4 ms·

I can see the good and bad in this. But as of right now USB C looks like the future with both the amount of power it can deliver as a port, as well as speed in

I can see the good and bad in this. But as of right now USB C looks like the future with both the amount of power it can deliver as a port, as well as speed in terms of Thunderbolt 4, plus thunderbolt 4 will open up to not just intel if I understand correctly. Every single device in my house now uses USB C. From phone, laptop, tablet, to keyboard, air monitor, even my flashlights charge via USB C.

nicce 5y ago
Actually Apple is moving a way from USB-C-only charger on the next gen laptops, because it does not provide enough power(to get even better charging speed). (Physical size limits that) So, maybe for phones it is enough in the future, but not for all devices.
- sudosysgen 5y ago
  That's bullshit. You can carry 240W over USB-C. Physical size limits current, not voltage, and you can increase voltage.
  - dspillett 5y ago
    Is anyone actually selling devices that can output or consume that yet? IIRC the updated standard was only made public a few months ago. I know some off-spec devices (some XPS laptops for instance) can shovel 130W around where 100W is the usual maximum but I don't remember hearing of any that make use of more. There is another option without that standard too: you could always draw from more than one source. Many USB connected DVD writing devices did (probably still do if not using USB-C) this, so they could be used to write reliably at full speed if the host PC couldn't give more than the lower power standards down a USB port (with higher power support you only need one connection, with legacy ports one connector was data+power the other just power).
    - sudosysgen 5y ago
      None of them have hit the market yet, indeed. But it's still not an issue for Apple, adding a 48V mode to their USB PD controller is trivial. Drawing from multiple ports is a good idea! But if you're MacGyvering something, it's much easier to connect the right resistor to the USB C connector and solder the power lines right into a 48V PSU.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - nicce 5y ago
    > Physical size limits current, not voltage, and you can increase voltage. Exactly, you need to increase both for better charging speeds. 240W is not a lot for charging if the battery sizes keep growing. To add, increasing only voltage is not good for battery and gets challenging.
    - sudosysgen 5y ago
      But battery sizes are not growing anymore. The latest macbooks have under 60Wh batteries. Also it's very wrong that voltage is bad for batteries. The voltage going through the cable is transformed down to the exact voltage that the battery charge controller decides is appropriate for the charge of the battery at any given moment. If you really wanted even more power, which you don't really, there's no reason you couldn't go to 60V.
- post_break 5y ago
  Yeah I don't know where you're getting this info. The most an Apple laptop pulls right now is 100w because the intel chip pulls a ton of power. 240w in lab testing now. And with Apple chips they are going to sip power. Unless Apple puts a 6900XT into a laptop they won't be hitting that charging limit.
  - nicce 5y ago
    Especially the 16 inc Macbooks can go over that consumption. But however the main point is in charging, you need a lot more watts to charge faster, as the batteries are getting bigger and if you want to improve existing charging speeds. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-15/apple-macbook-pros-with-magsafe-return-in-the-works https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-15/apple-mac... https://www.macrumors.com/2021/01/15/magsafe-coming-to-macbook-pro-2021/ https://www.macrumors.com/2021/01/15/magsafe-coming-to-macbo...

nicce 5y ago

Actually Apple is moving a way from USB-C-only charger on the next gen laptops, because it does not provide enough power(to get even better charging speed). (Physical size limits that) So, maybe for phones it is enough in the future, but not for all devices.

sudosysgen 5y ago
That's bullshit. You can carry 240W over USB-C. Physical size limits current, not voltage, and you can increase voltage.
- dspillett 5y ago
  Is anyone actually selling devices that can output or consume that yet? IIRC the updated standard was only made public a few months ago. I know some off-spec devices (some XPS laptops for instance) can shovel 130W around where 100W is the usual maximum but I don't remember hearing of any that make use of more. There is another option without that standard too: you could always draw from more than one source. Many USB connected DVD writing devices did (probably still do if not using USB-C) this, so they could be used to write reliably at full speed if the host PC couldn't give more than the lower power standards down a USB port (with higher power support you only need one connection, with legacy ports one connector was data+power the other just power).
  - sudosysgen 5y ago
    None of them have hit the market yet, indeed. But it's still not an issue for Apple, adding a 48V mode to their USB PD controller is trivial. Drawing from multiple ports is a good idea! But if you're MacGyvering something, it's much easier to connect the right resistor to the USB C connector and solder the power lines right into a 48V PSU.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- nicce 5y ago
  > Physical size limits current, not voltage, and you can increase voltage. Exactly, you need to increase both for better charging speeds. 240W is not a lot for charging if the battery sizes keep growing. To add, increasing only voltage is not good for battery and gets challenging.
  - sudosysgen 5y ago
    But battery sizes are not growing anymore. The latest macbooks have under 60Wh batteries. Also it's very wrong that voltage is bad for batteries. The voltage going through the cable is transformed down to the exact voltage that the battery charge controller decides is appropriate for the charge of the battery at any given moment. If you really wanted even more power, which you don't really, there's no reason you couldn't go to 60V.
post_break 5y ago
Yeah I don't know where you're getting this info. The most an Apple laptop pulls right now is 100w because the intel chip pulls a ton of power. 240w in lab testing now. And with Apple chips they are going to sip power. Unless Apple puts a 6900XT into a laptop they won't be hitting that charging limit.
- nicce 5y ago
  Especially the 16 inc Macbooks can go over that consumption. But however the main point is in charging, you need a lot more watts to charge faster, as the batteries are getting bigger and if you want to improve existing charging speeds. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-15/apple-macbook-pros-with-magsafe-return-in-the-works https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-01-15/apple-mac... https://www.macrumors.com/2021/01/15/magsafe-coming-to-macbook-pro-2021/ https://www.macrumors.com/2021/01/15/magsafe-coming-to-macbo...