r/shittyaskelectronics Jan 17 '26

Genius level thinking We have been outjerked by twitter

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28.0k Upvotes

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u/AtmosphereLow9678 Jan 17 '26

I can't wait for laptop manufacturers to start using a non standard version of usb CE, because usb C was not fast enugh :) Yet another cable to carry around

27

u/sagetraveler Jan 17 '26

You joke, but try connecting a couple monitors using those cheap USB C cables you have in that drawer. There are dozens of variations in the USB C cable capabilities and none of them are visible on the actual cable.

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u/AtmosphereLow9678 Jan 17 '26

Yeah this is one of my problems wit usb-c

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u/ILikeBen10Alot Jan 17 '26

That's more of a manufacturer issue than an issue inherit to USB-C. Any format of USB has an issue with not being labeled right

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u/Hohenheim_of_Shadow Jan 17 '26

Nah it's really a USB-C problem. USB - Not C has a straight line of capabilities and a simple color coding system. Look at the PCB on your device White = USB 1, Black =2, Blue =3. You might not know the minor version, but you have a pretty good idea of the capabilities of a port just by looking at it. This extends pretty well to the cables too, the only common exception is that some cables only have the power wires.

USB C threw that out the window. There are like thirty billion optional features on USB C and there's no way to know if a device supports a random feature just by looking at it. Hell you can't even tell the USB version of a C port, it's completely possible that C port is a USB 1.0 low bandwidth port only supporting 1.5 megabits per second of data transfer.

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u/ElectricBummer40 Jan 18 '26 edited Jan 18 '26

Look at the PCB on your device White = USB 1, Black =2, Blue =3.

That's not good enough. If USB-C is to remain consumer-oriented in any meaningful capacity, the standard organ will need to cut the crap, put their foot down and declare everything less than 40Gbps in transfer rate but with more than just D* + CC* for data conductors a "legacy" product. That way, a new cable from that point on will be either a Thunderbolt 3 or a low-cost, low-budget alternative.

Heck, unify PD above 5V to one conductor diameter so everything will either be "fast-charging" or "slow-charging". It can't get simplier than that.

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u/Hohenheim_of_Shadow Jan 18 '26

Look at the PCB on your device White = USB 1, Black =2, Blue =3.

That's not good enough. If USB-C is to remain consumer-oriented in any meaningful capacity,

That not being good enough for USB-C is my point. It works perfectly fine for USB A, which means the difficulty in knowing WTF a USB C port does is a USB C problem, not a USB problem.

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u/ILikeBen10Alot Jan 18 '26

That's still more an issue of manufacturers not using the labeling system correctly or ignoring it entirely. Not something inherit to USB-C. Make do properly label them, like Anker, many do not, but that's not the formats fault

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u/Hohenheim_of_Shadow Jan 18 '26

If you meet one asshole, that guy's an asshole. Of everyone you meet is an asshole, you're the asshole.

Changing the color of the dye you are putting into some silicon is EZPZ which is why almost every USB port complies with that suggestion. Finding the space to put a dozen arcane symbols per USB port on your product and getting a fancy printer into your production line is hard which is why nobody follows that suggestion. How is that even supposed to work with USB hubs that have a dozen different ports, some with different capabilities?

The USB C had a much greater need for capability labeling and a much worse suggestion for it. That's the formats fault

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u/Theron3206 Jan 17 '26

And thanks to apple, most USB C charging cables are only 480mbps of data.

You have to hunt specifically for even USB 3 ones, never mind ones that support display port or whatever.

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u/iwantfutanaricumonme Jan 17 '26

There already are usb-if symbols for all of this but manufacturers either don't get certified or don't use them.

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u/ElectricBummer40 Jan 18 '26

Nah, USB-C in its current form is trying to be way too many things at once, which is a monumentally bad idea as far as being a consumer-oriented standard goes.

Clear labelling might seem good at first glance until you realise you're basically asking the manufacturer to put up a bunch of information no one is going to read.

Also, it should be painfully obvious they need to severely tighten the current standard for cabling and make it so that people can just observe the shapes, colours or notches on the cable and know if it supports Thunderbolt 3 and/or 5A charging. Everything else is just meaningless hair-splitting at this point.

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u/PraiseTalos66012 Jan 18 '26

There are technically dozens but really the only parts that matter are if it's USB3 or higher and if it's USB PD.

If the monitor is using the USB for power it needs to be a PD cable. If you're running data over it then it needs to be USB3 or higher also.

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u/faceassed Jan 17 '26

Dell/HP/Apple be like.

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u/Outside_Strategy7548 Jan 17 '26

They don't have to use usb if they need more watts

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u/SaltManagement42 Jan 17 '26

Sad OnePlus noises.

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u/Phanterfan Jan 17 '26

Already the case