USB Type-C: I’ve Never Been So Excited About A Dumb Little Port

USB Type-C: I’ve Never Been So Excited About A Dumb Little Port

The future of cables is finally coming and it’s god damned fantastic. Welcome to USB Type-C.

By now you’ve no doubt heard how USB Type-C is the single omni-port on if you have more than one.

Here is a quick, down-and-dirty primer of what makes USB Type-C so great:

  • It’s reversible, like Apple’s Lightning cable. No more fumbling to plug it in the right way.
  • It can transfer data at up to 10Gbps.
  • It can do video. Forget specialised video ports like DisplayPort and HDMI (eventually anyway) because Type-C can do that too. And in both directions. A single cable could carry video from phone to PC or PC to phone. Or to TVs, tablets, you name it.
  • It can carry a crapload of power. Depending on the wall-wart you plug your Type-C cable into, it can deliver up to 100W of power. That’s enough to charge full-size laptops, not just ones with underpowered processors.
  • Like all USBs, Type-C is an open standard. It won’t be exclusive to any one company or line of gadgets.
  • Type-C is backwards-compatible. You can use with the old ports that are already all around you (if you get an adaptor).
  • It’s tiny. Small enough to make laptops thinner and work its way into phones and tablets.

USB Type-C: I’ve Never Been So Excited About A Dumb Little Port

A USB Type-C port next to USB Type-A ports on the new Chromebook Pixel

It’s that last point that’s really exciting. Imagine a future where your unruly cable drawer can be condensed down into just a couple of USB Type-C cables. You’ll want more than one, of course, but the very same cable could (and almost certainly will) someday charge your phone, your laptop, charge your phone from your laptop, and connect your PC to your external monitor. As someone who’s perpetually drowning in a sea of proprietary cables for about a bazillion separate gadgets, I’ve never been so excited about a port.

That future’s still a ways off though. USB Type-C devices have only just started to ship. The new Chromebook Pixel is the first I’ve seen in person, and so far other announcements have mostly been limited to the new MacBook and a few other randoms.

Of course the change comes with its downsides. It looks like USB Type-C in the new MacBook spells the end of the truly wonderful MagSafe. And even if everyone was to put Type-C in everything starting tomorrow, we’d still have to deal with legacy ports that are all over the place. Fortunately Type-C is backwards compatible, but best case scenario is still a few years of adaptor hell. If Type-C doesn’t reach a tipping point like Type-A did, there’s no guarantee that we’ll ever even move past that stage.

USB Type-C: I’ve Never Been So Excited About A Dumb Little Port

A trio of adaptors.

But just imagine, a few years from now, going on holiday with a laptop, a phone, a tablet and a single cable to charge them all. A single cable that’s easy to replace at any corner store should it break or get lost. Just one cable for all the ports. It’s a future that can’t come soon enough.


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