geekhack
geekhack Community => Other Geeky Stuff => Topic started by: fohat.digs on Fri, 07 October 2022, 15:56:19
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Everybody wants fewer cables and chargers, and so does the environment.
I can say that personally, I appreciate that my current desktop computer (2020) uses the same power cable that every desktop that I have had since the 1980s has used - although I have a basket full of them now, possibly dozens of them, gathering dust.
Did the EU get it right by choosing USB-C?
And will the idiosyncrasies in its implementation (direct and indirect) sabotage many of the possible positive outcomes?
https://www.business-standard.com/article/technology/eu-rules-what-makes-the-usb-c-port-the-gold-standard-of-charging-ports-122100600105_1.html (https://www.business-standard.com/article/technology/eu-rules-what-makes-the-usb-c-port-the-gold-standard-of-charging-ports-122100600105_1.html)
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Heard more than a few Apple fans complain.. "We have to replace all of our cables now!"
My thoughts,
And? You were going to have to replace them again soon anyhow given how fragile the Lightning cables are, at least now you can get a cheap cable that will last 5x longer.
Apple sells cables like HP does printer ink.
You buy the printer, it runs out of ink, you buy ink, plus extra ink. Then the printer dies but you have more money in spare ink than you have invested in the printer so you buy the same printer again. I cannot tell you how many HP printer owners I see who do this, between ink, familiarity and the software "I don't want to have to reinstall everything again!", they just keep buying the same garbage.
It's the sunk cost fallacy and both HP and Apple know it very well.
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yup, same with joystick drift, they knew the whole time, support the Kong controllers.
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Surely a standard has to be semi permanent to have a significant impact, USB micro had what, 5 years?
/me checks
10 years. Ok that's not so bad.
Even ignoring the dodgy implementation options you have to wonder if it will it be illegal to bundle a cable with everything? If not all the big manufacturers still will (reviews complain the "bundle" is lacking if they don't) and it will make no difference environmentally speaking.
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do we actually get more insertion on usbc or is that theoretical only
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do we actually get more insertion on usbc or is that theoretical only
I searched and couldn't find a rating from Apple, C should be at the very least equally as long lived.
Doesn't actually matter?
Even if the Lightning cable has a similar insertion rate, Type C is at least as long lived at a fraction of the price, available everywhere, and you can get cables that will last MUCH longer.
Lightning's well past it's prime (USB 2.0 speeds and power), it's proprietary, highly prone to failure (at the cable connection and the connector itself) and because it requires an Apple chip inside, it's expensive by comparison.
It should have been retired the same year Apple went all Type-C on their laptops.
Which brings up another important point, since when are Apple people suddenly concerned about Apple changing standards? I think most of the hate is less about changing away from Lightning and more to do with Apple people no longer being special.
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Knowing Apple, their retort to this will be no charging port and wireless/MagSafe charging only so they don't have to give into the EU. I'm with LA on Apple should have changed the standard back in 2015/16 when the MacBooks went to TB 3/Type C format for charging (and have remained at that standard). I despise the lightning connector, as having to remove a broken one from a port since the cable end failed - not fun, but the iPad Air it broke-off into still works and the internal port was good.
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Knowing Apple, their retort to this will be no charging port and wireless/MagSafe charging only so they don't have to give into the EU.
Exactly what I expect to happen.
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Knowing Apple, their retort to this will be no charging port and wireless/MagSafe charging only so they don't have to give into the EU.
Exactly what I expect to happen.
We all know they have been teasing a port-less device, just never had said when they would launch it - I was expecting it to be the iPhone 14, but guessing just not yet and the EU's push will move this ahead faster now
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Heard more than a few Apple fans complain.. "We have to replace all of our cables now!"
And? You were going to have to replace them again soon anyhow given how fragile the Lightning cables are, at least now you can get a cheap cable that will last 5x longer.
Non-apple braided cables are cheap and awesome. I will have to replace two of them, 20 bucks, but I'm still happy with the idea of a universal standard for charging devices (not just phones).
Micro USB was awful. Lightning was ok but usbc is too.
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Knowing Apple, their retort to this will be no charging port and wireless/MagSafe charging only so they don't have to give into the EU.
Exactly what I expect to happen.
We all know they have been teasing a port-less device, just never had said when they would launch it - I was expecting it to be the iPhone 14, but guessing just not yet and the EU's push will move this ahead faster now
Been wireless charing myself since december I think. It's okay, and I guess it is less wear and tear on the port.
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Yep, probably 3 years in my case (3 years home, 1 in my car).
Love it.
Get a dock, not just a pad/puck.
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I wonder if this will allow new ports to develop in the future when something faster/more powerful comes in
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The big problem with USB-C is that it's not a standard but countless standards with the same form factor. You can have different cables with different things supported and now even hubs with seemingly identical USB-C ports but which are different in functionality (for example the one for receiving the charger cable is different than the others).
So: physically the exact same cables *and* ports but all with different functionalities. You now need to pay attention to which cable you plug where: it all fits but that's about it. That's not exactly great.
Then there are gotchas with the pass-trough too: say you hook two stuff with a USB-C cable and get very fast tx speed, that's great. But then you plug the USB-C cable to your monitor's USB-C port and then an external SSD to your monitor's USB hub and, boom, performance degraded to 2.0 speed or something as if the 2000s called.
But I do like it's form-factor and you can plug it upside down so that's convenient.
And the coming specs are insanely fast: USB4 gen 3x2 does 40 Gbps and has a data transfer mode.
So mixed feelings: amazing form factor, potentially great speeds coming but soooo many gotchas with the cables / ports / version of the standard/protocol supported.
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the great speed is only with an insanely thick cable + expensive, or a super short one, so yea it's cool, but still somewhat limited.