These days there is a bizarre trend taking computing by storm. Everyone is changing all their plugs! It harkens back to the days where with every cell phone, you also had a completely different charger. If you wanted a new charger, you probably paid $50 for it. And if you lost it, the odds of finding a match for your phone were near impossible. Then, in 2009, the European Commission put forth a voluntary call asking phone manufacturers to switch to a standard. The one they ultimately decided on was micro-USB. If you have an Android, Windows Mobile, or really any non-Apple device, you know what this looks like. Apple went its own way and has continued to do so ever since. But these days it’s not just phones that are changing…
In 2015, the new Macbook Pro announced something that would shock the world. It had only one port on the entire laptop. This single port, using Apple’s Thunderbolt technology, could be used for plugging in flash drives, monitors, power bricks, phones, and more. However, they drew backlash because it meant that people needed to carry cables and adapters around. Again.
Thunderbolt
Thunderbolt was originally Apple’s idea for controlling multiple monitors and devices. This is reflected in their Thunderbolt 1 and 2, which used the small mini-DisplayPort form factor. But with the shift to Thunderbolt 3, they expanded to allow even more things to plug into your Mac; and it uses the same plug as USB-C.
USB-C? I thought the latest was USB 3? Where’s USB-A and USB-B?
I can tell you’re already confused! Don’t worry. USB-C is a new type of USB. It allows for more power to charge devices faster (even laptops!), more bandwidth to transfer files more quickly, and it has the best design ever, because you can plug it in either way and it’s fine! No more doing the USB dance fumbling trying to remember which way your phone cable plugs every time you try. Eventually everything will be using it.
So the Macbook uses the same plug as Google now, but they’re different technologies. Luckily, most of the things you can currently plug into either a PC or a Mac you can use with a USB-C/Thunderbolt port, you just need a dongle.
What’s a dongle?
A dongle is, very simply, a device that lets you connect to other devices. If you’ve ever used a cable splitter for getting cable TV to 2 rooms in your house, you know what a dongle is. Most dongles are just adapters that help you connect two different technologies. In the case of the new Macbooks, you would have a dongle that splits your one Thunderbolt connection into two or more, allowing you to plug in power and a USB drive, or power and a phone, or two pairs of headphones, etc. You can have dongles that convert from USB-C/Thunderbolt to the older format of USB for plugging in that flash drive you bought last month, and for plugging in a VGA cable to connect to a really old CRT monitor!
It’s all in the name.
Where it is going to bite you though, is that not all devices and dongles are completely compatible. USB-C is the technical universal standard, with Thunderbolt as a subtype. Some devices will be Thunderbolt 3 only, and won’t work on a system that isn’t designed to use that specification. This will lead to a ton of support calls and returns for devices that aren’t compatible but look exactly the same as the cables and products that are compatible.
Vigilance and research will be necessary until things like coloring or labels are standardized to allow people to more easily at a glance determine what’s going to work in their system. If you have a Macbook and need to plug something into it, buying a Thunderbolt adapter for it is probably your best bet. If you have a PC or Android, looking for USB-C is your goal.
Beware the cheap stuff!
Benson Leung is an engineer at Google who realized a potential problem with this new USB-C standard. Up until now, USB was fairly low power across the board, and couldn’t do much harm to devices. However, now that USB-C is capable of delivering 100W to charge a laptop, if the manufacturers of devices aren’t careful, things could get fried. So Leung began testing devices and reviewing them on his website. He would ensure they provide the specs they claim, and that they are safe. In doing so, he ended up destroying one of his laptops from a bad cable.
The lesson here is again, research and vigilance. There are lots of companies that have made lots of money making cheap, old, USB devices. But USB-C and Thunderbolt devices are too new for that market to saturate successfully. There are companies that make good products, but they will look identical to those that will destroy your brand new iPhone or laptop. Check the reviews before you buy, or get one that Benson Leung has tested and personally recommends!