The USB Type-C is not new, but as usual, an Apple launch, (the MacBook), has made it now in everyone's mouth. Due to the novelty and complexity of it, it is easy to attribute to the USB Type-C things that are not typical of it.
Type-C is a connector
We talk about USB Type-C and its advantages incorrectly. USB Type-C is a new, tiny, reversible connector. Just that, a connector. It can support various uses, such as USB 3.1 standard and USB Power delivery (USB PD).
The connector we all know is the standard USB Type-A connector. We have already passed several generations of the USB standard (now at 3), but the connector has remained the same. Its use is more widespread than ever, even though it is large, old and can only be connected in one direction. Being such a big connector, the manufacturers started to create smaller versions of the same as the Mini USB and the USB Micro.
Fortunately, the USB Type-C is small, you can connect both ways and you should replace the large number of USB connectors that we currently have.
As consumers, Apple has decided to include it in its new MacBook is great news. It is the company with more strength to be able to drive the use of a new connector, also it is time is a standard, so it will benefit the multinationals of the sector and the consumers.
The great kindness of this new standard connector, in addition to being small and reversible, is that its use will not be limited to mobile devices: computers, laptops, tablets ... everyone will use this same connector. The cables will have in both terminations the new USB Type-C, eliminating the multitude of different cables that we have to use at present one for the camera, one for the mobile, another for the laptop etc.
The USB Type-C, being nothing more than a connector, supports several protocols using alternative modes, which allows to use it as digital video and audio output (HDMI), DisplayPort output, analog video output (VGA), etc. The perfect example is the hub that Apple has put on sale along with its new MacBook, eliminating the gibberish existing in the last decade, gathering all the capabilities that the consumer needs in a single, small, reversible, capable and standard connector.
USB Type-C is not USB 3.1
This relationship between standard and connector I've read it, unfortunately, on many occasions. And it's totally wrong. USB 3.1 is a new USB standard developed and published by USB-IF.
In January 2013, by means of a press release, the grouping of manufacturers constituting the USB group, revealed their plans to update the USB 3.0 standard at a speed of 10Gbits/s, a data transfer rate more commensurate with the needs of the Future, present today. The Association thus created the new version of the standard USB protocol, the USB 3.1, in July of 2013 together with its higher rate of data transfer called SuperSpeed USB 10Gbit/s (a speed equivalent to the first generation of the Thunderbolt protocol). It is necessary to be clear then the following concepts:
USB Type-C is not the same as USB 3.1
USB Type-C is only the form of the connector, the technology that implements it can be USB 2.0 as in the Chinese clone of the IPad with the logo of Nokia behind.
The USB 3.1 is backwards-compatible, so you only need one physical adapter to connect any device to a USB Type-C connector regardless of the protocol you use.
Power transfer in USB Type-C
The USB Power delivery specification has been mistakenly linked to the capabilities of a single connector, but they are related.
Currently in our smartphones, electronic readers, tablets, cameras etc. we have a USB 2.0 port to load the device. The problem is that a USB 2.0 has a maximum transfer of 0.5 to 5 volts, i.e. 2.5 watts. Used for devices with low battery capacity, but on a laptop it is impossible to use that connector to load.
The new MacBook and the new Chromebook Pixel will be loaded by the USB Typce-C port, as the USB Power delivery specification sets the transfer limit to 100w. It also serves in both directions, so you can load your laptop or your laptop charge your smartphone at that power rate.
The input of the USB Type-C connector and the USB Power delivery specification are the death sentence to all the owners of future portable chargers. A multi purpose connector in which in addition to loading your device, you can do more things. A small, reversible connector that will allow you to load your laptop with the charger that you want, not the one that the manufacturer impose on you, and you can even charge it with an external battery if you wish.
It is important to clarify that the specification is related to the new connector, but not all USB Type-C support it. It has to be a device with USB Type-C connector and USB Power delivery support. Remember that there are USB Type-C connectors with USB 2.0 protocol.
The USB Type-C connector on the Macbook
Arstechnica has investigated the technology that Apple has implemented on the USB Type-C of its MacBook. The Apple web indicates that it is a first generation USB 3.1. The first impression is that it would be like the standard published in 2013 as I indicated at the beginning of the article, but it is not.
USB 3.1, unlike USB 3.0, was a minor change. What's more, the USB 3.1 specification has been absorbed into the set of the USB 3.0 standard. This has derived, I do not know the reason, in very confusing nomenclatures, being the USB 3.1 of 10Gbit/s finally called as USB 3.1 Gen 2.
The USB 3.0 has been renamed USB 3.1 Gen 1, maintaining its 5.0 Gbps transfer. The USB-IF confirmed to Arstechnica that this USB 3.1 Gen 1 uses the same controller as the USB 3.0, so the Broadwell systems that use USB Type-C connector like the MacBook and the new Chromebook Pixel, are actually using the USB 3.0 driver. a mess. You can read my opinion on the inclusion of a single connector.
One last reminder
There is still a lot of confusion about the USB Type-C connector and the capabilities of the protocols it can implement. There will be devices with USB Type-C connector using USB 2.0 protocol or USB 3.0 (USB 3.1 Gen 1), and others using USB 3.1 (USB 3.1 Gen 2).
There will also be USB type-C ports that do not support the USB Power delivery specification, or that there are ports with that specification that do not have a USC type-C connector. It's complicated, but let's not associate connectors and protocols.
