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Sometimes it seems like I'm the only person with absolutely zero issues with USB-C. I have a Lenovo monitor that delivers power+HDMI+usbhub to my laptop, and ha

Sometimes it seems like I'm the only person with absolutely zero issues with USB-C. I have a Lenovo monitor that delivers power+HDMI+usbhub to my laptop, and having to only plug one thing in to access all my peripherals is amazing. I used a bog standard Anker USB-C cable for this.

amelius 6y ago
Just wait until you have to write an embedded driver for it.
- Decker87 6y ago
  I'll be waiting for a long, long time then.
  - amelius 6y ago
    If you're an embedded developer, that's usually a matter of your boss or a customer deciding it for you.
- martin_a 6y ago
  Ah yeah, who doesn't do this everyday? I've written like... five of these today alone... Honestly, you'll find those "for me it's SUPER stressful"-cases everywhere, but it will not touch 99.99% of the other people.
  - arkitaip 6y ago
    Bah, in my days we wrote a dozen of drivers per day and that's only because we had to fight the network admins in hand to hand combat during the afternoon....
  - newsclues 6y ago
    If it’s very difficult for developers to do a good job, the likelihood you encounter bugs as a user increases. Even if you don’t write drivers, doesn’t mean you can’t suffer from difficult to implement standards.
- megous 6y ago
  I did, it's not pleasant. :)
Waterluvian 6y ago
I’m sure for some it’s a nightmare worthy of writing about, but yeah I’ve never had a problem. I love that USB-C trivially expanded my laptop to having two DisplayPort devices so I can run 3 4K screens at 60hz
- 542354234235 6y ago
  It isn’t a nightmare, but it is an issue of conflicting compatibility. He flat out states that it is a vast improvement, and then goes into the issues it does have and what fixes should be focused on as we iterate in the future. I personally have had some of these issues, where some of my older chargers and cables do not work with more modern devices, as well as some devices having proprietary chargers and cables to get full power (looking at you, Oneplus “warp charging”). It isn’t the end of the world, but they are issues I hope people work on, so we can move closer to more universal standards and interconnectability. USB C is a huge step towards that, but it isn’t’ there yet.
- oefnak 6y ago
  What laptop do you have that does 3×4K@60Hz? Is it loud?
  - Waterluvian 6y ago
    Xps15 9560. It sounds like a jet engine taking off when I’m playing Subnautica but otherwise isn’t actually too hard on the gpu
    - julianlam 6y ago
      That sounds neat! Are you daisy chaining from one monitor to another? I think my monitor supports that too.
      - Waterluvian 6y ago
        One monitor is the laptop. Then I use a dongle that provides two full-size DP ports from one USB C
jacobush 6y ago
Hehe, my new work Lenovo laptop needs some kind of USB-C dongle for it to connect an external monitor. In the end, one needs two Lenovo chargers, the dongle and cables. Fun stuff. Plus the power supply to the monitor, of course. I expected what you said, got something else altogether.
sq_ 6y ago
> I have a Lenovo monitor that delivers power+HDMI+usbhub to my laptop, and having to only plug one thing in to access all my peripherals is amazing. I've been all-in on USB-C for a while now, and I just finally got to use a friend's monitor with that feature set the other day. It was so awesome! I expected to have to plug a keyboard and mouse in, etc., but I just sat down and plugged in the USB-C cable to my MBP and everything just worked.
reader_mode 6y ago
I have a 34WK95U-W 5k monitor I use for the same setup : - initially OSX had a bug with my 2018 Vega20 MBP and I couldn't even use the monitor it would keep glitching out - I had to switch to beta channel to get it working - I cannot get DP 1.4 to work properly - I can either have half resolution with HDR on DP 1.4 or I can switch monitor to DP 1.2 and get full 5k without HDR - I cannot use the monitor with my wife's Lenovo laptop for charging and 5k display - if I try to do both it constantly resets the display - I'm assuming it draws too much power, when I plug a separate power adapter it works fine - I am not sure if this monitor would work with an AMD laptop that has USB 3.2 as LG only advertises thunderbolt support but theoretically DisplayPort Alternate Mode should work. Also have no clue if it would charge or if the USB hub functionality would work Overall this was a pretty unsatisfying experience for a 2000$ device.
ip26 6y ago
For some reason text doesn't render sharply over USB-C on my 4K. So I just switched back to display port instead, and continued with life. That's been the only issue.
- WolfRazu 6y ago
  Chroma subsampling perhaps?
benhue 6y ago
So I was the same until the cable that I used with the monitor broke and I thought I could just use the same cable that shipped with my MacBook Pro (which are quite pricey), it didn't work as I had no idea you needed a cable that supported video and for a while assumed my monitor was broken. Now imagine a less technically literate person experiencing this.
rhacker 6y ago
Definitely not alone. I have a USB A headset. I have a new macbook pro with USB(C/thunderf*ck?) adapter that lets me use this headset on my mac. No biggy. Anyway one day I was like, huh, I bet this won't work, but I plugged my Mac adapter into my Oneplus phone, with the USB A headset attached. The phone actually detected the headset, including the volume up/down button built in. So yes, USB-C simplified my life.
MikeKusold 6y ago
USB-C monitors are a complete mess too. My LG monitor only charges at 65W over USB-C, so I still need to plug in my MBP charger to avoid depleting my battery. A lot of docks also face this problem.
cwhiz 6y ago
I have not had a problem with anything. Multiple MacBook Pros, Switch, Quest, iPad, thumb drives, external drives, monitors, portable monitors, XPS13, and more. Never had a problem with a cable, and never had a problem with a power adapter. Maybe it's just luck? Maybe it's because I generally avoid the cheapest items on Amazon? I've been swapping cables and adapters around for 3+ years now with no issues.

amelius 6y ago

Just wait until you have to write an embedded driver for it.

Decker87 6y ago
I'll be waiting for a long, long time then.
- amelius 6y ago
  If you're an embedded developer, that's usually a matter of your boss or a customer deciding it for you.
martin_a 6y ago
Ah yeah, who doesn't do this everyday? I've written like... five of these today alone... Honestly, you'll find those "for me it's SUPER stressful"-cases everywhere, but it will not touch 99.99% of the other people.
- arkitaip 6y ago
  Bah, in my days we wrote a dozen of drivers per day and that's only because we had to fight the network admins in hand to hand combat during the afternoon....
- newsclues 6y ago
  If it’s very difficult for developers to do a good job, the likelihood you encounter bugs as a user increases. Even if you don’t write drivers, doesn’t mean you can’t suffer from difficult to implement standards.
megous 6y ago
I did, it's not pleasant. :)

Waterluvian 6y ago

I’m sure for some it’s a nightmare worthy of writing about, but yeah I’ve never had a problem. I love that USB-C trivially expanded my laptop to having two DisplayPort devices so I can run 3 4K screens at 60hz

542354234235 6y ago
It isn’t a nightmare, but it is an issue of conflicting compatibility. He flat out states that it is a vast improvement, and then goes into the issues it does have and what fixes should be focused on as we iterate in the future. I personally have had some of these issues, where some of my older chargers and cables do not work with more modern devices, as well as some devices having proprietary chargers and cables to get full power (looking at you, Oneplus “warp charging”). It isn’t the end of the world, but they are issues I hope people work on, so we can move closer to more universal standards and interconnectability. USB C is a huge step towards that, but it isn’t’ there yet.
oefnak 6y ago
What laptop do you have that does 3×4K@60Hz? Is it loud?
- Waterluvian 6y ago
  Xps15 9560. It sounds like a jet engine taking off when I’m playing Subnautica but otherwise isn’t actually too hard on the gpu
  - julianlam 6y ago
    That sounds neat! Are you daisy chaining from one monitor to another? I think my monitor supports that too.
    - Waterluvian 6y ago
      One monitor is the laptop. Then I use a dongle that provides two full-size DP ports from one USB C

jacobush 6y ago

Hehe, my new work Lenovo laptop needs some kind of USB-C dongle for it to connect an external monitor. In the end, one needs two Lenovo chargers, the dongle and cables. Fun stuff. Plus the power supply to the monitor, of course. I expected what you said, got something else altogether.

sq_ 6y ago

> I have a Lenovo monitor that delivers power+HDMI+usbhub to my laptop, and having to only plug one thing in to access all my peripherals is amazing. I've been all-in on USB-C for a while now, and I just finally got to use a friend's monitor with that feature set the other day. It was so awesome! I expected to have to plug a keyboard and mouse in, etc., but I just sat down and plugged in the USB-C cable to my MBP and everything just worked.

reader_mode 6y ago

I have a 34WK95U-W 5k monitor I use for the same setup : - initially OSX had a bug with my 2018 Vega20 MBP and I couldn't even use the monitor it would keep glitching out - I had to switch to beta channel to get it working - I cannot get DP 1.4 to work properly - I can either have half resolution with HDR on DP 1.4 or I can switch monitor to DP 1.2 and get full 5k without HDR - I cannot use the monitor with my wife's Lenovo laptop for charging and 5k display - if I try to do both it constantly resets the display - I'm assuming it draws too much power, when I plug a separate power adapter it works fine - I am not sure if this monitor would work with an AMD laptop that has USB 3.2 as LG only advertises thunderbolt support but theoretically DisplayPort Alternate Mode should work. Also have no clue if it would charge or if the USB hub functionality would work Overall this was a pretty unsatisfying experience for a 2000$ device.

ip26 6y ago

For some reason text doesn't render sharply over USB-C on my 4K. So I just switched back to display port instead, and continued with life. That's been the only issue.

WolfRazu 6y ago
Chroma subsampling perhaps?

benhue 6y ago

So I was the same until the cable that I used with the monitor broke and I thought I could just use the same cable that shipped with my MacBook Pro (which are quite pricey), it didn't work as I had no idea you needed a cable that supported video and for a while assumed my monitor was broken. Now imagine a less technically literate person experiencing this.

rhacker 6y ago

Definitely not alone. I have a USB A headset. I have a new macbook pro with USB(C/thunderf*ck?) adapter that lets me use this headset on my mac. No biggy. Anyway one day I was like, huh, I bet this won't work, but I plugged my Mac adapter into my Oneplus phone, with the USB A headset attached. The phone actually detected the headset, including the volume up/down button built in. So yes, USB-C simplified my life.

MikeKusold 6y ago

USB-C monitors are a complete mess too. My LG monitor only charges at 65W over USB-C, so I still need to plug in my MBP charger to avoid depleting my battery. A lot of docks also face this problem.

cwhiz 6y ago

I have not had a problem with anything. Multiple MacBook Pros, Switch, Quest, iPad, thumb drives, external drives, monitors, portable monitors, XPS13, and more. Never had a problem with a cable, and never had a problem with a power adapter. Maybe it's just luck? Maybe it's because I generally avoid the cheapest items on Amazon? I've been swapping cables and adapters around for 3+ years now with no issues.