The moment everyone has been talking about for years has finally arrived, the European Union’s mandating of USB charging on all portable electronic devices is now in force. While it does not extend beyond Europe, it means that there is a de facto abandonment of proprietary chargers in other territories too. It applies to all mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, headsets, game consoles, portable speakers, e-readers, keyboards, mice, portable navigation systems and earbuds, and from early 2026 it will be extended to laptops.
Hackaday readers will probably not need persuading as to the benefits of a unified charger, and truth be told, there will be very few devices that haven’t made the change already. But perhaps there’s something more interesting at work here, for this moment seals the place of USB-C as a DC power connector rather than as a data connector that can also deliver power.
Back in 2016 we lamented the parlous state of low voltage DC power standards, and in the time since then we’ve arrived at a standard involving ubiquitous and commoditised power supplies, cables, and modules which we can use for almost any reasonable power requirement. You can thank the EU for that mobile phone now having the same socket as its competitor, but you can thank the USB Implementers Forum for making DC power much simpler.
Shame about the mountain of e waste that will probably end up burning in a landfill in a third world country. There really should have been grandfathering for already manufactured products.
The division of the world into “First,” “Second,” and “Third” Worlds began losing relevance after the end of the Cold War in 1991. Times flies, doesn’t it?
The old definitions have gained new relevance, one that most are too cowardly to face
Source?
“Third world” has always meant counties that are aligned to neither NATO or Soviet Bloc. It’s a common misnomer that it means “poor countries”.
That’s not even remotely factual. It’s always stood for economically depressed nations.
I’m still used to consider my country being part of “western Europe” (political) rather than “middle Europe” (geographical).
Probably because I don’t like to grant France to be part of western Europe without “us”! :D
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Europe
Not really. The only major modification perhaps required is to fold china into the “second world” alongside russia. Then it reflects the modern situation quite closely.
I’d have to say it hasn’t really changed, the quality of life for the folks in the ‘3rd’ world (at least not currently in a civil war etc) has gone up to match where the first world was in say the 90’s on average rather than being probably more than a full century behind, and the ‘2nd’ world has if anything changed memberships a bit but fallen further behind the ‘1st’ world. The bigger powers competing to ‘own’ elements of those lower down the list for their own gain continues, though since the Soviet Union collapsed and again with Russia failing to win this invasion the biggest players have shifted with Russia looking like it might drop out of the race entirly to become a member of the 3rd world countries at some point…
It is as accurate and tightly defined as a thing as it ever was – which is to say no very really, but does still reflect the general landscape of the world as long as you use a list curated in the right decade…
sigh… Ok guys :
1. Developed Countries: Nations with high GDP per capita, advanced industries, and high living standards (e.g., Northen America, Germany, Japan).Developing Countries: Nations with emerging economies and growing infrastructure but lower GDP per capita (e.g., India, Brazil, South Africa).
Least Developed Countries (LDCs): Nations with the lowest indicators of socioeconomic development, often facing poverty and weak infrastructure (e.g., Afghanistan, Chad).
Geographic or Regional Groupings
Global North and Global South: Often used to differentiate between economically advanced countries (mostly in the Northern Hemisphere) and less-developed countries (mostly in the Southern Hemisphere).
Regions: Groupings by continents or cultural regions, such as Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America.
Political and Economic Alliances
G7 and G20: Groups of the world’s largest economies.
BRICS: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—emerging economies with significant influence.
OECD Countries: Members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, typically high-income democracies.
Non-Aligned Movement (NAM): Countries that remained neutral during the Cold War, a grouping that still exists but with less prominence.
Human Development Index (HDI)
Countries are ranked as high, medium, or low HDI based on life expectancy, education, and per capita income.
Income Classifications (World Bank)
Low-Income Countries (LICs)
Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)
Upper-Middle-Income Countries (UMICs)
High-Income Countries (HICs)
Other Frameworks
Emerging Markets: Economies transitioning toward developed status (e.g., Malaysia, Turkey).
Fragile States: Countries facing instability due to conflict, weak governance, or economic challenges.
These frameworks are more nuanced and reflect the complexity of global development beyond the binary divisions of the Cold War era.
Currently you can not find any politician (orange guy doesn’t count cos he is a dinosaur), media, newspapers or similar talking about “third world”. So if you find someone talking about it, you can have a guess about his age, also people of certain age tends to use the term as a covered insult.
So move on guys, make your homework and stay informed and updated about geopolitics , economy, and technical indicators.
Anyway, I liked 90’s techno music!
You are missing the point, the members of each club might have changed, but the club itself is as valid and representative of it members as they ever where – which is not really all that good beyond the general trends.
It doesn’t matter what names you use – calling somebody medically obese, really fat or whatever the politically correct in vogue ‘as acceptable not offensive language’ version is doesn’t fundamentally change what you mean. Same thing here using ‘third world’ as a term – it is a perfectly understandable and relatively well defined concept. Not the most nuanced sure though neither are are the ‘x-income countries’ the most nuanced, but both still an accurate and clear enough description.
Also groupings like the G7, G20, the OPEC nations etc are not likely to actually change members in a particularly reflective of the real world way. As you don’t generally throw out a current trading partner etc you get along with just because they are not longer as major a power as they used to be so are no longer genuinely among those ‘largest economies’. Nor do you tend to invite in the folks that ‘should’ be there when you don’t expect any benefit to your existing group. The Indians for instance by definition probably should be a G7 member – IIRC the supposed definition is largest industrialised democracies. Not longest time industrialised, but LARGEST – India is definitely large by both land area and population, rapidly industrialising to a point that means it has economic power and industrial capacity that is already at least as great if not greater than some G7 members and is a democracy (maybe a more flawed democracy than most, with a larger differential in QoL etc across the internal regions than many – but still it fits the supposed definition).
Foldi-One, the original point was he said the ewaste would go to “third word countries” then I replied that there are no more such a thing, the names has lost relevance in every day transforming economics and politics since 90’s. The names is sticky tho, so people of some age tend to keep talking about that, but try to find a speech of the UN representatives for example, where they use those terms. It’s like calling “speaking telegraph”(1844: Innocenzo Manzetti ) to a smartphone. Everything changes and evolves for good or bad.
I don’t understand.. there are no swat teams coming in to take your old chargers from your cold, dead hands. The law has been telegraphed a long time in advance. No mountain of e-waste is going to result from this.
I appreciate that it’s harder to see from wealthier EU member states but Europe is actually a large importer of refurbished phones. Because these are treated like new phones under the bill, their sale will no longer be permitted in the EU.
This artificial market restriction will lower the value of held stock, as well as the amount offered for non compliant owned units. In short, there will be more motivation to simply send them to an e waste mountain.
Source please!
https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/20/secondhand_smartphone_demand/
Apparently this is based on: https://www.ccsinsight.com/blog/the-european-circularity-industry-is-fighting-a-battle-with-the-eu/
I live in a EU country, but to my knowledge there is no significant market in overseas imported second hand smartphones, it would interesting to see where these devices land and how the extra cost of shipping, import, etc. still make a business case for that local market.
The Register article is mostly a retelling of this other article from CCS Insight
https://www.ccsinsight.com/blog/the-european-circularity-industry-is-fighting-a-battle-with-the-eu/ (and The Register quotes CCS Insight in its article)
and this feels more like an opinion piece than a statement of facts. The only facts stated are that the EU imports used phones and those phones have to be compliant and some not so old Apple products that are still in demand are not. While they are resonably true, they are stated without a source.
What is not a fact is that a used phone can no longer be sold: if there is a market for used phones and they cannot be imported, then instead of sending old phones out of the EU as waste while importing refurbished phones, the refurbishing will have to be done in the EU.
Valerio, I fail to see the benefit, based upon the stated aim. While I acknowledge the possibility of skirting the legislation I cannot see how adding this exemption would introduce harmful loopholes (please do point them out if you can).
In the broadest sense, for new products, the legislation makes sense but this seems like a clear oversight that’s harmful to both the planet and the consumer.
Resell with an adaptor. Glue it into the phone if need be.
Or legislation that is designed to prevent e waste could be adjusted to avoid inadvertently creating e waste via another method.
The only reason to propose something outlandish like drilling out and replacing the port (free adaptors aren’t permitted and a glued one that sticks out will turn it to e waste quickly when it breaks) instead of changing the legislation is not wanting to admit that legislators can make mistakes.
There is, it’s just forbidden for resellers to go back for more non-USB-C stuff starting in January.
In the EU, which has begun to slide into tech irrelevance and eventual isolation. Unrelated to USB-C, which is quite fine
Just keep telling yourself that.
EU has put local restrictions in place multiple times that have resulted in global change, and this won’t be any different. Most manufacturers want the EU market more than they want the small added profit they get from their previous practices.
Love it.
China learns capitalism from the West as the means to beat them with (as in: with a stick), mean while the EU is learning Communism (state mandated control over all the people and supply of goods) from China.
I can guarantee you that no average person in the EU cares about whether or not we ‘slide into tech irrelevance’.
Mandating tech is also just a tiny part of what the EU does for its citizens. And furthermore it also depends on the country and mindset of the people in how ‘modern’ their tech is. Germany is a cash society, the Netherlands rarely accepts cash anymore for example. Hell, a lot of countries withing the EU have different wall socket standards.
” the rules apply to mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, headsets, videogame consoles, portable speakers, e-readers, keyboards, mice, portable navigation systems and earbuds sold in the EU.”
But not things like Arduino boards, so no, you still don’t have a unified charger standard.
No one is coming for your non-USB gear. You can end-of-life it like normal.
Any product without USB-C has been e-waste since ~2016.
Yeah.
All those trains that go to waste when railroads companies agree on a standard size for tracks gap.
When will they learn ?
They didn’t dare to touch that, but they did for train bus (data inside trains/inbetween the cars), signalling (both principle and practice), coupling, finance/billing (as in buying a slot for your train), maintenance and construction. We[tm] try to get along with what remains usable (which is not very much compared to 100 years ago). Solution would be to go back several decades and reapply the few good changes, but a lot of damage is already done.
People of a certain vintage will remember how many different chargers there were, and the ungodly mountains of useless wall warts created even when some phone or music player updated. Literally EVERY DEVICE had its own charger, and some of the barrel jacks even had reverse polarity. And it was a zillion dollars to buy a replacement charger. This solves a huge problem.
Sure, I have no issue with this policy as it pertains to new devices. I was pointing out a legislative oversight. If addressing it creates a loophole, I would be interested to hear it but it seems more to be a situation that wasn’t considered but which will have adverse consequences.
USB-Z incoming!!! You declared a standard, moreover the worst bunch of ancient dusty mummified nincompoops with close-cropped white hair and chemo farts in the world has declared it! You know the rule, now there will be a new standard!
Man I would not want to be friends with you.
Exactly, or just around him in general
One only needs to look at the British wall plug to know that sometimes standardization has unintended long term consequences.
USB-C is great in the short term, but the connector is not perfect. I wonder if regulatory inertia can be overcome when it’s time to move to something else.
When the need arises, just cancel the requirement. Simple. Far more complex changes are made to trade agreements every day.
That connector is shit for high power or places where it can be bent. And what ended up being simple “replace the end on charger”, turns into “lets replace type-c port in laptop”.
Source – some relatives. Zero broken power ports on laptops before (all – cylindrical), broken type-c charging port with pretty costly replacement.
(previously it was charger cable that usually broke. last of my fixes outlived the laptop – hard to break cable designed for speakers and lots of heatshrink and epoxy. it wasn’t even that ugly)
USB-C can carry up to 240W of power, and the broken ports sounds like a design issue and/or serious misuse, anecdotally I have seen barrel connectors break and never had that happen to a USB C port.
Or to counteract your argument.
2 barrel connector laptops that eventually suffered issues even after gentle treatment and no accidents.
2 USB-C laptops that have suffered the occasional dropping incident. One landed the full weight of the laptop on the USB-C plug. The plug was mashed, the port was totally unharmed. Similarly at some point a USB-C plug became slightly bent, but the port was unharmed.
In short, you can make sturdy barrel connectors that survive a lot of punishment, like you can make sturdy USB-C ports that brush off attempts to destroy it. You can also go to the other end of the scale and have crummy barrel connectors and crummy USB-C ports that are weaker than the cable. It’s not the connector per-se rather how well it’s been designed into the final product.
I’ve had multiple laptops with broken barrel connectors, and my last laptop (which travelled a lot) also is starting to have issues with the USB-C port I use to charge it… but you know what? I’ve got another port!
I also have had to repair my barrel connector on pcb. I couldn’t find a proper replacement, and had to change also the cable with the new plug…
If the USB C would be so unreliable, then they might start to use small USB C pcbs connected internally with a FPC.
I mean, the number of physical damage returns I see (yes, I and my team handle almost all of them) from the fleet of >8,000 USB-C charged and docked laptops my company runs in the UK alone and a slightly smaller number of mobiles phones prove your argument to be utter garbage, you need to be a clumsy gorilla to do the sort of damage you speak of, similar for phones.
Haha I was thinking the same thing. You’d have to be careless to the extreme to be breaking a USB-C as described.
Everyone charges the same way – except that mofos are still shipping products with micro USB.
And we were all – except Apple – using USB long before the EU stuck its nose in. I have barely seen anything not using USB in a decade.
https://www.macstories.net/news/the-european-commission-has-decided-universal-micro-usb-charger-for-smartphones/
The reason you’ve “barely seen anything not using USB in a decade’ is because of the last time the EU did this, over a decade ago
That article was from 2010. Now 14 years ago.
If I remember well, the whole policy started a few years before that. I even seem to recall that Micro-USB plugs were especially invented for this. The Mini USB plugs were apparently not small / robust (mating cycles) enough and phone manufacturers did not like it for that reason. One of the driving goals for micro USB was to get a plug with more mating cycles.
The ‘bug’ in mini-USB is/was that the wearing contact is in the receptacle, not the plug, so when the connection fails you have to replace the device rather than just the cable. They fixed that with micro-USB.
Except no one here has been using micro for smart phones for more than a decade.
I wish they would have standardized on Anderson Powerpole PP30 connectors supplying 13.8V ±15%.
I put them on anything I can.
Ideal for a cyberdeck
So we will see a rise in cheap usb-c cables with only the wires needed for charging connected and endless frustration for people buying non data usb by mistake.
And for good measure unlike those annoying cables from the Micro era these ones must be more costly to make and/or less reliably functional even when all you want is power delivery! As the USB-PD standards requires more than just the positive and negative with around 5V difference between them and not every device will actually function on the 5v at whatever they have decided to set the ‘dumb’ device and cable current limits at when power supply was built (assuming it is actually spec compliant, which is also a stretch to assume as now every single power supply must get more complex because the specs demand it, so fake/poor products that cheap out on it are inevitable)…
This has been the case for quite some time, pre EU mandate and even pre- USB C. USB C was supposed to be the great savior from this fracturing of standards and confusing terms but .. XKCD already covered the results
( https://xkcd.com/927/ )
I’ve bought at least half a dozen gadgets over the past 3 years which had crappy cables with only the power lines connected, personally I quite like them for charging my phone in public places because I know there’s no data connection to whatever I’m connected to.
I don’t think USB-PD will work without data lines, no way to negotiate the charging mode
PD doesn’t but standard 5V works just fine.
I’d think this the audience you might actually have to work to convince, as unlike the general public on the whole HAD folks are knowledgeable enough to realise how much added complexity USB-C with USB-PD adds, especially for those devices that actually need more juice than you can get from a microusb cable, and the costs that will be related to to that. Not the end of the world of course, but rather overkill to require it…
They are also the folks that are most likely to repair their devices, and a USB-C port is going to be a PITA or even impossible for many with only the basic soldering iron setup. And while also being I’d suggest vastly more likely to fail than basically any other real DC power connector, as it ISN’T really a power connector by design!
When it works there is no denying the convenience of this one cable plugs into everything, but assuming it will just work in the real world…
And the thought of trying to explain to your technophobe family members even the basic troubleshooting steps and pitfalls that mean this USB-C cable that looks identical to all the others may not be able to power the laptop, or that not every powersupply they own will actually work either – its sold as one size fits all, with lots of devices not even bothering to come with cables or powersupply at all, so in practice it really won’t be. And will infact be a hidden incompatiblity machine that might even lead to more devices getting thrown out that work perfectly and just need more than the ‘known good’ powersupply goes up to. Where the simple dumb barrel jack etc the device comes with its own PSU and the technophobe will be (or at least historically was) conditioned to only use the supply that came with the device on that device…
You really have to start with separating the idea to unify power supplies from picking USB-C in particular.
The diversity in currents and voltages is a hardware and physical necessity, and on the up side we get an array of awesome DCDC solutions with 10 to 100W, voltage adjustable in 10mV via I2C at a very reasonable price.
Don’t know how many different onewire variants there are among magsafe chargers, but I suppose the major problem with USB is that it’s not one coherent standard.
As for repairability – soldering technology at a hobbyist budget has significantly improved over the last 2 decades, with much shorter heat paths and exact temperature control the now state of the art. Pb-free alloys and heat wicking of multilayer boards are much more trouble than the fine pitch of full-fat USB-C superspeed connectors imo. For dumb, power-only devices, there are also larger pitch connectors with just 6 pins or such, or USB 2.0 only.
Very true, the concept of mandating that every AC-DC power supply brick in each power bracket works on any device in the same bracket is perhaps reasonable enough. So that if every device that needs <10W takes say 5V and 10-60W is say set at 12 or 24V, over that maybe jump up to 48V etc that would make some sense. As then all you need is a specified connector designed to reliably and ruggedly ONLY deliver power that also marks this a low, middle or high power DC device with cables thick enough to take the highest current required to hit that upper power limit with sufficient safety margin. It is just a small collection of dumb power supply with a connection that if it fits it works – making it a model that can easily apply well beyond just the relatively targeted list of devices this applies to as well.
With the only cost being perhaps a tiny bit more onboard power regulation in some devices. But as a system it would be KISS enough to be easy and cheap to mass produce, and easy for the user, with the if it fits it will just work and good at keeping compatibility in a way that should last basically forever as a standard.
USB-PD really isn’t that, it isn’t (yet anyway) even a fixed target but one that keeps evolving. Nor is it really simple or reliable even with entirely spec compliant parts at every step as its very possible that they will not actually interoperate – your performance laptop just flat out won’t work on the smallest powersupply, and might not work at all even with a plenty capable powersupply without also having the e-markered ‘high power’ cable to join them. Maybe just maybe it can manage to charge its battery while entirely turned off with the wrong setup, but that isn’t what you expect when you plug a device in!
Also there is a pretty wide looking array of USB-C sockets, some look to me like they are definitive only hot air, reflow oven or maybe hot plate workable by design. So while the fine pitch required by the most accessible ones is just a challenge you might best with relatively basic tools, even on a real board with lots of other components in the way…
Afaik the EU is not mandating USB-C ditectly, but has forced the manufacturers to take a decision on a standard… and they chose USB / USB-C.
I wonder, could one simply make a usb-c to barrel jack adapter and bundle it with the product, so you can still sell laptops with barrel jacks and such?
They sell those already.
I want to create such n adapter for an old laptop. Everything except the work smartphone (Apple) uses USB C, except a few older devices with USB micro. And I converted a lot of things to either of the two standards
A bunch of years ago I bought some hair clippers, and to my surprise it had a 5V charger with a barrel jack.
I much rather would have had it that the thing had an USB plug, and was delivered without a charger at all, as 5V power supplies with USB plugs are already everywhere.
It’s quite easy to open the thing and solder in an USB plug, and I may do that some day, but at the moment, I charge it about once a year, and it’s not important enough to bother with.
Back then it was also a bit ambiguous which plug to put into the thing. Mini or Micro USB? And now it’s transitioning to USB-C, and I guess that one will stick around for quite a lot of years to come.
USB-C plugs are *&^%$#@ for hand soldering, but there are versions which only have the power pins, and thus much more room for your soldering iron. Small breakout boards, which just fan out the connector pins are also easily obtainable. I should put those on my wishlist one of these days.
Hair trimmers, electric toothbrushes, desk lamps, etc. devices operating with low voltage DC are outside of the regulation. It only applies to digital consumer gadgetry like phones, tablets and laptops.
Imagine if you had to have a USB-C socket in your smart watch instead of the usual magnet clip.
Let’s hope more laws get passed, so we can get things like replaceable SSDs in laptops and ports 90% of us still use. That would really spare us some landfill.
They’d rather die than admit that for once, an EU mandated standard is actually a good thing. 😆
Yup, it’s mildly amusing but overall kinda sad that they’re that so easily mislead when most of the reasons they spout for anything EU being a bad thing originated from hostile state troll farms social media presences.
Why are you presenting criticisms as dismissal? This is particularly ironic because the sports team-style politics you’re imagining to make this leap itself heavily features this erroneous conflation.
Why are you characterizing grumpy old farts whining about something somewhere changing, as a valid criticism.
We switched to 5 volt USB charging for as many items as practical some years ago.
F*ing BRILLIANT!
Same old farts made the same sad little arguments, presented corner cases as if they mattered, and got laughed at then too.
Every time someone at Apple changes the plug, half whine about the treasured single thing that uses an obscure feature, and the other half whine at them for not buying all new shiny, because Timmy needs a new yacht.
Standards are great, there are so many to choose from.
Now go away and find a real problem to whine about.
I honestly cannot understand why ‘sad little arguments’ about ‘corner cases’ is so perturbing. The ‘grumpy old farts’ aren’t the ones saying a particular standard shouldn’t be used where appropriate, they’re only pointing out where it might not be.
Focus on how something is useful to you, don’t take it not being useful to someone else personally.
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Nirvana fallacy all the way.
Just because the solution isn’t perfect, it doesn’t mean it’s bad.
It’s bad when it’s backed up by violence. Which all laws are.
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Nirvana fallacy all the way.
Just because the solution isn’t perfect, it doesn’t mean it’s bad.
So, now dumb Joe Average is going to be wondering why his laptop isn’t charging when he’s plugged his 500mA charger in…
The world is full of mystery for Joe Average.
If the laptop was smart, it would still charge – very very slowly.
Laptops actually tell you when the charger isn’t powerful enough
You mean MIGHT manage to charge, while turned off entirely – the 500mA charger isn’t even going to keep up the standby power consumption on a laptop in some configurations anyway (for instance if its networking and Bluetooth stuff is set to remain active for the remote wake type reasoning), and certainly not the powered on but idle!
So I’d be rather shocked if the laptop actually charges on it at all – it is really a device that demands a higher voltage and current charger to function, so not trying to add an effective enough boost regulation to turn that tiny current at 5V up to the 12+ volts the battery probably requires to charge (I’ve not seen a laptop with anything less than 3 cell Lithium battery)… The designer is surely not going to bother at all, the IC doing the USB-PD stuff might be functional, it might even put the ‘charging’ LED on depending on what its connected to internally but it probably won’t actually charge the battery at all.
So, only three more Keynotes before Apple invent USB-C charging and the fanbois start to rave about how awesome it is?
I agree that a multitude of chargers is annoying, and, has some environmental consequence, but I think Apple’s MagSafe is superior for a power connection, and, Lightning is easier to insert…
Easier to insert than USB-C? By what before measure are they not equal?
Who’s gonna tell him?
What, that my 2/3 yr old Macbook Pro already has USB-C charging?
That my year old iPad Pro has it as well?
None of that is news to me, but Apple or their fanbois will re-write history as they always do and claim it’s the best innovation ever and that Apple should be praised.
Hi hackaday reader here. I absolutely hate this decision. It completely stifles any incentive structure to make better cables. Why as a company would I invest in a technology that is hypothetically more efficient, higher throughput, more power, etc. When I am up against the wall of regulation the barrier to entry is so great it stifles all technological growth. Some seem to believe the EU regulators will just magically know when a new technology is on the crest of the hill and perfectly time the removal of this regulation but that is absurdly optimistic. USB-A mini was a perfectly good cable before USB-C came around. I guess we will never see USB-E
So, they didn’t codify USB-C in the standard, they got the market to decide on a standard, which happened to be USB-C.
Eventually, the tradeoff between “something better might come” and “This is plenty good enough” crosses each other – and at that point, standardization makes sense.
Something will have to be SIGNIFICANTLY better than USB-C to have it make sense to de-standardize, and I’m sure for that new use case – which won’t be covered by the existing regulation, because it’s an explicit list of device types – it will be okay. Recent example: Uber vs Cab companies.
The EU is a bunch of totalitarian a-holes. Spent most of a 40 year career watching them stifke innovation.
And how am I supposed to keep my 300w gaming laptop on when the battery goes flat? given that USB-C can only supply 240w
Take regular breaks and let the battery recharge, use the spare time to be a productive citizen.
bring back those USB Y cables for extra power.
USB-C PD 3.1 can only supply 240W. That’s more than double the 100W of PD 3.0. Who knows what 3.2 or later will bring. Alternatively, there are already high power laptops that include USB-C for charging during normal use, and additional barrel jack for heavy/gaming use. And before anyone else asks, no, you can’t use the cheapest Chinese cable from a gas station to charge your laptop at 240W. Sorry, you actually have to spend $15 on a brand name cable that charges everything in your house super fast. Oh no.
Wish they would have gone with a version that could have a locking connector. We end up with equipment that uses the Wall Wort supplies (thanks to California, because screw you American Consumer!) that are not captive. One fix of an adjacent device and you run the risk of unplugging something that may be keeping you on the air.
This is very good, unless you’re working on the accessory team. Personally I don’t like those guys, but “it’s profitable” to have different batteries and chargers. It alway takes away from the main product experience in favor selling to the wales.
Drawback is that many devices will no longer include a charger, go buy your own. And you know you’ll buy that cheapo charger, right? Then your fancy $1000 device might break, you’ll cry for RMA. Not sure how Apple will deal with that. Maybe there will be a “You are using a non Apple approved charger. Do you want to charge and void your warranty?”
It’s a great idea and I love the idea of a common connector and standardization. However it’s a pity that the USB-C plug and socket are so mechanically weak. And of course the devil is in the details. For PD we all know that not every cable is the same so we end up in a situation similar to HDMI. Plug and socket look the same and fit mechanically but sometimes it still doesn’t work right.
Always good to add a new word to my vocabulary. Now to use it a few times. “The parlous state of some Hack-a-day comment threads” (not this one I might add), or “This is a parlous long comments thread”.
whys an unelected trade union bureaucracy allowed to legislate over sovereign nation states is the real question here?