PCWorld:
Meet USB4, which promises to simply the USB naming scheme and integrate the high-bandwidth Thunderbolt 3 specification. Just a week after the upcoming USB 3.2 specification’s branding scheme threatened to confuse PC buyers, the next USB spec is trying to resolve it all.
And:
From a technical standpoint, USB4 is good news, promising to take the small jumble of USB specifications, form factors, and branding and consolidate them into something more understandable for a general audience.
And this, from the USB4 announcement itself:
With over 50 companies actively participating in the final stages of review of the draft specification, the USB4 specification is on track to be published around the middle of 2019. Coincident with the release of the USB4 specification, the release of an updated USB Type-C Specification will be made to comprehend USB4 bus discovery, configuration and performance requirements.
This feels like the USB Promotor Group is really trying to wrap their hands around the spec, corral the confusion. What I’d really love to see is a labeling scheme that takes all the guesswork out of “will this cable work with this port?” kinds of issues.
Just do it. Now. Oh wait, I just bought a MacBook Pro. Take your time. By the time it’s released i’ll be living on an island probably, enjoying retirement.
Just do it. Now. Oh wait, I just bought a MacBook Pro. Take your time. By the time it’s released i’ll be living on an island probably, enjoying retirement.
“What I’d really love to see is a labeling scheme that takes all the
guesswork out of “will this cable work with this port?” kinds of issues.”
Eh, like Chinese Knockoff Cabler is gonna label their cables correctly, or the various combinations of ports on both sides can easily be labeled for everything?
(I mean, you could require icons for TB or DP support, but good luck getting everyone to use them or people to notice them or have them not just wear off [of non-Apple equipment], etc.)
Buy does-it-all cables and you’re at least left only worrying about whether the devices support the appropriate protocols on both ends [e.g. that TB-only device just can’t cope with a non-TB port].
I don’t think the problem is entirely soluble or that huge an issue, as long as you eschew rando cheap cables.
(Something like 99.9% of USB4 consumers will never even touch a Thunderbolt device, I suspect.
Significantly more will use DisplayPort over USB4, though their laptop will probably just label the DP-capable ports or only have DP-capable ones ala the MacBook?)
Better yet, just make ONE standard so all cables are built to that one standard. The idea of having a single port with multiple capabilities which may or may not be included in it is ridiculous. Don’t care about cost savings. Apple is not going to put a blue or green border around their USB Type-C ports.