USB Type-C has a new, tiny physical connector—roughly the size of a micro USB connector. The USB-C connector itself can support various exciting new USB standard like USB 3.1 and USB power delivery (USB PD). The standard USB connector you’re most familiar with is USB Type-A. Even as we’ve moved from USB 1 to USB 2 and on to modern USB 3 devices, that connector has stayed the same. It’s as massive as ever, and it only plugs in one way (which is obviously never the way you try to plug it in the first time). But as devices became smaller and thinner, those massive USB ports just didn’t fit. This gave rise to lots of other USB connector shapes like the “micro” and “mini” connectors. This awkward collection of differently-shaped connectors for different-size devices is finallying to a close. USB Type-C offers a new connector standard that’s very small. It’s about a third the size of an old USB Type-A plug. This is a single connector standard that every device should be able to use. Y... See full list on The USB PD specification is also closely intertwined with USB Type-C. Currently, a USB 2.0 connection provides up to 2.5 watts of power—enough to charge your phone or tablet, but that’s about it. The USB PD specification supported by USB-C ups this power delivery to 100 watts. It’s bi-directional, so a device can either send or receive power. And this power can be transferred at the same time the device is transmitting data across the connection. This kind of power delivery could even let you charge a laptop, which usually requires up to about 60 watts. Apple’s new MacBook and Google’s new Chromebook Pixel both use their USB-C ports as their charging ports. USB-C could spell the end of all those proprietary laptop charging cables, with everything charging via a standard USB connection. You could even charge your laptop from one of those portable battery packsyou charge your smartphones and other portable devices from today. You could plug your laptop into an external display connect... See full list on RELATED: USB 2.0 vs. USB 3.0: Should You Upgrade Your Flash Drives? USB 3.1 is a new USB standard. USB 3‘s theoretical bandwidth is 5 Gbps, while USB 3.1’s is 10 Gbps. That’s double the bandwidth—as fast as a first-generation Thunderbolt connector. USB Type-C isn’t the same thing as USB 3.1, though. USB Type-C is just a connector shape, and the underlying technology could just be USB 2 or USB 3.0. In fact, Nokia’s N1 Android tablet uses a USB Type-C connector, but underneath it’s all USB 2.0—not even USB 3.0. However, these technologies are closely related. When buying devices, you’ll just need to keep your eye on the details and make sure you’re buying devices (and cables) that support USB 3.1. See full list on The physical USB-C connector isn’t backwardspatible, but the underlying USB standard is. You can’t plug older USB devices into a modern, tiny USB-C port, nor can you connect a USB-C connector into an older, larger USB port. But that doesn’t mean you have to discard all your old peripherals. USB 3.1 is still backwardspatible with older versions of USB, so you just need a physical adapter with a USB-C connector on one end and a larger, older-style USB port on the other end. You can then plug your older devices directly into a USB Type-C port. Realistically, manyputers will have both USB Type-C ports and larger USB Type-A ports for the immediate future—like Google’s Chromebook Pixel. You’ll be able to slowly transition from your old devices, getting new peripherals with USB Type-C connectors. Even if you get aputer with only USB Type-C ports, like Apple’s new MacBook, adapters and hubs will fill the gap. USB Type-C is a worthy upgrade. It’s making waves on the newer Mac... See full list on
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