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In the end, Apple’s USB-C Charge Cable won us over and is actually our recommended cable for those who want a big name on the box and intend to use it for mostly charging. When we say the box, we mean it, because Apple oddly doesn’t include any branding on the cable itself, which is a mistake because you just might mix it up with a lousy cable. You might think of your old USB Type-A port simply as a data port for connecting drives or peripherals like mice. But USB-C, depending on the specific port's implementation, can do much more. One of USB-C's most useful skills, when designed thus, is delivering enough power to charge the host device, such as a laptop or a smartphone. In fact, many lightweight laptops that have USB-C ports use them in place of a traditional barrel-style connector as the only option for attaching an AC adapter. He enjoys DIY projects, especially if they involve technology. He regularly repairs and repurposes old computers and hardware for whatever new project is at hand. He has designed crossovers for homemade speakers all the way from the basic design to the PCB.
In addition to his extensive writing experience, Chris has been interviewed as a technology expert on TV news and radio shows. He gave advice on dark web scans on Miami's NBC 6, discussed Windows XP's demise on WGN-TV's Midday News in Chicago, and shared his CES experiences on WJR-AM's Guy Gordon Show in Detroit. This awkward collection of differently shaped connectors for different-size devices is finally coming to a close. USB Type-C offers a new connector standard that's very small. It's about a third the size of an old USB Type-A plug. This is a single connector standard that every device should be able to use. You'll just need a single cable, whether you're connecting an external hard drive to your laptop or charging your smartphone from a USB charger. That one tiny connector is small enough to fit into a super-thin mobile device, but also powerful enough to connect all the peripherals you want to your laptop. The cable itself has USB Type-C connectors at both ends---it's all one connector.
Obviously, you want USB3+ for anything data intensive. Apart from the speed, it has the added advantage that it's full duplex, so data can flow simultaneously in both directions, like on Ethernet networks or PCIe.
Here’s the interesting part: USB-C connectors are bi-directional. This means that not only can you charge a peripheral device with USB-C cables, but you can also charge your host device using a peripheral when needed. If you're using a USB Type-C cable and port, the charger / host device could support USB Power Delivery (USB PD), which can go as high as 240 watts in some cases. But the wattage has nothing to do with data speeds as a USB 2.0 port could have power delivery while a USB 3.2 port might not. Video Over USB 3.2 / USB 3.1 We then looked at how fast the cable would charge and transfer data, and whether it supported an alternate mode to run a monitor, using real-world hardware. The 20 Gbps speed is called USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, because it uses two 10 Gbps lanes to give you the 20 Gbps speed. Would it have been less confusing if they called it USB 3.2 Gen 3? Who knows? Like Lightning and MagSafe, the USB-C connector has no up or down orientation. Line up the connector properly, and you never have to flip it over to plug it in; the "right way" is always up. The standard cables also have the same connector on both ends, so you don't have to figure out which end goes where. That has not been the case with all the USB cables we've been using for the past 20 years. Most of the time, you have different connectors at each end.Chris was a PCWorld columnist for two years. He founded PCWorld's "World Beyond Windows" column, which covered the latest developments in open-source operating systems like Linux and Chrome OS. Beyond the column, he wrote about everything from Windows to tech travel tips.
Both USB-A and USB-C ports can support USB 2.0 to 3.2, which makes the whole thing a bit confusing since a USB port has both a connector type (USB-C vs. USB-A, or rounded vs. rectangular) and a USB specification which reveals how capable it is. However, the most recent USB 4.0 spec can reach up to 40Gbps and is only available in USB-C form. USB-A vs. USB-C: Which is better?Obviously, as a charge cable it’s terrible for data transfer and can’t drive Thunderbolt devices nor your monitor, but as a charging cable it’s excellent. The presence (or absence) of a USB-C port is increasingly becoming a consideration when buying a PC. If you buy an ultrathin laptop, it will almost certainly have at least one USB-C port, which will catapult you into the ecosystem automatically. If you're more of a lover of desktops, you're certain to find the ports there, too, with at least one on the motherboard-side I/O panel and likely more on high-end and gaming desktops. Some desktops and aftermarket PC cases are putting one on the front panel, too. (Desktop DIY types should know, though, that a USB-C port on a PC case's front or top will require a specific USB-C header connector at the motherboard end, and only late-model motherboards will have these.)
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