
The reversible USB Type-C connector is turning heads at CES - drewjaja
http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/563392/reversible-usb-type-c-connector-turning-heads-ces/
======
organsnyder
I'm incredibly excited for the possibilities of this connector. Imagine a
laptop that has a bunch of USB Type-C ports—and nothing else. Plugging a
(universal!) charger into any of them charges the laptop at a rate of up to
100 watts. Displays are connected via DisplayPort-over-USB, etc. In fact, the
display could actually be the charger as well (or, if you have a desktop, the
display could be powered from the PC). A single USB Type-C cable could run an
all-encompassing, manufacturer-agnostic docking solution.

Phones would also feature the same connector, so a laptop charger could also
charge a phone, with no adapter needed.

I'm really looking forward to having a single connector for virtually all of
my devices (excluding special situations, such as water-resistant devices)
within the next few years.

~~~
StuffMaster
Unless they changed the protocol, USB will always be undesirable for
transporting video and network data. Not that you can't, but thunderbolt is
much better suited.

------
ferrari8608
"A third benefit of Type-C is that it can deliver greater amounts of power --
up to 100 watts. That means you should be able to charge something as big as a
laptop via a USB cable, as well as the phones and other small devices you can
charge today."

How awesome would it be to not need a dedicated power port on your laptop? In
my experience with repairing laptops, that's one of the first things to break
if you're keeping the thing plugged in constantly. It gets old disassembling
the entire machine just to J-B Weld or solder the female end back in place.
Then there's the idea that you may eventually be able to charge your other
internet devices with the same cord you charge your laptop with. You get a
cord with every device, so that means you'll have backups ready if your main
charge cord breaks or disappears. This just seems like an all-around Good
Thing.

~~~
guidedlight
It appears that the next MacBook Air will feature power charging via a USB
Type-C port (the only other port on the laptop is a 3.5mm audio jack).

[http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/06/macbook-air-12-inch-
redesign/?...](http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/06/macbook-air-12-inch-
redesign/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed)

~~~
toothbrush
Omigod is anyone else freaked out that on the pictures the power button is
where the ESC key should be? My boss has a habit of giving us Apple hardware
on which i have a habit of installing Linux or whatever, but that keyboard
would require some seriously ugly scripting to avoid reprogramming my muscle
memory :/

~~~
UrMomReadsHN
Power button definitely shouldn't be mixed into the keyboard with the other
keys where its easy to hit on accident. On the other hand it probably doesn't
do anything unless you hold it down.

~~~
toothbrush
If it's like the predecessors, it'll bring up the "Shutdown/Restart/Logout?"
dialog on OS X, and fire the ACPI shutdown event on Linux. Of course in Linux
this can be remapped (i use it to tell my laptop to suspend), but indeed, top-
left is horribly stupid. Top-right i've never banged it by accident, though.

~~~
lucaspiller
On OS X (recent versions) you need to hold it down to do anything. A quick tap
as described does nothing.

------
tomkinstinch
Having designed some analog electronics, it continues to amaze me that cheap
USB cables costing on the order of pennies are capable of carrying GHz-rate
signals over a couple conductors, despite not being coaxial. There are so many
opportunities for loss and noise, it is incredible it works at all. And it
works well. Imagine if we had to use a double(or triple)-shielded coaxial
cable with BNC connectors to connect our monitors and high data rate devices.
The USB spec is amazing. USB-C finally brings decent usability to the
connectors.

------
benbristow
MiniUSB was far better than MicroUSB. I can't count how many MicroUSB devices
I've somehow broke (maybe it's just me). Always the tongue that seems to snap.

Thankfully wireless charging is now becoming more and more popular.

USB Type-C still has a tongue whereas Apple's new connector port does not; and
Apple's is still reversible. Shame they patented it.

~~~
lsaferite
I'm with you here. I hate micro and loved Mini. I've bought and tossed more
Micro cables than I can count. And if you are rough on the device you widen
the port just a fraction and get crappy connections that you have to wiggle to
get working.

Also, the Apple connector style is far nicer and it is indeed a shame it's
patented and limited to Apple devices.

------
xmodem
I wonder if the increased power capacity is implemented by the device and
power supply negotiating a higher voltage. 100w at 5 volts would be 20 amps,
which seems a bit high.

~~~
desdiv
Yep, a higher voltage is negotiated. At 100W, it's 20V:

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Power](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Power)

------
makomk
Another benefit that this doesn't mention is that it can support DisplayPort
connections at the same time as USB and charging.

~~~
MichaelGG
According to Wikipedia, alt modes include DisplayPort, MHL, _PCI Express_ ,
and Ethernet. I really hope USB doesn't make the terrible mistake of exposing
an insecure protocol like PCIe over a "public" port.

With FireWire, I could just destroy the port physically since I didn't use it.
But if USB gets the Apple treatment of giving DMA access to anyone that can
get a peripheral connected to your machine -- well, that'd suck.

~~~
techrat
After the recent publishing of how Apple Macbook Pros with Thunderbolt ports
can be bootkitted ... Yeah, knowing that USB 3.1/C can provide PCIeX/DMA
access to the system is a touch worrying.

------
ryanobjc
About time. The usb physical standards have sucked, and hard. Mini usb tended
to break on the device side, usb3 micro usb foot print is obscene etc.

~~~
lsaferite
Oddly, I never once had a failure of a Mini cable or receptacle. Micro is a
horrid design though.

------
lsaferite
I haven't been able to find anything saying how many wires are in the cable,
does anyone here know and have a reference?

Is it the full 24 wires mapped end-to-end or are some of the connectors mapped
to a single wire? Like, the 4 USB 2.0 connectors, I imagine it makes little
sense to have 4 physical wires there, right? Yet they obviously have the
SuperSpeed lanes wired separately because they can run DP alt mode on one side
of the connector and USB 3.1 on the other.

I'd love to see something discussing this and it could affect the longer term
viability of the physical connector spec.

EDIT: Honestly, I'd love it if the spec said they must have 24 wires AND that
balanced pairs would be twisted pairs. As long as the connector is durable I'm
willing to pay more for a good cable designed to that spec.

------
janus24
In connection with this article, according to 9to5mac the next MBA should have
a unique USB Type-C connector.

[http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/06/macbook-air-12-inch-
redesign](http://9to5mac.com/2015/01/06/macbook-air-12-inch-redesign)

~~~
maxerickson
The great thing about releasing a computer with 1 port is that when you
release the next version, you can trumpet how it now has more than 1 port.

I wonder if something got lost in translation there, "only usb 3" is an
interesting thing to do, and "only usb 3c ports" isn't that far off from "only
a usb 3c connector".

------
csabia
About time. USB + DisplayPort + Ethernet + power (- PCI Express) is wonderful.

~~~
lsaferite
USB + DP + Ethernet + USB-PD?

I haven't seen that mentioned. Do you have a link?

Do you just mean that you could have an attached USB <-> Ethernet adapter
while DP alt mode is active?

I've read that DP mode is possible in conjunction with USB-PD and USB 3.1 but
have seen nothing about Ethernet in particular.

~~~
csabia
In this article ([http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/01/usb-3-1-and-type-c-
th...](http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/01/usb-3-1-and-type-c-the-only-
stuff-at-ces-that-everyone-is-going-to-use/)), they hint at the capability
called "Alternate Mode". It can be used to transport any non-USB data.

