4 ms·

I am a bit on the fence about them seemingly jettisoning the lighting connector? Why go with a plug that has a delicate prong in the center rather than a plug w

by wahsd 12y ago

I am a bit on the fence about them seemingly jettisoning the lighting connector? Why go with a plug that has a delicate prong in the center rather than a plug with the contacts around the perimeter? Does anyone know if there was any emphasis put on making USB-C less flimsy and delicate?

grandalf 12y ago
It will just be so nice to have the port be standardized.
fuzzywalrus 12y ago
I'll add another question: Does USB-C have a spec for requesting additional wattage? Example: I have a USB-C Printer/Hard drive/or otherwise, and plug in my MacBook Air, will it charge my MacBook or will I need an intermediate like a specialty hub to charge? This seems egregious if every device needs to provide power for the potential of charging device in question...
- sharth 12y ago
  http://www.usb.org/developers/powerdelivery/ http://www.usb.org/developers/powerdelivery/
- ghostly_s 12y ago
  There's actually a supplemental spec, USB-PD(Power Delivery) which now accopmanies USB 3.0 and addresses this. It is carried over the USB physical layer but does not rely on the data layer for communication.
- ghostly_s 12y ago
  To answer more specifically; yes— not only is every node in the bus network addressable for power needs and capabilities, even each of the two ends of a cable is a separately addressable node (mostly used to figure out which way a swappable cable is oriented, I think).
- azdle 12y ago
  It does, but it's not a requirement for all devices so you may or may not need a hub to provide power back to the laptop depending on the device. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#USB_Power_Delivery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#USB_Power_Delivery
- Bjartr 12y ago
  According to what I can find[1][2], USB 3 supports 100W and a standard C connector supports 5A. [1] http://www.usb.org/press/USB_Type-C_Specification_Announcement_Final.pdf http://www.usb.org/press/USB_Type-C_Specification_Announceme... [2] http://www.usb.org/press/presskit/USB-IF_IDF_Shenzhen_2014_Press_Deck_Final.pdf http://www.usb.org/press/presskit/USB-IF_IDF_Shenzhen_2014_P...
TheSoftwareGuy 12y ago
>I am a bit on the fence about them seemingly jettisoning the lighting connector? Why go with a plug that has a delicate prong in the center rather than a plug with the contacts around the perimeter? My biggest gripe about the USB-C, and a big fuck up on the part of the standards committee, IMO
yincrash 12y ago
Current USB connectors have prongs in the middle of the female side as well, but I've never ever seen one break off before, and that's with people (including myself) trying to force plugs in the wrong orientation. Is there a reason to worry about these new connectors' prong strength?
- radicaledward 12y ago
  Maybe it depends on who builds your devices, but I have had several usb prongs break off on me even when I was careful. This happened on one desktop and several gaming consoles.
achamayou 12y ago
Another way to look at it is that the pins (which are really the fragile bit prone to scratching, oxidization etc) aren't exposed that way, they're protected inside the metal wrapper.
yasth 12y ago
Quite a lot of work went into it. It is designed for 10k insertion cycles. 2x stronger to wrenching forces than micro, and it is designed so the cables fail, not the machine side connector (because once factories get up to speed have similar costs to USB micro cables now at least for dumb cables). Have a slide deck as a pdf if you want more details: https://intel.lanyonevents.com/sf14/connect/fileDownload/session/FD092EA1122E66ECEDC668020FB01E25/SF14_NETS003_100f.pdf https://intel.lanyonevents.com/sf14/connect/fileDownload/ses...

by wahsd 12y ago

grandalf 12y ago

It will just be so nice to have the port be standardized.

fuzzywalrus 12y ago

I'll add another question: Does USB-C have a spec for requesting additional wattage? Example: I have a USB-C Printer/Hard drive/or otherwise, and plug in my MacBook Air, will it charge my MacBook or will I need an intermediate like a specialty hub to charge? This seems egregious if every device needs to provide power for the potential of charging device in question...

sharth 12y ago
http://www.usb.org/developers/powerdelivery/ http://www.usb.org/developers/powerdelivery/
ghostly_s 12y ago
There's actually a supplemental spec, USB-PD(Power Delivery) which now accopmanies USB 3.0 and addresses this. It is carried over the USB physical layer but does not rely on the data layer for communication.
ghostly_s 12y ago
To answer more specifically; yes— not only is every node in the bus network addressable for power needs and capabilities, even each of the two ends of a cable is a separately addressable node (mostly used to figure out which way a swappable cable is oriented, I think).
azdle 12y ago
It does, but it's not a requirement for all devices so you may or may not need a hub to provide power back to the laptop depending on the device. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#USB_Power_Delivery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#USB_Power_Delivery
Bjartr 12y ago
According to what I can find[1][2], USB 3 supports 100W and a standard C connector supports 5A. [1] http://www.usb.org/press/USB_Type-C_Specification_Announcement_Final.pdf http://www.usb.org/press/USB_Type-C_Specification_Announceme... [2] http://www.usb.org/press/presskit/USB-IF_IDF_Shenzhen_2014_Press_Deck_Final.pdf http://www.usb.org/press/presskit/USB-IF_IDF_Shenzhen_2014_P...

TheSoftwareGuy 12y ago

>I am a bit on the fence about them seemingly jettisoning the lighting connector? Why go with a plug that has a delicate prong in the center rather than a plug with the contacts around the perimeter? My biggest gripe about the USB-C, and a big fuck up on the part of the standards committee, IMO

yincrash 12y ago

Current USB connectors have prongs in the middle of the female side as well, but I've never ever seen one break off before, and that's with people (including myself) trying to force plugs in the wrong orientation. Is there a reason to worry about these new connectors' prong strength?

radicaledward 12y ago
Maybe it depends on who builds your devices, but I have had several usb prongs break off on me even when I was careful. This happened on one desktop and several gaming consoles.

achamayou 12y ago

Another way to look at it is that the pins (which are really the fragile bit prone to scratching, oxidization etc) aren't exposed that way, they're protected inside the metal wrapper.

yasth 12y ago

Quite a lot of work went into it. It is designed for 10k insertion cycles. 2x stronger to wrenching forces than micro, and it is designed so the cables fail, not the machine side connector (because once factories get up to speed have similar costs to USB micro cables now at least for dumb cables). Have a slide deck as a pdf if you want more details: https://intel.lanyonevents.com/sf14/connect/fileDownload/session/FD092EA1122E66ECEDC668020FB01E25/SF14_NETS003_100f.pdf https://intel.lanyonevents.com/sf14/connect/fileDownload/ses...