this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2024
1575 points (97.4% liked)

Technology

59554 readers
3406 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Right, which is why it's so important to define tiers.

For example:

  1. basic support (cheap) - gen 2 speeds, charging at 5v 500ma, etc; for peripherals and whatnot
  2. high speed (fast enough) - 5gbps speeds, charging at 5v 500ma, etc; USB drives, regular laptop/desktop ports, etc
  3. fast charging (general purpose) - 5gbps data transfer, fast charging up to 45W (or maybe a little lower) at various voltages; phones, special laptop/desktop ports
  4. specialized PD - gen 2 speeds (faster is optional), fast charging up to 240W at various voltages
  5. specialized data - 40gbps data transfer, charging at 5v 500ma (faster is optional), display out

You'd use the same cable for 1-3, and specialized cables for 4 and 5, and those cables would have special markings on the connector. Ports for 3-5 would have unique markings as well. Cables and ports can go beyond those specs if they want.

Just because you can break things into separate groups doesn't mean you should. The goal here shouldn't be to make things easier for manufacturers, but to make things easier for users.