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Apple has the common decency to make all of their USB-C ports identical, and support just about every allowable feature I know of, so, in theory, there's no rea
by pdpi 8y ago
Apple has the common decency to make all of their USB-C ports identical, and support just about every allowable feature I know of, so, in theory, there's no reason you'll ever plug a device into a Mac and have it not work because the port isn't compatible (even though it's physically the same). Great in theory, I just wish the ports were more reliable — I've now had two laptops with flaky ports.
Dell dropped the ball by giving this laptop two TB3 ports and one that only does USB.
- dag11 8y agoThey're identical on the same machine, but the Macbook only has USB3.1 (+ Display Port) whereas the Macbook Pro is TB3. This isn't very obvious to users.
- Dunedan 8y agoOn the MacBook Pro 2016 and 2017 they weren't completely identical, as the TB3 ports on the right side only provided 20Gbit/s instead of the "full" 40Gbit/s. Check out https://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/28/macbook-pro-tb3-reduced-pci-express-bandwidth/ https://www.macrumors.com/2016/10/28/macbook-pro-tb3-reduced... for details.
- pdpi 8y agoFair point, completely forgot about the Macbook.
- Rebelgecko 8y agoOn some MBP configurations (I think the 13 inch model?), the USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 ports on the left and right side don't have the same capabilities.
- lookingsideways 8y agoThat was the case with the 2016 and 2017 models of 13" MBP w/touch bar - the right side had reduced PCI Express bandwidth. The 2018 model has full bandwidth on all ports.
- dawnerd 8y agoDoes the 15 have the same problem?
- SomeHacker44 8y agoISTR that the 15” of all generation had 4 lane TB3 ports on both sides. The distinction was the older 13” had two lanes on the right.
- pdpi 8y agoIt's the 2016/2017 versions of the tbMBP 13". My understanding is that the the right-hand side have all the same capabilities as the left-hand side, but lower PCIe bandwidth. It's definitely confusing and a bit frustrating that it's different if you're in a scenario where the bandwidth matters, but at least it's just numbers rather than devices outright not working.
- jen20 8y agoI once encountered a situation where a particular projector would only work when connected to the right hand side of my 13" MacBook Pro (2016) - so it's not true to say that devices don't work.
- bilbo0s 8y ago>Dell dropped the ball by giving this laptop two TB3 ports and one that only does USB.... That was a serious miss on Dell's part. I'm not sure why they did that? Makes it a little annoying for users.
- wmf 8y agoThree TB3 ports would have required an extra controller chip.
- organsnyder 8y agoSeems like it would have been better to omit the third port entirely, then—or, better yet, put a USB-A port there instead.
- colemickens 8y agoHaving a Yubikey permanently installed, I can say that on the 9370, I don't miss USB Type A ports, but I definitely wouldn't be using this as a daily laptop if it had one fewer (two total) USB Type C connectors. That would effectively mean I have zero ports free when charging and with my permanent Yubikey plugged in. It's never been an issue in practice, but I also wish that Dell would remove the ambiguity and make them all TB3 ports.
- kllrnohj 8y agoI have the previous gen model which also is 2 TB3 + 1 USB-C and it really doesn't matter much at all in practice. Since TB3 is isolated to the more "permanent" stuff (docks or eGPUs) it's pretty natural to just always use the same port since the cable layout is fixed. It's not like you connect random TB3 stuff to it regularly on the go.
- Lio 8y agoOne thing that threw me for a while on my 9370 was why I couldn’t get it to boot from a USB-C memory stick. I didn’t realise at first, this was due to the difference in USB vs Thunderbolt.
- sandov 8y agoToday I learned that Thunderbolt is the name of the interface/protocol, not the connector.
- IgorPartola 8y agoMhm. Same USB 3 is the protocol while USB C is the connector. You can totally have USB 2.0 only USB C ports.
- phinnaeus 8y agoMany of the first phones that launched with USB-C connectors were USB 2.0.
- BeeOnRope 8y agoCan you have USB 3.x over Type A?
- dogma1138 8y agoYes, USB 3.X type A has additional pins, all the “blue“ type-a ports can support USB 3.0 and 3.1 gen 1/2 depending on the controller powering them. USB-C adds additional pins for alt-mode as well as a higher power delivery allowance, but the USB data protocol part of it is the same as any other type of port of the same spec.
- ac29 8y agoType A, Type B, Micro B, and C are all valid: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Receptacle_(socket)_identification https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Receptacle_(socket)_identi...
- habitue 8y agoAdditionally, it might even make sense to have the power plug only be USB-2.0, if it's cheap. No reason to have a thunderbolt 3.0 cable plugged into the wall all the time
- 8y ago
- dzhiurgis 8y ago> there's no reason you'll ever plug a device into a Mac and have it not work because the port isn't compatible You can't transfer data between two Macs using USB-C to USB-C cable that comes as a charger...
- Nursie 8y agoApple dropped the ball on the Macbook, IMHO, by making the one port not a TB3 port.