Technology @lemmy.world cm0002 @lemmy.world 3w ago

USB gets simpler with new speed-focused labeling system replacing technical jargon

51 comments

Boy howdy, I sure can't wait for 99.9% of all manufacturers on Earth to completely ignore this as well, and keep selling devices and cables that are completely unlabeled.
- I mean, you aren’t wrong. Good luck trying to get Apple to put a label on anything.
  
  But they'll still sell you a $180 USB C cable that's no different than one you can get for $75 and has all of it's labels.
  
  Pick a different scapegoat; Apple's one of the better ones in this area
- Stuff that's spec compliant has to follow the rules, non-spec compliant stuff can obviously do whatever, so yeah the cheap cables off ebay or amazon won't use the right logos.
- It's actually different and better as the previous naming scheme was actually horrendous (trying to explain it to customers was a nightmare).
  
  Cause previously if you wanted to figure out what speed of USB port you were getting you'd have to look up the table because me telling you that a port was USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 doesn't tell you jack shit.
  
  Can you see how cursed this is for non-tech savvy people? Absolutely terrible.
  
  Thankfully now the new naming scheme will be:
  USB +
  
  5 Gbps
  
  10 Gbps
  
  20 Gbps
  
  40 Gbps
  
  So the xkcd meme actually isn't relevant here.
  
  Edit:
  Revised grammar in the first sentence
  
  Techies have a hard time understanding that just because you can look up some speeds easily doesn't mean jack shit for regular joe trying to buy an usb-c cable.
  
  Having data speed and wattage indicated on the cable is important, but for most people simply the data speed is enough.
But what about my shiny Certified USB 3.2 Gen1x2 Legendary SS+?
- The cable names sound like gacha pulls.
  
  ("legendary" and "shiny" aren't actually part of the name but SS+ is and it stands for SuperSpeed+. which is super-a-gacha pull
- Does shiny mean it's gold-plated? :⁠-⁠)
  
  AUDIOPHILE CERTIFIED®
Thank fuck, a simple and clear marking that an average user can understand! I assume displayport compatible ports will still have that symbol, which is fine. Soon I'll be and to price out laptops that will work with a docking station without needing to read the damn manuals!
We're adding new, different symbols to the confusing mess of old symbols and keeping both? Neat!
- And whatever you buy is just going to be labeled as the fastest even if it doesn't actually meet the standard.
  
  "up to"
There are too many standards. Let’s make a new one so we can consolidate them all.

There are now N + 1 standards.
- This isn't a new standard. It's changing the naming conventions to make sense.
Fucking finally
I'm still trying to find a good beard trimmer and electric toothbrush that charge with USB-C.

These are the only gadgets i have left that aren't charged with USB-C.
What is high-speed USB suppose to be? No speed just for charging?
- From what I recall high-speed USB was USB 2.0, mostly that is used today for stuff like mice or keyboards where speed isn't really all that relevant.
  
  High-speed is actually low-speed, got it
- It's USB2, so either for charging or simpler devices that don't need USB3 (Like keyboards).
  
  Edit: Federation issue? I swear there wasn't an existing reply when I responded.
  
  Thanks!
90% of USB cables are 480Mbps and it's not even included. This will be useless.
- That would be USB 2.0 and is pretty safe to assume that all USB ports and cables support this (If you can find a USB 1.0 or 1.1 port I'll be impressed). Why bother with a 480Mbps logo if it's the default minimum?
I thought the G number meant how many Gb’s I could store in the cable
Couldn't give a fuck about speed labelling, how about wattage?
- Well, it took like 10 years to get this far sooo probably sometime around 2038
No thanks. I'll wait for USB to develop their own writing and language first. They will get there one day.
Isn’t that naming like a few years old? I already have a cable with 40 gbps 240 W on it
So I was curious because these new logos drop the wattage. From the one of the links to another pcworld article they have an image with the new logo but both the wattage and the speed. https://www.pcworld.com/article/2572128/an-updated-usb-logo-will-now-mark-the-fastest-docking-stations.html If all they did was change the shape of the logo that’s total garbage.

51 comments