Cable frustration

For quite a few years I have had a Macbook with only USB-C ports, the standard of the future as far as I am concerned. Pretty soon after that, I figured I would only buy devices with USB-C connectivity from then on, but that went a little differently than expected.

For example, there turned out to be no e-reader with this connection, but since I read a lot I really needed one. The iPhone also proved to be a problem, the iPad happily went with USB-C, but the iPhone stuck with Lightning.

Difference in cables

In addition, USB-C cables can differ greatly from one another. Some charge, others you can only use for data. Some have a Thunderbolt interface in them, others don’t. Some can do fast charging, some can’t. Hugely confusing, I also feel that this slows down the process of going to a new standard because it can seem frustrating. In addition, a USB-C connection is a lot more expensive for manufacturers than, say, a Micro-USB connection.

Anyway, my problem only got worse, because I now had to have a USB-C cable, a Micro-USB cable and a Lightning cable in my bag by default. And besides, many adapters are made to be used with your current cables. So you keep all your current cables and you put a USB-C adapter on that, for example. I thought, that can be simpler, we’ll turn it around.

Back to one cable

What if I bought a good Thunderbolt-3 USB-C cable with tiny adapters to male Micro-USB and male Lightning, then I would only need one cable, the one of the future. Then if I run out of Lightning devices, for example, I can omit the adapter for this. I also bought an 18W USB-C charger, so I can charge all devices through the same plug and cable.

One drawback is that I can’t use or charge multiple devices at the same time, but quite honestly, I almost never do that, so not such a problem for me.

Kabelfrustratie

Herewith my new setup:

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Geschreven door Aljan Scholtens