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The Impossible Dream of USB-C (marco.org)

Posted by msmash on from the not-there-yet dept.

Marco Arment, a prominent developer best known for co-founding Tumblr, explains things that are still crippling USB-C, despite being around for years and being used in mainstream products. Arment writes: While a wide variety of USB-C dongles are available, most use the same handful of unreliable, mediocre chips inside. Some USB-A dongles make Wi-Fi drop on MacBook Pros. Some USB-A devices don't work properly when adapted to USB-C, or only work in certain ports. Some devices only work when plugged directly into a laptop's precious few USB-C ports, rather than any hubs or dongles. And reliable HDMI output seems nearly impossible in practice. Very few hubs exist to add more USB-C ports, so if you have more than a few peripherals, you can't just replace all of their cables with USB-C versions. You'll need a hub that provides multiple USB-A ports instead, and you'll need to keep your USB-A cables for when you're plugged into the hub -- but also keep USB-C cables or dongles around for everything you might ever need to plug directly into the computer's ports. Hubs with additional USB-C ports might pass Thunderbolt through to them, but usually don't. Sometimes, they add a USB-C port that can only be used for power passthrough. Many hubs with power passthrough have lower wattage limits than a 13-inch or 15-inch laptop needs. Fortunately, USB-C is a great charging standard. Well, it's more of a collection of standards. USB-C devices can charge via the slow old USB rates, but for higher-powered devices or faster charging, that's not enough current.

1 of 350 comments (clear)

  1. Fuck You Very Much, Apple. by geekmux · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Yeah, that's right. Fuck You, for removing every proven interface off your latest hardware and replacing it with this proprietary crap.

    I wish this kind of fucking courage would spell the demise of such stupidity, but chances are Apple's particular flavor of ignorant Greed will force them to double-down on proprietary interface bullshit to maximize revenue streams. Soon, every model will be devoid of tried and true interfaces, and we'll be left with "you're plugging it in wrong."