| > The PD 2.0 spec came out two and a half years before samsung's first USB C phone. And the power brick that came with it wasn't USB C. So what, there's a brick that does qc, and there a usb c connector on the other end. My mom plugs it in, it fits, and it doesn't charge. > I'm not sure, but a 65 watt charger definitely would. "Get 65W for a laptop" isn't any harder than any other third party power supply for a laptop. Which is optional, you don't have to get a third party supply. How would my mom know that? The cable fits. > Her old laptop charger didn't have a second phone plug. If you don't want the complexity then don't use it. So why does it fit if it doesn't work then? Why is the other plug there if it makes the first one stop working? Again, if you know what PD is, if you know what current is needed for what device, if you know the power needed to power and charge that device, and if you clearly mark everything so you don't use the wrong cable for the wrong device (since the bricks are behind the nightstand), "it just works". Normal people don't do that. Normal people buy something that fits. 45W, 65W who cares, ikea advertises it can charge a laptop, why would a phone prevent it from charging a laptop? > Okay. To your mom: Every 60 watt or higher charger will work. That super cheap one is only 5. It can't do it. SO which ones are 60W? There are 3 similarly looking ones behind the nightsand, they all fit. So she must buy different colored cables now too, or move the nightstand every night to check which cable goes where? > If you want to be sure then go for 60. But my powerbank has only 18watts. I already have it. Will it charge the laptop? Or won't it? Or will the laptop charge the powerbank and drain the internal battery even faster? > And what I'm saying is that a lot of these issues are not unique to USB at all. And most of the rest can be solved by either using the chargers that came with a device or hiding/trashing the e-waste chargers you have and only using the good ones. Those troubles didn't exist before usb C, because every device had a custom plug that only fit that device and charged it properly, there was basically no way to mess them up. Something like this ( https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/10/So... ) would only fit inside an ericsson phone and charge it. And then everyone said "we're going usb C, one cable for everything", and my mom is happy! But hey, that old charger with usbA->C cable gives her a warning that her phone is charging slowly... it fits, but it doesn't work properly. Her earbuds charge on that cable but not on the ikea charger. Her ikea charger charges her laptop and her phone, but if her phone is plugged in, her laptop still shows the charging light, but the battery percentage is going down. The phone charger that she got with her new phone will charge her phone but won't charge her laptop. Her powerbank will charge from her old phone charger and her new phone charger, the led will be on, but it will take ages to charge from the old charger. Her powerbank will sometimes charge her laptop and sometimes her laptop will charge her powerbank, who knows when and how, the manual is in the trash. Want to add data to this? Which of her existing usb-c cables will do data at what speed? usb2? usb3? Will it work for video? Thunderbolt? Yes i know, I should go there, throw all the powerbricks in the trash, buy only 65 watt ones, buy only proper thunderbolt capable usb c cables, and mark have her charge her earphones on the pc with her usbA->C cable, but that's a waste of money and a lot of electronics in the trash for no good reason. If i did that a few years ago when PD became a thing, she'd have 18W chargers everywhere and i'd have to replace them again when she bought a laptop with usb C charging. And again, I could do that, because I know the tech behind all that, and can read voltages and currents... if i didn't, i wouldn't even know what to buy, i'd just go to ikea (she likes white powerbricks for some reason), and get whichever was available, probably the 45W one, because it has two ports instead of one on the 65 watt one. |
Well it kind of sounds many of your complaints involve A-to-C cables and like, if we had a variety of plugs the issues caused by adapter cables would get significantly worse, not better.
> How would my mom know that? The cable fits.
This is a different scenario from someone asking if 45 watts will work.
> So why does it fit if it doesn't work then?
It does work. You said it worked.
> and if you clearly mark everything so you don't use the wrong cable for the wrong device (since the bricks are behind the nightstand)
Wait, is it two bricks or one brick? And either way you can solve that with a good brick.
> Normal people buy something that fits.
Yeah, do that! Where "fits" means watts, nobody is testing the physical plug in the store. Buy something where the spec fits.
> ikea advertises it can charge a laptop, why would a phone prevent it from charging a laptop?
Normal people can understand "if you split the power it splits the power", Jesus.
One device per brick if you don't want to split the power. Simple.
> SO which ones are 60W? There are 3 similarly looking ones behind the nightsand, they all fit. So she must buy different colored cables now too, or move the nightstand every night to check which cable goes where?
Three bricks? Four cables total? Yeah different cable colors would be fine I guess.
Again I mention that going by "the cable fits" with a bunch of random barrel plugs could set things on fire. Needing to distinguish cables is annoying but at least avoids danger. And you can get a brick that handles everything if you want.
> But my powerbank has only 18watts. I already have it. Will it charge the laptop? Or won't it?
If you already have it then just test it, dude. Without USB a random power bank would have 5% odds of working at all, and you'd still need to test it to know, so this is a very petty complaint at this point.
> Those troubles didn't exist before usb C, because every device had a custom plug that only fit that device and charged it properly, there was basically no way to mess them up.
But sometimes those plugs match and yes you can mess them up.
And custom plugs make it so much harder to plug things in in multiple places, or get replacements.
> but it will take ages to charge from the old charger
This was true of a lot of phones before USB-C ever existed.
> Yes i know, I should
It sounds like a couple labels would work for this situation. And they'd be less annoying than repeatedly trying very similar but not identical plugs to see which fits.