- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- technology@lemmy.world
EU rules on common chargers apply to laptops from today. It means that all new laptops sold in the European Union must now support USB-C charging.
In December 2024, the rules came into force for mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, videogame consoles, and portable speakers.
Laptop manufacturers were given a longer lead in time to allow for redesign and transition to the common charging system.
Fuck that, make them support Thunderbolt instead.
All the benefits of USB-C but way, WAY more bandwidth. You get a MacBook with Thunderbolt, you can run so much off that one port. Like 2-3 monitors, Ethernet, USB-A, USB-C, memory card readers… Mine has Thunderbolt 4 which is 40GBit. IIRC USB 3.0 is 5? 10? USB-C isn’t anything, it’s just the shape of the plug. The base iPhone, for example, has USB-C, but it’s USB 2.0 speeds. Which is damn near criminal. I like the common charging cable idea, but dammit, grow some teeth/balls and mandate the port be fucking useful. (IIRC Thunderbolt also allows faster charging speeds, but I’m not 100% on that.)
Edit: to clarify, Thunderbolt is NOT unique to Mac. Mac just uses it. IIRC it was made by Intel, and PCs can have it, too. But a lot of PCs cut corners, so where a MacBook with “only 1 or 2 USB-C ports” is actually giving you Thunderbolt, a PC with four USB-C ports might have one or two be USB 3.0 and the rest be USB 2.0. Require all of them to be Thunderbolt and you open so many doors. (You also raise the price floor, to be absolutely fair.)
They don’t have to support data over USB-C at all, only charging.
USB4 is upto 80Gbit (technically 120Gbit) with 240Watts of power.
Okay, then that. The idea being that the port can be used for more/other things. IDGAF what it’s called, it’s the versatility I’m after here.
Fuck the tribal shit, I just want power and versatility.
That’s USB C in a nutshell. A unified port that has intense power and bandwidth capabilities in a simple form factor that has now been mandated as required on devices by a major world power.
Thunderbolt is actually old news at this point, as they effectively merged.
Which is what they did…
We have a few 2019-ish laptops that do all this over USB C already.
Thunderbolt is no advantage, and it’s proprietary to Apple IIRC.
Edit: Looks like initially Apple developed the core of what would become Thunderbolt, then shared it with Intel to develop.
Since then the tech has largely merged with USB4.
https://tedium.co/2021/03/03/intel-apple-thunderbolt-history/
Apple was just the only manufacturer to actually implement thunderbolt. Most PC manufacturers were content to just sit around and let IO on PCs suck. Very few PCs actually implemented it.
Macs are PCs too
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