the plugs different shapes to differentiate them :/

wil421 9y ago
I might have to wait for the plug wars to end before I buy a new laptop. I remember when I thought FireWire was going to be the future...then thunderbolt...display port...usb c...usb n + 1
- fooey 9y ago
  Apple encumbered tech will never be the tech that wins the future
  - ZenoArrow 9y ago
    Only one of the standards listed was developed by Apple (FireWire). Thunderbolt and USB were both developed by Intel, and DisplayPort was developed by VESA. In all three of those cases Apple was just an early adopter.
    - ZenoArrow 9y ago
      To be clear, Apple is a member of VESA, so they may have had some input into the design of DisplayPort. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Electronics_Standards_Association https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Electronics_Standards_...
  - wil421 9y ago
    Forgot FireWire was an Apple push. Nice to see they didn’t push lightening cables to Macs. I can name others I adopted on PC including eSATA and Zip Drives.

doughj3 9y ago

> most consumers are completely clueless In my experience even many techies are clueless, myself included. I recently purchased a Lenovo* Thunderbolt laptop dock for my new Lenovo laptop that has a USB-C port, but quickly found out that this laptop does not support Thunderbolt: the dock plugs-in fine, but doesn't actually work. Apparently there is a separate "USB-C dock" in addition to their Thunderbolt dock, but I wasn't aware this was something I had to take into consideration. I'm also left wondering what would happen if I took the USB-C charger for the laptop and plugged it into the USB-C port on my phone, or vice versa. How "universal" is USB-C anymore? * I'm not a fan of Lenovo in general but that's what's available through work.

wlesieutre 9y ago
The charging should work if they've adhered to the USB Power Delivery standard. Laptops should be pretty good about this. Basically there are a couple of pairs of voltage/amperage ratings and the charger/device will negotiate the highest rate that both are capable of. It tops out at 100W (5A at 20V). Qualcomm has their own "Quick Charge" system which is not generally compatible. A lot of phones (Samsung) are doing this, but a quick search says it might also work with USB-PD chargers. In other words, it sounds nice but it's actually a bit of a mess. FWIW I use an Anker 5-port + USB-C charger at my desk with a Macbook Pro and it works fine (though it's 29W instead of 61W so it doesn't charge the battery during use). http://www.usb.org/developers/powerdelivery/ http://www.usb.org/developers/powerdelivery/ https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS8/comments/69xox4/the_galaxy_s8_supports_usbpd_5v3a/ https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS8/comments/69xox4/the_galaxy...
yorby 9y ago
isn't Thunderbolt for Apple devices?
- berbec 9y ago
  It's been around for PCs for a while too. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it started as an Apple/Intel extension to DP. I've yet to see it in an AMD PC yet.