EU common charger rules come into force for laptops
www.rte.ie
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.

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.

  • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    131·
    10 hours ago

    USB C maxes out at 240 Watts. Is that enough? A modern laptop GPU can use up to 175 Watts on its own…

    Edit: I looked it up and apparently laptops are allowed to have other charging ports and to rely on those for operating at full capacity. As long as they can charge at all from USB C, they’re compliant, even if they run in a reduced-capability low-power mode unless you plug them in via their other charging port.

    • lime!@feddit.nuEnglish
      4·
      9 hours ago

      hp have a couple of really beefy workstation laptops that come with power brick/docking station combo units, and they do this. the connector from the dock is a barrel plug and a usb-c in a single plastic housing, spaced like they are on the machine:

      on the later models of the dock they are separate but held together with magnets, but gen 1 and 2 had that monstrosity on them.

    • Onomatopoeia@lemmy.cafeEnglish
      2·
      10 hours ago

      That’s mostly acceptable.

      Though most laptops today do alright. We have a couple 2019 laptops with C charging and they’re fine.

      My concern is the C port wearing out (which I’ve seen) and having to replace the entire board. This law needs to specify the port be separate from the main board too.

  • CerebralHawks@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    311·
    11 hours ago

    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.)