With a laptop and phone which both can use it my backpack while travelling is so much lighter and less bulky. For me it absolutely was a game changer, I just don’t like that I need to carry a USB a to C adapter for all the legacy USB A ports.
A big one. No more brittle micro usb, which would eventually become loose and start falling out when charging. Being able to charge my laptop using my phone charger is also good.
It was great!
I could get rid of a lot of “extra” cords. I can just keep one usb c and charge my phone, my mouse, and headphones with one cord. Shoot, I can even charge my controllers now too. I like that they’re becoming like outlets. Like, this is just how you get power to the device(S). Without searching for the “right” cord all the time.
I like its reversibility and faster speeds compared to MicroUSB. Being in the USA where everyone has iPhones though, it was hard to bum chargers from other people (before the iPhone 15 anyway)
For charging, it’s fine, I have equipment to do some mid level testing of how much power a USB cable can transmit, I can also verify if a charger supports quick charge and other charging protocols.
For data transfer, it’s frustrating, you gotta find the cables that are not just USB2 with a USB-C connector.
Then you have thunderbolt, which is even more expensive…
A little disappointing.
I had been pretty well consolidated to just lightning cables for everything. It did what I needed, the connector is small, reversible, easy to use, and it fit most electronics for my family of four. I had built up a nice stable of accessories like power banks and charging blocks that fit everything and hadn’t needed to buy anything new in years.
The switch to USB-C came with great fanfare and seemed like a good idea. However it really doesn’t give me any direct benefits and I have to buy all new accessories. Now I’m in a transition mode for a few years where I need usb-c, usb-a, and lightning cables and chargers. Worst of all the market that I kept being told was leaving behind still has more support for usb-a - my laptop has mostly usb-a, even new model motherboards for building my kids gaming computers are mostly usb-a, I don’t see a good selection of usb-c chargers, power banks are still mostly usb-a, keyboards and mice are usb-a, kvms are usb-a, etc
Trying to switch to usb-c has meant more cable types rather than fewer. It has meant buying duplicate chargers and it has meant less convenience where usb-c is not really mainstream yet. Hopefully the market will more fully adopt usb-c quickly but I meant to be a late adopter to this transition and feel almost like an early adopter
It’s pretty cool but like all connectors, it fails eventually.
Now that I upgraded to an iPhone with USB-C, I enjoy the convenience of having one cable for everything. Charging, connecting a display temporarily, data transfer, one cable. Never had a Mac so I didn’t get in on the Lightning to Lightning shenanigans, but I do prefer Lightning over USB-C. At least a Lightning port is easy to clean.
I agree that lighting ports are easier to clean, but i feel like the connector should be a bit thicker to stop it from breaking.
The good things:
- It really is an advantage over normal USB, that I don’t have to trun the plug three times while trying to connect it, as it can be plugged in either way.
- I find the extra protection also cool, so in case you accidentally try to plug in something you are not supposed to, it just simply won’t work instead of, I don’t know, supplying too high voltage or something.
So far it caused a lot of headaches though:
- Way too often I found myself in a situation, where I couldn’t use some devices, because I didn’t have the necessary adapter. This issue should be temporary though, so I’m not complaining.
- Some cables are not compatible with some devices, and it can be really confusing. Before I knew this, I was certain that a monitor and a laptop of mine weren’t compatible for a long time, until someday I read about this and tried it again with a different cable.
- In most cases this is not an issue, but rarely I find that the USB type-c plug is not as robust as a micro USB for example. On my girlfriend’s Samsung S8 it always slipped out, so the contact was terrible, while a micro USB plug does have some clamps to properly attach. Again, in most cases the type-c plug is clicking in properly, so it’s not an acute problem.
To me it mostly just meant having to buy more cables. The old ritual of trying a USB connector one way, then the other way, then retrying the first way never took all that long and was actually kind of amusing. And I still use the old cables because I haven’t thrown away my old devices that still need them. I only have a few new things that need type C.
Now i only have to flip the usb cable 3 times!
Reversibility and bandwidth are great. It’s just too bad that it’s the least robust port ever conceived.
???
Its very robust. Take a look at mini and micro USB-b, the lightning cable, etc.
I’ve never used lightning but I’ve never had a problem with any mini or micro usb connections across many cables and devices.
USB C, though, always feels like it’s going to fall out if I move it wrong
You are absolutely an outlier then.
USB-C is superior to the connectors I listed in literally every way. The port must be broken or something.
Amazing coincidence that every usb c port I’ve used has been an outliet.
Also, you seem really invested in usb c.
Lightning was designed to put the stress on the cable instead of the port. A lot cheaper to replace a busted cable than getting your device repaired.
Compared to USB-A, not really that much of a game changer (it’s still the most common for me). Though I do not miss the three rotations to get it in.
Compared to Micro-USB? Holy fuck, I almost refuse to buy anything still using Micro-USB ported now. Mainly because I can’t never find the fucking cable for it.
Though I do not miss the three rotations to get it in.
The holes point up or to the right.
But like… not always. Wall adapters (at least US ones) can be plugged in upside down, so if that’s upside down the holes face down. I have a 3d printer who’s motherboard is mounted on the top of the chassis, flipping the USB port so that it’s “upside down”. A lot of cheap dual-USB chargers that have the two USB ports right next to each other have them mirrored, so one faces up and the other faces down.
Granted, I’ve always found the “argh USB!!!” frustration to be more a meme than anything; when I’m plugging in a USB device, I likely know what orientation the male side is (flash drives and the like are usually oriented the same way), and it takes half a second of paying attention when going to plug it in to look at the female port to see what direction it’s meant to go in.
I think the real game changer here is the USB-PD. I now only bring a single charger for both my laptop and my phone. Also, a lot of different laptops now charge with USB-C, getting rid of the need of different plugs.
Props to the Thinkpad USB-C retrofit hack. Granted they only work with 65w, but it is still great! My Anker Nano GaN charger is only a little bit larger than an ice cube, definitely smaller than most traditional USB charger, yet it packs 65w.
What does GaN stand for in that context?
Galium Nitride. It makes high current DC stuff more efficient (i.e. generates less heat) and requires less circuitry (i.e. smaller devices).
Thank you
Fucking awesome, it is. When I travel, I take 1 laptop power cord. Charges my phone, laptop, Switch, and backup battery. (The backup battery’s output ports are USB-A, but it’s got a lil converter cable that stays in the lil bag that the backup battery is stored in.)
It’s the best. So much so that not having usb c, has become a deciding factor if i buy something or not. It also seems a bit of a quality insurance, even if it’s just a little. But electronics with micro or even mini usb is usually just some cheap shit or that old and they are still selling it.
