The USB Situation

It would help if computers / phones had an easy way to just identify a cable when you plug it in. Is this hard to do or just something normal people never care about?

And on top of that, Apple has that thing where only some devices can charge from their adapters. I have a special adapter just for non-Apple things because the white bricks (despite the usb-c) sometimes just refuse to give power to things. So frustrating.

In an alternate world, Ethernet took on the role of the universal serial bus, and we have laptops that charge via PoE, but only possible on one of their ports (the others are usable for peripherals --- with protocols running over Ethernet too, of course.) But the same confusion regarding power and speed capabilities exists.

Yup. I have a work laptop that is meant to charge via USB ... But only one of the two ports will charge ... They are right beside each other! An evil trick at the office is to move someone's USB cable from one port to the other.

Just switch to a different brand then.

Mostly, that's non-compliant devices. Doesn't make it work any better, but I wouldn't assume Apple is doing it wrong here.

USB-C ports aren't allowed to provide power until after configuration, but a lot of USB-C chargers provide 5V regardless. This is wrong, but it does mean you can use a dumb C-to-micro cable which doesn't include the necessary electronics. (A pull-down resistor at least.)

And of course there's no way to tell by the looks of the cable.

Mostly, that's non-compliant devices. Doesn't make it work any better, but I wouldn't assume Apple is doing it wrong here.

And of course there's no way to tell by the looks of the cable.

It would help if computers / phones had an easy way to just identify a cable when you plug it in. Is this hard to do or just something normal people never care about?

Just switch to a different brand then.

Of course there's also the issue of whether your cable is suitable and your charger suitable too.

We appear to have taken a good idea and made it shit very quickly.

We'd have to invent a new connector first. It's too thick for modern laptops, not to speak of cell phones.

Also, RJ45 is terribly fragile if you keep plugging and unplugging it, eventually that latch will break. And copper can barely support 10G and is terribly power hungry when it does that. And the cables get thick and inflexible.

Of course there's also the issue of whether your cable is suitable and your charger suitable too.

We appear to have taken a good idea and made it shit very quickly.

We'd have to invent a new connector first. It's too thick for modern laptops, not to speak of cell phones.

I write this from the latest MacBook Pro. I’ve been running this as my primary machine for almost a month. When I’m not grinding out the latest soon-to-be-released I-swear-I-am-on-schedule book in a coffee shop, I sit at my desk and plug the MacBook into a Studio Display. This braided black cable does it all: video, power, and everything else plugged into the Display.

One cable. A Thunderbolt cable.

The stakes are lower in cable selection than in charger selection, but the cables really aren’t the situation. It’s the ports.

THE LIESame USB-C connector. Seven protocols. 250× speed spread.

THE AGEUSB 2 has been 480 Mb/s since 2000. The cable Apple ships still runs at original-iPod speed.

THE GAPiPad Pro’s box cable is 83× slower than the port it plugs into.

THE TRAPMacBook Neo’s two USB-C ports look identical. One is 20× faster.

THE NAMESUSB-IF has renamed 5 Gb/s four times since 2008.

THE BUYApple Thunderbolt 5 if you have Thunderbolt. Cable Matters 10 Gbps if you don’t.

April 29, 2026

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