4 ms·

And to be fair the USB-C transition is an utter disaster. You can't tell really at all what capabilities a given USB-C device or even cable has by its appearanc

And to be fair the USB-C transition is an utter disaster. You can't tell really at all what capabilities a given USB-C device or even cable has by its appearance. I have a mess of black and white USB-C cables and every time I try to hook up a random USB-C accessory or plug in my USB-C laptop to its 85watt charger I have to check to check if it's charging or transferring data at full-speed. I've resorted to adding a bit of white nail-polish to the cables that I know transfer at full speed and power. And good luck finding a quality USB-C hub that actually fulfills any of the promises of "only need to plug in one cable to run everything on your laptop at full-tilt."

chx 8y ago
> You can't tell really at all what capabilities a given USB-C device or even cable has by its appearance. I wrote this up at https://superuser.com/a/1200112/41259 https://superuser.com/a/1200112/41259
Jyaif 8y ago
For me USB-C is briliant. Can charge everything (Laptop, Tablet, Nintendo Switch) except my iphone.
- ryanianian 8y ago
  It "can charge" most things but maybe not at full-speed. E.g. only high-quality USB-C cables can charge at a full 85 watts. This is especially annoying with laptops where if you're doing CPU-intensive things you may end up with a dead battery at the end of the day even if you've been plugged in the whole time. So USB-C is nice if all you're doing is charging low-wattage devices. But whenever you're doing anything else, all bets are off as to whether your particular (device-a, cable, device-b) combination will work as you'd expect or not.
- gambiting 8y ago
  It's a shame that the Nintendo Switch is on this list, because it's the shittiest of the devices to ever have a USB-C port. It's a pure lottery if it will charge with a given charger/cable - Nintendo should have never been allowed to receive USB-C certification for the lousy implementation that they have.
kylec 8y ago
I’ve picked up a bunch of Apple’s Thunderbolt 3/USB-C cables: https://store.apple.com/xc/product/MQ4H2AM/A https://store.apple.com/xc/product/MQ4H2AM/A They’re not cheap, but in my experience they do everything: Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.1 10Gbps, and up to 100W power delivery. Now I don’t have to worry about whether the cable supports what I want to do.
lexicality 8y ago
Have you ever even found a USB-C hub that has more than one USB-C port on it? The closest I've mananged to find is https://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F4U090/ https://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F4U090/ which has a whopping two whole ports on it.

chx 8y ago

> You can't tell really at all what capabilities a given USB-C device or even cable has by its appearance. I wrote this up at https://superuser.com/a/1200112/41259 https://superuser.com/a/1200112/41259

Jyaif 8y ago

For me USB-C is briliant. Can charge everything (Laptop, Tablet, Nintendo Switch) except my iphone.

ryanianian 8y ago
It "can charge" most things but maybe not at full-speed. E.g. only high-quality USB-C cables can charge at a full 85 watts. This is especially annoying with laptops where if you're doing CPU-intensive things you may end up with a dead battery at the end of the day even if you've been plugged in the whole time. So USB-C is nice if all you're doing is charging low-wattage devices. But whenever you're doing anything else, all bets are off as to whether your particular (device-a, cable, device-b) combination will work as you'd expect or not.
gambiting 8y ago
It's a shame that the Nintendo Switch is on this list, because it's the shittiest of the devices to ever have a USB-C port. It's a pure lottery if it will charge with a given charger/cable - Nintendo should have never been allowed to receive USB-C certification for the lousy implementation that they have.

kylec 8y ago

I’ve picked up a bunch of Apple’s Thunderbolt 3/USB-C cables: https://store.apple.com/xc/product/MQ4H2AM/A https://store.apple.com/xc/product/MQ4H2AM/A They’re not cheap, but in my experience they do everything: Thunderbolt 3, USB 3.1 10Gbps, and up to 100W power delivery. Now I don’t have to worry about whether the cable supports what I want to do.

lexicality 8y ago

Have you ever even found a USB-C hub that has more than one USB-C port on it? The closest I've mananged to find is https://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F4U090/ https://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F4U090/ which has a whopping two whole ports on it.