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Comment by pentae | Hacker News Reader

I know tons of developers clinging onto their old Macbooks who refuse to buy the new generation and many are changing to PC's.

My GoPro has a USB-C port on it. My USB-C to USB-C data cable won't recognise it on my MBP. Have to use USB-C > USB-A -> Dongle -> USB-C.

My left arrow key sticks after my keyboard replacement.

I still keep ghost tapping that damn escape key on the touchbar after 3 years.

Apple: Forget all that, let's invest in self driving cars and new watch bands.

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The USB-C thing is a nightmare because you can’t extend Thunderbolt and every Thunderbolt accessory comes with some arbitrary length someone decided (usually about 20cm) that barely allows you to reorient the device next to the laptop where your hand is supposed to be.

There literally exists no male to female thunderbolt extenders in the usb-c form factor. I tried buying a non Intel approved one and hesitantly, after weighing the risks of even plugging it in, found it would power the Thunderbolt device but couldn’t move data.

(For the information of the reader, Thunderbolt exists above USB-C and USB-C connectors lack Thunderbolt data pins and hence downgrade Thunderbolt back to just regular USB-C)

This is by design. It is a unbelievably high-bandwidth interface. It has strict physical limitations and it is expensive to create products that are capable of pushing those limits, thus the 16" passive cable limitation in many affordable devices.This is all kind of annoying but enables creation of devices that were not possible before, and what on earth any of this has to do with USB-C which is an entirely different signal pathway without these particular limitations is anybody's guess.

(Mostly what I cannot suffer is the fools who position these limited passive connections on the wrong damn side of the device.)

The Lenovo 40AC0135US acts as a male to female extender (+ port replicator). I have one on a 6' 40GBPS 100W cable to my laptop, and the 40AC0135US has a female port allowing you to daisy chain X, has been working great the last 18 months with no issues, mac or PC.

In my case I did something like this (used an ALOGIC part) but glued the extender upside-down under the laptop stand with araldite since there was no easy way of mounting it out the way of my hands but close enough that the 15cm cable would reach.

Voided quite a few warranties working around the awkwardness

Really? I use a standard type C data cable to talk to my Mavic without problems. Perhaps you're using a power only cable?

The lack of standard labeling on type C connectors or cables is a slow motion disaster I agree. But your experience is quite a surprise.

Oh, you're saying that just because USB-C connectors fit physically doesn't mean they work together.

Interesting problem that I hadn't fully realized. Labeling would seem to be a good thing, that will never happen :)

Note that there are plenty of type A power cables that lack data lines as well, so this is not only a Type C problem.

These Type A charger cables are out of spec though, I believe.

As far as Type C goes, AFAIK there isn't a true "universal" cable available and probably there never will be (though a thunderbolt cable today is pretty close...but unlikely to support 100W power distribution). The reason I say "never will be" is that some of the high performance data transmission or power transmission are expensive and someone who only needs 15W of power and/or USB 2 won't want to pay for that. Plus new modes are being invented all the time.

The same thing happened with thunderbolt/mini display port. Different cables have different capabilities, even though all them use the same connect

There are a ton of USB-C to USB-C cables out there. Anker has quite a few on their product page: https://www.anker.com/products/110/163/usb-typec-cables

I am using one of these exact cables to transfer data off of my GoPro Hero 7. The standard one that came with my MacBook also worked.

Doesn't work with my Anker USB-C to USB-C Apparently because the GoPro is USB 3.0 not 3.1? I'm not sure. Can you link me to what cable you're using?

Yeah, Apple is not currently the shining example of the people I want in charge of our bright new autonomous future. Then again if it’s that or Google maybe they’re not so bad.

Apple is a pretty incredible engineering organization. They regularly deploy software updates to a fleet of billions of devices, largely without issue. A few years ago they deployed a brand new file system to almost a billion devices, also largely without issues. They're probably one of the few non-automotive, non-aeropsace organizations that you'd want engineering cars.

The point on AFPS is very compelling. Imagine risking that much of someone else's data.

They first deployed APFS in shadow mode, like Tesla does with autopilot testing.

Autopilot is reverse shadow right? Or does Tesla father data on how people drive when autopilot is switched off?

Yes, they compare predicted AP action with driver action.

Isn't the MacBooks charging cable USB c both sides??

I don't think Apple said "forget that." They make a killing selling overpriced adapters for everything.

What's sad is they talk about being a green company, and yet they choose nonsense cables, rather than just USB for their phones.

> They make a killing selling overpriced adapters for everything.

source? intuition about what volumes/margins you think they sell at is not sufficient.

Also, every one of their products but their phones have switched to USB-C, including iPads. It's just a matter of time until iPhone is USB-C as well.

USB-C didn't exist at the time when Lightning was released, so calling it a 'nonsense cable' is really just ridiculous.

lol, Apple a green company... don't they degrade their batteries and CPU through software to make people buy new hardware?

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