Understanding USB Type C: Cable Types, Pitfalls and More | Hacker News Reader

Understanding USB Type C: Cable Types, Pitfalls and More

learn.adafruit.com

48 pointsO__________O25 comments

This all looks ridiculous. I used to be really excited about USB 3.1, until it became real.

The cable's form should tell you something about what it does. I shouldn't have to guess at what a cable is for when I pull it out of a drawer. $100 a meter just in case is ludicrous.

A cable should not be able to damage a device.

I thought these things were given and well understood.

I wish printing the usb version and current rating on the cable itself was mandatory for a type c cable to be certified.

I'm not aware of any way a cable can damage a device unless it's incorrectly assembled, which almost any cable could do.

Most devices are backwards compatible and will run at USB2.0 speeds. Almost any cable will work, just slowly. That's a pretty big advantage.

Since I don't have much of anything that uses the 3.0 speeds, having everything on one connector is worth it, it's a great charging port, it's great for 2.0 speeds, and you can do 3.0 if needed with some effort.

When monitors hopefully switch over there could be some confusion though. I would imagine they'll need to actually start using the cable marking spec, and things will get a lot easier.

> When monitors hopefully switch over

What do you mean when? Finding a usb cable that can meaningfully connect your pc and monitor is difficult. Especially in the “grab a cable from the drawer” types of situations.

Finding a USB DisplayPort cable from your drawer should not be harder than finding a HDMI cable if correctly marked.

Not much harder than finding an HDMI cable assuming the USB has a marking.

Especially if faster USB ever gets mainstream and higher spec cables become more common.

If you have a fast USB-C external drive you might be able to use the cable you got for that.

With dedicated monitor cables, they're not good for anything else. Unless you explicitly bought a spare, your only choice is to go buy one.

In the most common case the cable will probably come with the monitor, and one end will just remain attached to it, not much confusion there.

At the moment it seems people use a lot of C to HDMI or C to DP adapters, so almost nothing changed other that the device side connector no longer having a bulky waste of space or delicate microHDMI that always seems poorly made if you get cheap adapters.

I long for the day when we ditch HDMI for thunderbolt!

I just get Thunderbolt 4 cables and I don’t have to worry about it. They’re more expensive, but they always work for everything and they’ll hopefully be around for a while.

Aren’t they like $100 a meter or something? And unreasonably thick and stiff?

Yes, and yes. This is ridiculously bad advice when you just want a cable to put in your bag to charge your phone with when you're out.

No.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YS59V4K

Apple sells them for $129 for 1.8m, which is way more than their other cables.

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MN713AM/A/thunderbolt-4-p...

Fortunately Apple isn't the only company selling these cables.

They're $3 plus s&h for .3m on Amazingon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0B18CW25H

An active device being sold for 3 dollars? Gotta be one of those amazon fakes.

It works fine for me.

Sadly this is probably the best strategy. As the Chinese saying goes,

  "He who buys the best cries only once."

Possibly explains why finding a longer cable that can run power and displayport in opposite directions is a pain. Think I'm stuck on 0.5m still.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08YS59V4K

Very brief and unremarkable article. Not worth reading.

Is it possible that you just read the first page?

Here are all 6 pages of the main content on one page: https://learn.adafruit.com/understanding-usb-type-c-cable-ty...

I don't blame AdrianB1. The geniuses put the link to the second page as a "What is USB C?" button instead of something like "Next Page". And it's after a bunch of shopping links that you'd assume are affiliate links at the end of the article.

The submission should be changed to your link.

> I don't blame AdrianB1.

For sure, and I hope it didn't come across that way! The pagination UI is not good.

@dang Can we change the link to this one?

First page. First graph. 3A/5A. And then means that only 5A cables should be used. Why?

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