[Serkevan]

I'm working with a sample size of 40 over the past ten years. Of course some people are more careful with their equipment than others. Though my brother in law works in IT engineer at several hospitals in my city and while medical staff aren't always the most technically savvy group, their hardware failure rates are notably worse than mine. Though I suspect the quality of cables could indeed be a contributing factor.

I'm thinking that eventually a connection interface that operates magnetically is the way to go as the force of contact can be controlled and designed for longevity, without the unpredictable human factor playing a part at such a crucial junction.

My house has what I call a tech singularity: things start going awry the moment I'm no longer the main user of the device . It's not that the rest of the family abuse the machines, but "maintenance" becomes that thing that happens when I'm on vacation there.

And cables are definitely a point of failure! I've blasted (way) more than a bass jack because of stepping on it while playing... a magnetic plate on the outside instead of a plug would have probably survived better.

[c.a.m]

This argument is often made against standardisation, but that is not the way things work. The EU or any other "political" body do not write technical standards, they take them from industry bodies and from national standards committees which are composed of industry representatives. National standards committees contribute to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

@Lord Lucan; Thanks for your insight.

The international standards system and processes are well-established and active. Canada, like many nations, has numerous organizations and committees representing the interests of government, industry, consumers, etc.

The EU proposal calls up an IEC specification (International Electrotechnical Commission). As one might imagine, this type of spec is usually very detailed; the referenced IEC spec runs nearly 800 pages.


- Craig

[normhead]

Most Apple current and past small gadgets use Lightning , including new iPhone 13.
All my Apple rechargeable keyboards , mouse's , touch-pads , AirPods , remotes etc use Lightning.
My MacBookPro 13" M1 , iPads ( Air 2020 & Pro 11" ) use USB-C , so all bigger items will continue with USB-C.

You're right, only my iPhone 5 and iPad mini (and my wife's iPad use USB 3c. All my current stuff uses the Lightning connection. And I much prefer the lightning connection. I'm glad I don't live in Europe. Legislated inferiority.

[ZombieArmy]

USB-C connectors on laptops are woefully engineered. I have an 2014 i7 HP Elitebook (which I still use) that has a proprietary docking station - which has a connector that is engineered for multiple connect/disconnect cycles and it has easily outlasted some newer laptops I and my colleagues have had. Motherboard replacements aren't cheap.

I would hope that camera manufacturers would make the connector on their cameras more robust considering weather sealing requirements.

A connector failure shouldn't result in a motherboard replacement. That's due to companies making part availability impossible so you're more or less forced to buy a new product.

Hopefully the movement for right to repair in America will remedy this.

[Serkevan]

You're right, only my iPhone 5 and iPad mini (and my wife's iPad use USB 3c. All my current stuff uses the Lightning connection. And I much prefer the lightning connection. I'm glad I don't live in Europe. Legislated inferiority.

USB-C is, as of now, technologically superior in more or less every metric that matters, namely faster data rates and higher current. So, if anything, legislated superiority

Besides, proprietary connectors of any sort are usually a bad idea.

[normhead]

USB-C is, as of now, technologically superior in more or less every metric that matters, namely faster data rates and higher current. So, if anything, legislated superiority

Besides, proprietary connectors of any sort are usually a bad idea.

"As of now" being the relevant part. I was just talking about what I prefer to use....right now my Lightning port is running a 4k monitor, an SSD drive and and is my power source... I'm not suffering at all. However, I do like plugging in and removing the Lightning over the USB 3c. And I do it often. So once again with all things Apple, maybe not the best performance, but in the ball park... but a better user experience.

OK, I just checked out the Apple site.

The current Thunderbolt on my Mac-Mini is Thuderbolt 3 (USB 4) and it's rated at up to 40 GB/S.
The two USB 3.1 Get 2 ports are up to 10 Gb/s

https://www.apple.com/ca/mac-mini/specs/Specs for

Full-featured USB-C cables that implement USB 3.1 Gen 2 can handle up to 10 Gbit/s data rate at full duplex.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB-C

I'm wondering if you could post references that would support Thunderbolt being less technically advanced than USB -3c.

Not saying they don't exist, just saying a prelim search doesn't come up with it.

[Serkevan]

"As of now" being the relevant part. I was just talking about what I prefer to use....right now my Lightning port is running a 4k monitor, an SSD drive and and is my power source... I'm not suffering at all. However, I do like plugging in and removing the Lightning over the USB 3c. And I do it often. So once again with all things Apple, maybe not the best performance, but in the ball park... but a better user experience.

Remember that USB-C is the physical type of the connector, not the data standard. USB-C currently uses the (still evolving) USB 3.1 Gen 2 data standard, which is rated for approximately 1.2 GB/s, while the Lightning port is, at best, a tenth of that, because it's been stuck with USB 2.0... which is well over a decade old by now.

I say "as of now" because in two years it will either be Apple moving to a more modern connector (proprietary or USB-C) or the gap will just widen significantly more . Even Apple has moved to USB-C for a good bunch of stuff (all their computers and iPad pros are now USB-C) because Lightning simply cannot cope, it's basically obsolete.

---------- Post added 09-27-21 at 07:41 AM ----------

The current Thunderbolt on my Mac-Mini is Thuderbolt 3 (USB 4) and it's rated at up to 40 GB/S.
The two USB 3.1 Get 2 ports are up to 10 Gb/s

https://www.apple.com/ca/mac-mini/specs/Specs for

Full-featured USB-C cables that implement USB 3.1 Gen 2 can handle up to 10 Gbit/s data rate at full duplex.
USB-C - Wikipedia

I'm wondering if you could post references that would support Thunderbolt being less technically advanced than USB -3c.

Thunderbolt is USB-C, not Lightning... so thanks for proving my point. The connector is a better platform. My own laptop has a Thunderbolt 3 port.

[normhead]

Remember that USB-C is the physical type of the connector, not the data standard. USB-C currently uses the (still evolving) USB 3.1 Gen 2 data standard, which is rated for approximately 1.2 GB/s, while the Lightning port is, at best, a tenth of that, because it's been stuck with USB 2.0... which is well over a decade old by now.

I say "as of now" because in two years it will either be Apple moving to a more modern connector (proprietary or USB-C) or the gap will just widen significantly more . Even Apple has moved to USB-C for a good bunch of stuff (all their computers and iPad pros are now USB-C) because Lightning simply cannot cope, it's basically obsolete.

---------- Post added 09-27-21 at 07:41 AM ----------



Thunderbolt is USB-C, not Lightning... so thanks for proving my point.

Thunderbolt is USB-4 according to Apple.

Thunderbolt is USB-C, not Lightning... so thanks for proving my point

.

How did we ever get to be discussing Lightning then? Why are people so focussed on old tech?
How is it a problem for Apple using USB C, if they already use it?

Just another cheap shot at Apple I guess.

My apologies, I thought we were talking about current technology. To tell the truth, I don't keep track of what apple calls thier input output devices and what connectors they use. I just got an M1 mini and it's fast. Thunderbolt rocks. That's all I care about.

[Serkevan]

Thunderbolt is USB-4 according to Apple.

.

How did we ever get to be discussing Lightning then? Why are people so focussed on old tech?
How is it a problem for Apple using USB C, if they already use it?

Just another cheap shot at Apple I guess.

USB-4, again, is a data standard... on the USB-C physical connector. The EU seeks to regulate the physical shape of the plug.

Think SD cards. They are standardized and every SD card fits every SD reader, but obviously an old reader from when cards had 2 GB capacities won't make use of the data speed of a newfangled 90 MB/s UHS-2 SD card (and vice-versa, an old card will go slow even if your reader can manage very high speeds).

We got to discussing Lightning because the newest Apple phones, the (I think they are still unreleased?) iPhone 13 family, still use Lightning ports. And because Apple is the only company that hasn't moved their phones to USB-C type connectors.

[normhead]

And because Apple is the only company that hasn't moved their phones to USB-C type connectors.

Life was so much easier for me when Apple just made computers.

[Serkevan]

I just got an M1 mini and it's fast. Thunderbolt rocks. That's all I care about.

The M1 is the best thing in laptops I've seen in a long time. It hopefully kicks Intel and AMD to actually get to work, because they've been dragging their feet with ARM processors forever.

I mean, a 300€ phone nowadays from [name a company] has a CPU with significantly better number crunching ability than a mid-range desktop CPU...

[normhead]

The M1 is the best thing in laptops I've seen in a long time. It hopefully kicks Intel and AMD to actually get to work, because they've been dragging their feet with ARM processors forever.

I mean, a 300€ phone nowadays from [name a company] has a CPU with significantly better number crunching ability than a mid-range desktop CPU...

How fast is it you ask? With my Intel powered laptop, I used to start file export from my PP software and go pore a coffee. The M1 mini with USB-4 is done before I can get up out of my seat. Now if only the darn thing ran Aperture. Photos is nice, but lacks professional features, like spot adjustments and brushes. It claims to have automated many Aperture features, and it's really good at what it does. Most photos require one click (Enhance) and a saturation adjustment. But to have to change programs if you need more is a real pain.

[ehrwien]

I mean, a 300€ phone nowadays from [name a company] has a CPU with significantly better number crunching ability than a mid-range desktop CPU...

I'm gonna need some sources for that claim.

[ZombieArmy]

I mean, a 300€ phone nowadays from [name a company] has a CPU with significantly better number crunching ability than a mid-range desktop CPU...

From 2010?

[Serkevan]

From 2010?

I dunno, the Snapdragon 865 in my friends' 350€ Xiaomi gets a similar Geekbench score to an i5-8300H or to a Ryzen 5 1500X (both from 2017) in multi core processing according to Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC - Benchmarks and Specs - NotebookCheck.net Tech.

Yes, I know that different architectures are not directly comparable, but still - ARM has gotten to a point where it has the potential to really, really eat up x86's lunch in laptops and desktops, if only because of energy efficiency.