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> There shouldn't even need to be a label. A USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable. Then USB is forever frozen in time, unless we start u
by stouset 2mo ago
> There shouldn't even need to be a label. A USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable should be a USB-C cable.
Then USB is forever frozen in time, unless we start using new connectors.
This was the tradeoff we got when standardizing on one connector. The protocol versions change (USB, USB-PD, Thunderbolt), the cables that go between each connector change based on the needs of the spec they supports. But the connectors stay the same.
In my opinion, this was a poor tradeoff and now we’re living in the hell we asked for.
If you want every cable to support the latest and greatest of whatever exists as of right now, you can do that. By all means, buy Apple’s USB-C Thunderbolt 5 cables. They’ll run you $70 apiece but you’ll be buying a cable that makes no compromises.
My personal approach is to just use whatever cable came with the device for anything for which that’s convenient and plausible. For mobile devices with relatively limited charging speeds over USB-PD and for which portability and durability are typically important, I buy the latest Apple woven cables. For high-bandwidth devices I spend the big bucks on the Apple Thunderbolt 5 cables. I discard any cables of unknown provenance.
- fragmede 2mo ago> just use whatever cable came with the device the problem comes when the device and cable get separated, and the cable is "helpfully" organized into the bin with the rest of the USB-c cables.
- kuboble 2mo ago> now we’re living in the hell we asked for N=1, but my quality of life has greatly improved. Literally all devices I use daily (laptop, phone, mp3 player, Bluetooth speaker, headphones) I charge from a single cable. I'm still grateful for this unification every time I charge my phone via the laptop charger.
- riffraff 2mo agoI'm also happy we have a single connector but, n=1, I have a couple things that will not work with all cables. I have no idea why, nor have I bothered to find out, I just marked the cables they came with (which are USB-A to USB-C) same as GP did.
- mrheosuper 2mo ago>I have no idea why, nor have I bothered to find out The reason is simple; your device violated the USB-C spec by saving $0.0000002 of BOM cost
- hulitu 2mo ago> your device violated the USB-C spec I heard there are more than one USB-C specs.
- stouset 2mo agoUSB-C is a physical connector layout. The full cable that is between the two connector ends has an enormous matrix of specifications it can support. There are variations of bandwidth, power delivery (or not), Thunderbolt versions (or not), DisplayPort versions (or not) and other things I’m forgetting. A cable that supports all of these things costs like $70+. Between two devices, the cable, and enormously complicated interop between variations of the supported standards, there are myriad ways for devices to fail to work together.
- mrheosuper 2mo agoIm not talking about the cable. Im talking about whatever the device Parent was mentioning, they violate the spec, that's why they only work with usb a-c cable
- pwagland 2mo agoExactly this. Or charge my laptop via the phone cable, sure, it's slower, but it still works.
- Yujf 2mo agoThere is no hell. Just buy a couple of good cables and life is nice