USB Type-C: Universal?
Achieving a single standard to rule them all is an elusive goal in the realm of personal technology. At best, you end up in a format war, and one faction emerges victorious for several years until a whole new technology takes it out. VHS ate Betamax, then toppled by DVD; it faded in the face of Blu-ray, a self-defeating standard of its main rival, HD DVD, and is now facing its death in the hands of streaming services.
But USB-C is different. And perhaps it has even become popular as its acronym (Universal Serial Bus) suggests.
USB Type-C ports are now found on all sorts of devices, from simple external hard drives to smartphone charging cables. While every USB-C port looks the same, not all ports offer the same capabilities. USB-C may be everywhere, but it doesn’t serve the same functions everywhere.
Here’s a guide to everything USB-C can do and what features you should look for when buying your next USB-C device.
What is USB-C?
USB-C is an industry-standard connector for transferring both data and power over one cable. The USB-C connector was developed by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), a group of companies that have developed, certified and championed the USB standard over the years. USB-IF has more than 700 participating companies, including Apple, Dell, HP, Intel, Microsoft, and Samsung.
Widespread adoption by big dogs is important because that’s part of the reason why USB-C has been adopted so easily by PC makers. The Lightning and MagSafe connectors advertised (and developed) in the past by Apple, which was limited to acceptance outside of Apple products and, because of USB-C, will soon be obsolete.
USB-C like Micro USB?
AT FIRST GLANCE, the USB-C connector looks similar to the micro USB connector, though it’s more oval-shaped and a bit thicker to match its best feature: flipping.
Like Lightning and MagSafe, the USB-C connector has no up or down direction. Align the connector properly, and you never have to flip it to plug it in; The “right way” is always up. The cables also have the same connector on both ends, so you don’t have to figure out which end goes where. That hasn’t happened with all the USB cables we’ve used for the past 20 years. Most of the time, you have a different connection at each end.
USB-C and USB 3.1: Numbers Below Ports
The default protocol over the USB-C connector is USB 3.1, 10Gbps, theoretically twice as fast as USB 3.0. The minor wrinkles are that USB 3.1 ports can also exist in their original, larger form; these ports (the rectangle we all know) are USB 3.1 Type-A. But beyond desktops, it’s much more common to see USB 3.1 ports with physical USB-C connectors.
USB-IF has defined the USB 3.1 Gen 1 standard that meets the same signal transfer rates and data interfaces as USB 3.0. So when you see USB 3.1 Gen 1, it’s working at the same maximum speed of 5Gbps as USB 3.0. On the other hand, USB 3.1 Gen 2 refers to data signal transfer rates of up to 10Gbps, which is twice that of USB 3.0 and matches the highest theoretical speeds of single-channel Thunderbolt.
In the future, however, the jargon surrounding USB 3 will be even more confusing. The upcoming USB 3.2 specification, which will also replace all existing nomenclature, absorbs all previous 3. x specifications. That means the older USB 3.0 standard, which offered 5Gbps speeds, will now be called USB 3.2 Gen 1. Meanwhile, USB 3.1 10Gbps will be renamed to USB 3.2 Gen 2.
In addition, USB 3.2 ports will be capable of, in some cases, a maximum speed of 20Gbps, and the iteration of the port will be referred to as USB 3.2 Gen 2×2. USB-IF decided on “2×2” because the new standard doubles the data lanes in a USB-C cable to achieve 20Gbps transfer speeds. The first USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 ports.
Basic support: Multiple roles of USB-C
You can think of your old USB Type-A port simply as a data port for connecting drives or peripherals like a mouse. But USB-C, depending on the specific port’s implementation, can do much more.
USB-C’s support for sending video signals and power streams simultaneously means you can connect and power a native DisplayPort, MHL, or HDMI device, or hook up pretty much anything else, assuming you have the appropriate adapter and cable. The USB-C spec even includes elements for audio transmission over the interface, but so far, it hasn’t replaced the 3.5mm headphone jack on a computer like on some Android phones.
Make sure to check the specs on any PC you think you’ll buy, as not all USB-C ports are the same. So far, everyone we’ve seen supports both data transfer and power delivery over USB-C. But while the USB-C standard supports connecting DisplayPort and HDMI displays with an adapter, not every PC manufacturer connects the ports to every system’s graphics hardware. Some USB-C ports on the system may support video output connections, while others may not, or no one can. Looking at the details is important.
Thunderbolt 3: Get Faster Speeds on USB-C
Perhaps the most useful protocol a USB-C port can support is Thunderbolt 3. Support up to 40Gbps throughput, reduced power consumption, and the ability to move up to 100 watts of power on the interface.
A USB-C port with Thunderbolt 3 support means that a single cable is all you need to power and transfer large amounts of information (up to and including two 4K 60Hz displays). From a single device being as complex as computers, many laptop manufacturers quickly took advantage of it. The top-end version of Apple’s MacBook Pro, for instance, boasts four of these connections, as many as we’ve seen so far, and it gives you more expansion potential than you’ve ever had with earlier versions of USB.
Now, like with DisplayPort over USB-C, not every USB-C port you see will necessarily have Thunderbolt 3 support. (Look for a small lightning bolt next to the port.) But that changes with the upcoming USB 4 standard. USB 4 ports will support Thunderbolt 3 speeds by default while remaining backward compatible with USB 3. Some new devices may have USB 4 and USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 ports, which will use a USB-C physical connector shape.
Adapters and cables
USB-C is electrically compatible with older USB 3.0 ports and, as we discussed above, fully compatible with USB 3.1 ports. But due to the new port style, an adapter or cable with both necessary plugs is needed if you want to connect anything that doesn’t have a USB-C plug.
Sometimes a new laptop will come with these; In other cases, you may have to purchase them separately. For example, Apple sells a variety of USB cables and adapters to connect USB-C to other technologies like Lightning or Ethernet. You can also find many of these for PCs if you browse online retailers. Some even support older or more esoteric protocols to ensure a device you had years ago will work on today’s hardware. For example, USB-C-to-DVI adapters are easy to find, but we also come across some that split into two RS-232 serial connections.
The good news, though, is that if you invest in a few regular USB-C cables (now widely available for less than $10), they will work with anything and everything that supports USB-C. It’s a huge step up from the situation of the recent past when pulling a mini USB cable out of your pocket to charge your smartphone with a micro USB port is almost useless when grabbing a Nokia Pop-Port or a Sony Ericsson charger.
Plus, newer PC ports now have extensive USB-C built-in. Having only one USB-C port isn’t a problem: You can find USB-C connectivity solutions, both from PC makers like Dell and HP and third-party accessory makers like Belkin and OWC. These docks can recharge your laptop, give you access to additional ports (including Ethernet, HDMI, USB 3.0, and VGA) and add support for multiple monitors.
Do you need USB-C?
A USB-C port’s presence (or absence) is becoming more and more of a concern when buying a PC. If you buy an ultrathin laptop, it will certainly have at least one USB-C port, automatically putting you in the ecosystem. If you’re a desktop lover, you’re sure to find ports there, too, with at least one on the motherboard-side I/O board and possibly more on gaming desktops and high-class.
Even if you don’t need USB-C right now, and even power users might not have a lot of hardware to get the job done, especially when Thunderbolt 3 is involved, it won’t belong. We’ve only taken a rough look at what USB-C can do. Still, one thing’s for sure: The next generation of cross-platform connectivity is rapidly replacing the old protector just like the original USB standard replaced. Replace Apple Desktop Bus (ADB), FireWire, parallel, PS/2, SCSI, and serial ports on Macs and PCs. USB-C is truly one port to rule them all, and its reign has only just begun.