6 ms·

Agreed. Being able to drive two 4K monitors, charge my laptop, and attach a USB hub via one USB-C connector is well worth the tradeoff of occasional incompatibi

Agreed. Being able to drive two 4K monitors, charge my laptop, and attach a USB hub via one USB-C connector is well worth the tradeoff of occasional incompatibility with cheap cables.

lambdaba 5y ago
In an initial flurry of enthusiasm I bought a bunch of high-quality cables and I'm very glad I did. I can keep duplicate cables around in certain pockets etc. and I know I can always connect stuff. I had always used default supplier cables and these fancy ones feel much better in daily usage.
frosted-flakes 5y ago
It's awesome being able to plop down on the couch and plug my laptop into a Nintendo Switch charger, that I also use to chargey phone. Charging a laptop before USB-C was an ordeal because I only had one specialised charger with a proprietary plug. Now I have half a dozen spread around the house and car.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- simon1573 5y ago
  Between the proprietary plugs and USB-C, we had the dark ages of micro-USB which somehow always came loose after a few weeks of use
- Yizahi 5y ago
  Funny that you mention Nintendo Switch, because Nintendo made a non-standard implementation of usb-c there and connecting console to the standard compliant cable and charger can brick or fry the console. Perfect example of USB-Confusion :)
  - johnwalkr 5y ago
    I never had an issue with bricking but it is a bit hard to find power bricks that output 15V, which is what the dock requires.
  - justshowpost 5y ago
    The rant about "proprietary chargers" for laptops was also untrue, there was uniform 19V brick-type power supply units with uniform 5.5mm barrel connector for at least 15 years.
    - NikolaNovak 5y ago
      We live in a different world. I'd like to live in yours! Prior to usb c my Hp Dell and Lenovo, all in their enterprise line favouring practicality over fashion and looks, all used wildly different chargers. Even Lenovo alone, in that 15 year span, had round and rectangle tips with 12 and 20v.
    - frosted-flakes 5y ago
      That's simply not true. I had three different laptops from 2010 to 2021: an Acer Inspiron (I think that's what it was called), a Dell Latitude, and a Surface Pro 3. All used different chargers. The Surface used Microsoft's proprietary magsafe connector, and the others used different-sized barrel jacks. I currently have a Dell XPS 13 which charges over USB-C. Oddly, the Acer charger was the same as for an Acer 27" monitor I had, which came in handy once or twice.
      - justshowpost 5y ago
        Charger for monitor? Curiouser and curiouser.
        frosted-flakes 5y ago
        You could call it a power supply, because the monitor obviously had no battery.
tjoff 5y ago
I love usb-c to death but "occasional incompatibility with cheap cables" is a bit misleading. There is frustratingly little relation between price and quality. I have literally spent hundreds of dollars on usb-c-cables and I haven't even attempted to do displayport or thunderbolt through one, and I still don't own any that I'd expect to work on a lot of scenarios.
- cyberge99 5y ago
  If price isn’t a primary consideration, get a Thunderbolt 4 cable and be confident it will work everywhere, particularly if it’s an active TB4 cable: https://chrisbergeron.com/2021/07/25/Ultra-fast-Thunderbolt-NAS-with-Apple-M1-and-Linux/usb-encompased-by-thunderbolt-4-500-cb.png https://chrisbergeron.com/2021/07/25/Ultra-fast-Thunderbolt-...
  - ksec 5y ago
    They cost $30 and still not support 240W. It would be an easier advice to consumer if they were $19.
    - zamadatix 5y ago
      > They cost $30... It would be an easier advice to consumer if they were $19. It'd be easier if it were $0 too but what does that have to do with anything? $30 is what it costs to make a cable that can do high speed data, high speed display, and high power. If you want a cable that does all of this it's going to cost more than a cable that doesn't. If you want a cable that's cheaper and doesn't do everything that is also an option. Apart from both options being available anyways this problem has nothing to do with USB standards. > and still not support 240W When the brand new standard actually hits the shelf you'll be able to get a TB4 240W cable, as of now there just aren't any 240W cables in general. Also not supported: USB 6 and 2 kW PD or anything else from the future instead of present. . Type C is an interface specification not a guarantee that you're $19 cable will be compatible everything man could desire to implement in your lifetime.
      - 5y ago

Agreed. Being able to drive two 4K monitors, charge my laptop, and attach a USB hub via one USB-C connector is well worth the tradeoff of occasional incompatibility with cheap cables.

lambdaba 5y ago

In an initial flurry of enthusiasm I bought a bunch of high-quality cables and I'm very glad I did. I can keep duplicate cables around in certain pockets etc. and I know I can always connect stuff. I had always used default supplier cables and these fancy ones feel much better in daily usage.

frosted-flakes 5y ago

It's awesome being able to plop down on the couch and plug my laptop into a Nintendo Switch charger, that I also use to chargey phone. Charging a laptop before USB-C was an ordeal because I only had one specialised charger with a proprietary plug. Now I have half a dozen spread around the house and car.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
simon1573 5y ago
Between the proprietary plugs and USB-C, we had the dark ages of micro-USB which somehow always came loose after a few weeks of use
Yizahi 5y ago
Funny that you mention Nintendo Switch, because Nintendo made a non-standard implementation of usb-c there and connecting console to the standard compliant cable and charger can brick or fry the console. Perfect example of USB-Confusion :)
- johnwalkr 5y ago
  I never had an issue with bricking but it is a bit hard to find power bricks that output 15V, which is what the dock requires.
- justshowpost 5y ago
  The rant about "proprietary chargers" for laptops was also untrue, there was uniform 19V brick-type power supply units with uniform 5.5mm barrel connector for at least 15 years.
  - NikolaNovak 5y ago
    We live in a different world. I'd like to live in yours! Prior to usb c my Hp Dell and Lenovo, all in their enterprise line favouring practicality over fashion and looks, all used wildly different chargers. Even Lenovo alone, in that 15 year span, had round and rectangle tips with 12 and 20v.
  - frosted-flakes 5y ago
    That's simply not true. I had three different laptops from 2010 to 2021: an Acer Inspiron (I think that's what it was called), a Dell Latitude, and a Surface Pro 3. All used different chargers. The Surface used Microsoft's proprietary magsafe connector, and the others used different-sized barrel jacks. I currently have a Dell XPS 13 which charges over USB-C. Oddly, the Acer charger was the same as for an Acer 27" monitor I had, which came in handy once or twice.
    - justshowpost 5y ago
      Charger for monitor? Curiouser and curiouser.
      - frosted-flakes 5y ago
        You could call it a power supply, because the monitor obviously had no battery.

tjoff 5y ago

I love usb-c to death but "occasional incompatibility with cheap cables" is a bit misleading. There is frustratingly little relation between price and quality. I have literally spent hundreds of dollars on usb-c-cables and I haven't even attempted to do displayport or thunderbolt through one, and I still don't own any that I'd expect to work on a lot of scenarios.

cyberge99 5y ago
If price isn’t a primary consideration, get a Thunderbolt 4 cable and be confident it will work everywhere, particularly if it’s an active TB4 cable: https://chrisbergeron.com/2021/07/25/Ultra-fast-Thunderbolt-NAS-with-Apple-M1-and-Linux/usb-encompased-by-thunderbolt-4-500-cb.png https://chrisbergeron.com/2021/07/25/Ultra-fast-Thunderbolt-...
- ksec 5y ago
  They cost $30 and still not support 240W. It would be an easier advice to consumer if they were $19.
  - zamadatix 5y ago
    > They cost $30... It would be an easier advice to consumer if they were $19. It'd be easier if it were $0 too but what does that have to do with anything? $30 is what it costs to make a cable that can do high speed data, high speed display, and high power. If you want a cable that does all of this it's going to cost more than a cable that doesn't. If you want a cable that's cheaper and doesn't do everything that is also an option. Apart from both options being available anyways this problem has nothing to do with USB standards. > and still not support 240W When the brand new standard actually hits the shelf you'll be able to get a TB4 240W cable, as of now there just aren't any 240W cables in general. Also not supported: USB 6 and 2 kW PD or anything else from the future instead of present. . Type C is an interface specification not a guarantee that you're $19 cable will be compatible everything man could desire to implement in your lifetime.
    - 5y ago