6 ms·

My phone, Sony camera, battery bank, and now laptop are all usb-c. I welcome this with open arms.

izacus 8y ago
What, the annoyance every time you need to plug in a USB stick or a mouse you down own? Even now, after two years of USB-C macbook, it's still incredible how annoying having to look for those damn dongles is. You do understand that you can have BOTH ports on the laptop right - see for example how Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon engineers manage to stuff usable ports on the same chasis size.
- Latteland 8y ago
  The google pixel 2015 was the top of the heap for ports. 2 usb-c ports, headphones!, 2 usb-a, sd card. All laptops should have this. It's just endless pain. Certainly 2 usb-c ports are better than 1. But why not put 4? Even better usb-c + usb-a.
  - masklinn 8y ago
    > Certainly 2 usb-c ports are better than 1. But why not put 4? Even better usb-c + usb-a. Because they're not just Type C ports, they're TB3 ports, Intel's stinginess with respect to PCIe lanes & TB3 controller integration means it's hard to put many of those in a machine especially on low-end CPUs, and I guess Apple prefers uniformising capabilities to an extent (even if performances can differ see e.g. the 13" MBP) to having multiple ports with the exact same connector but completely divergent capabilities.
falcolas 8y ago
In contrast - my USB hubs, external USB drives, and CD reader are all USB A. My phone is Lightning. My spare chargers are two flavors of magsafe. The cords I've begun to accumulate to work with a USB C computer have varying capabilities, to the point where I can't safely interchange them for fear of blowing past their tolerances accidentally. I'm not so keen on this change.
- notatoad 8y ago
  >for fear of blowing past their tolerances accidentally this is not how USB-C works. you might end up with a cable that doesn't support high voltage, but it simply won't upgrade to a higher voltage and your device will charge slower or not at all. I agree that it's frustrating that all USB-C cables aren't interchangeable, but to imply they're potentially unsafe is wrong. There was a bunch of out-of-spec cables on the market shortly after USB-C came into use with the nexus phones and the macbook pro, but that problem has almost entirely been solved, and is still a much smaller problem than cheap aftermarket USB-A charging bricks sold by the same sketchy vendors.
  - rspeer 8y ago
    I got an out-of-spec USB-C cable three weeks ago. While driving a long distance, I noticed that I had failed to bring any way to charge my phone in the car, so I bought a USB-A to USB-C cable at a rest stop convenience store. It served its immediate purpose of not leaving me lost with a dead battery. But it doesn't charge many other devices, and it only works when plugged in with the USB logo facing down. I don't consider the problem of fake USB-C cables solved. (I have no idea what brand it is, and the convenience store themselves probably bought whatever the cheapest counterfeit thing on Amazon was)
  - jazzyjackson 8y ago
    yeah my nexus 5x melted thanks to a USB-C cable that I didn't strike me as off-brand or fake. So I'm skittish about USB C now. oh well.
- cbhl 8y ago
  > The cords I've begun to accumulate to work with a USB C computer have varying capabilities USB-A had these problems back in 1998. It's early days for USB-C, but I think a few more hardware iterations and hopefully things will start settling down. Right now USB-C controllers are too complex and expensive to fit in low-end devices (think $49 TV dongles).
- zaroth 8y ago
  If your drive enclosures are USB A you’re leaving massive throughout on the table and wasting your time for what would be a $30 part on Amazon. The new “spare charger” is a 10kmAh battery pack which will have USB-C and some double as a way to jump start your car (assuming you still drive ICE). It’s also a worthwhile upgrade and much more useful than something that has you hunting for outlets at the airport, or god forbid, under your seat on a plane! But a C D Reader? What is that? Is that like the radio that truckers used to use to talk to each other in the road?
lathiat 8y ago
I mean I've got 2 AT keyboards and 3 PS/2 mice in my drawer. Why can't I plug these into the latest MacBook pro? It's a travesty.
- 51lver 8y ago
  I gotchu fam! AT > PS/2 > usb A > usb C If I were you, I'd stick all that crap inside the massive schoolbus sized AT keyboard where you can't see it. There is probably plenty of room. Hell, go ahead an integrate a USB hub too, then you can use the keyboard itself to adapt other legacy devices to usb C.
  - dwighttk 8y ago
    why didn't they include an ADB port?
    - 51lver 8y ago
      Because svideo is a terrible serial protocol.
  - tinus_hn 8y ago
    You can’t use a ps/2 keyboard using an adapter on the Mac, it doesn’t work. I’ve tried.

What, the annoyance every time you need to plug in a USB stick or a mouse you down own? Even now, after two years of USB-C macbook, it's still incredible how annoying having to look for those damn dongles is. You do understand that you can have BOTH ports on the laptop right - see for example how Lenovo Thinkpad Carbon engineers manage to stuff usable ports on the same chasis size.

Latteland 8y ago
The google pixel 2015 was the top of the heap for ports. 2 usb-c ports, headphones!, 2 usb-a, sd card. All laptops should have this. It's just endless pain. Certainly 2 usb-c ports are better than 1. But why not put 4? Even better usb-c + usb-a.
- masklinn 8y ago
  > Certainly 2 usb-c ports are better than 1. But why not put 4? Even better usb-c + usb-a. Because they're not just Type C ports, they're TB3 ports, Intel's stinginess with respect to PCIe lanes & TB3 controller integration means it's hard to put many of those in a machine especially on low-end CPUs, and I guess Apple prefers uniformising capabilities to an extent (even if performances can differ see e.g. the 13" MBP) to having multiple ports with the exact same connector but completely divergent capabilities.

falcolas 8y ago

In contrast - my USB hubs, external USB drives, and CD reader are all USB A. My phone is Lightning. My spare chargers are two flavors of magsafe. The cords I've begun to accumulate to work with a USB C computer have varying capabilities, to the point where I can't safely interchange them for fear of blowing past their tolerances accidentally. I'm not so keen on this change.

notatoad 8y ago
>for fear of blowing past their tolerances accidentally this is not how USB-C works. you might end up with a cable that doesn't support high voltage, but it simply won't upgrade to a higher voltage and your device will charge slower or not at all. I agree that it's frustrating that all USB-C cables aren't interchangeable, but to imply they're potentially unsafe is wrong. There was a bunch of out-of-spec cables on the market shortly after USB-C came into use with the nexus phones and the macbook pro, but that problem has almost entirely been solved, and is still a much smaller problem than cheap aftermarket USB-A charging bricks sold by the same sketchy vendors.
- rspeer 8y ago
  I got an out-of-spec USB-C cable three weeks ago. While driving a long distance, I noticed that I had failed to bring any way to charge my phone in the car, so I bought a USB-A to USB-C cable at a rest stop convenience store. It served its immediate purpose of not leaving me lost with a dead battery. But it doesn't charge many other devices, and it only works when plugged in with the USB logo facing down. I don't consider the problem of fake USB-C cables solved. (I have no idea what brand it is, and the convenience store themselves probably bought whatever the cheapest counterfeit thing on Amazon was)
- jazzyjackson 8y ago
  yeah my nexus 5x melted thanks to a USB-C cable that I didn't strike me as off-brand or fake. So I'm skittish about USB C now. oh well.
cbhl 8y ago
> The cords I've begun to accumulate to work with a USB C computer have varying capabilities USB-A had these problems back in 1998. It's early days for USB-C, but I think a few more hardware iterations and hopefully things will start settling down. Right now USB-C controllers are too complex and expensive to fit in low-end devices (think $49 TV dongles).
zaroth 8y ago
If your drive enclosures are USB A you’re leaving massive throughout on the table and wasting your time for what would be a $30 part on Amazon. The new “spare charger” is a 10kmAh battery pack which will have USB-C and some double as a way to jump start your car (assuming you still drive ICE). It’s also a worthwhile upgrade and much more useful than something that has you hunting for outlets at the airport, or god forbid, under your seat on a plane! But a C D Reader? What is that? Is that like the radio that truckers used to use to talk to each other in the road?

lathiat 8y ago

I mean I've got 2 AT keyboards and 3 PS/2 mice in my drawer. Why can't I plug these into the latest MacBook pro? It's a travesty.

51lver 8y ago
I gotchu fam! AT > PS/2 > usb A > usb C If I were you, I'd stick all that crap inside the massive schoolbus sized AT keyboard where you can't see it. There is probably plenty of room. Hell, go ahead an integrate a USB hub too, then you can use the keyboard itself to adapt other legacy devices to usb C.
- dwighttk 8y ago
  why didn't they include an ADB port?
  - 51lver 8y ago
    Because svideo is a terrible serial protocol.
- tinus_hn 8y ago
  You can’t use a ps/2 keyboard using an adapter on the Mac, it doesn’t work. I’ve tried.