Starting in 2015, Chris attended the Computer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas for five years running. At CES 2018, he broke the news about Kodak's "KashMiner" Bitcoin mining scheme with a viral tweet. A wave of negative publicity ensued, with coverage on BuzzFeed News, CNBC, the BBC, and TechCrunch. The company's project was later reportedly shut down by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But USB-C is different—and perhaps it's even as truly universal as its acronym (Universal Serial Bus) suggests. USB-C ports are now found on all manner of devices, from simple external hard drives to high-end laptops and, after a long holdout session, the Apple iPhone. While every USB-C port looks the same, not every one offers the same capabilities. USB-C may now be ubiquitous, but it doesn't serve the same functions everywhere. Not by a long shot. Put simply, the more advanced versions of the USB protocol allow for faster data and power transfer. Most of us will never care enough to tell the difference between USB 3.0 and USB 3.2, but it's nice to know how it all works. Obviously, you want USB3+ for anything data intensive. Apart from the speed, it has the added advantage that it's full duplex, so data can flow simultaneously in both directions, like on Ethernet networks or PCIe. Obviously, as a charge cable it’s terrible for data transfer and can’t drive Thunderbolt devices nor your monitor, but as a charging cable it’s excellent.

Here’s the interesting part: USB-C connectors are bi-directional. This means that not only can you charge a peripheral device with USB-C cables, but you can also charge your host device using a peripheral when needed. BTW, 10Gbps USB3 introduces a new channel encoding which is more efficient. So while the 5Gbps variant translates to at most ~450MB/s real data (after accounting for channel encoding and protocol overhead), with 10Gbps you get ~1100MB/s. Consequently, Gen1x2 is slower (2x450 = 900MB/s) than Gen2x1 (1100MB/s). But it might work over longer distances. USB-C’s reversibility will put an end to the classic USB upside-down jokes, but that’s not all. You’ll also be able to plug either end of a USB-C cable into the computer to connect your peripherals, provided the device also has a USB-C port.Physically, the cable is a flat design with a rubbery outer sheath. The strain relief where the cable connects to the housing is minimal, as well, which makes us question its durability over time. Confused yet? Further complicating matters: The number scheme around USB 3 has been in flux, which has made references to these ports something of a swamp. Until recently, many USB-C ports carried the USB 3.1 label ("USB 3.2" was not yet a thing) in Gen 1 and Gen 2 flavors, and some spec sheets continue to reference the older name, along with SuperSpeed branding. In a confusing twist, the USB-IF decided to eliminate the use of "USB 3.1" in favor of these various flavors of USB 3.2, as outlined below in this handy decoder chart... pixelpusher220 said:At least for me this was helpful. Basically all that's important is the Gen 1/2 for the Type A, and only Gen2x2 for the zippy zippy. You’d think you could tell whether a cable is USB-C 2.0 cable by looking at the wires in the connector but that’s not the case. Some cables use connectors with pins that aren’t hooked up to anything.

We didn’t test the temperature of each cable’s housing, but we did test the cheapest cable by running it at 5 amps and 20 volts for an hour. The housing heated up by 50 degrees Fahrenheit, and the cable itself became relatively warm (see the thermal image below). Not ideal, but it did this without failure. We subjected other cables to two-hour loads without failure, as well.USB-C (or USB Type-C) is slowly becoming the standard port for consumer devices. Almost every new laptop, tablet or phone has USB-C connectivity. This is because the connection type fixes many of the problems associated with USB-A. It also has many features that surpass its predecessor. This awkward collection of differently shaped connectors for different-size devices is finally coming to a close. USB Type-C offers a new connector standard that's very small. It's about a third the size of an old USB Type-A plug. This is a single connector standard that every device should be able to use. You'll just need a single cable, whether you're connecting an external hard drive to your laptop or charging your smartphone from a USB charger. That one tiny connector is small enough to fit into a super-thin mobile device, but also powerful enough to connect all the peripherals you want to your laptop. The cable itself has USB Type-C connectors at both ends---it's all one connector. Here's a guide to everything USB-C can do, and which of its features you should look for when buying your next USB-C device. If you're using a USB Type-C cable and port, the charger / host device could support USB Power Delivery (USB PD), which can go as high as 240 watts in some cases. But the wattage has nothing to do with data speeds as a USB 2.0 port could have power delivery while a USB 3.2 port might not. Video Over USB 3.2 / USB 3.1