And if you carry your laptop around and connect it to different types of displays or projectors More dongles.

But not every USB-C port is the same, and not every USB-C cable you can buy works the same way.

In previous generations of USB, a cable was pretty much a cable.

Sure, if you plugged a USB 1 cable into a USB 2 port, it might not workor at least, work wellbut that was the extent of it.

People mostly didnt need to think about which cables to buy.

So, for example, if you plug a USB-A device (like a cell phone) into a USB-C port using one of these cables, the phone may draw too much power, frying your phone, USB-C port, or even computer.

The trouble is, it can be really hard figuring out which cables are good and which are not, unless youre buying from a reliable vendor that provides good technical specifications.

Assuming a cable is fine because it fits is not good enough anymorecheck out resources like USBcCompliant.com to ensure your cable wont cause any problems.

Thats not quite how USB-C is: adapters and cables may or may not work, depending on what features your device offers.

And most of the cables on the market support USB 2.0 rather than USB 3.0 or 3.1.

If you need to use them for anything else, like connecting devices or transferring data, they will either not work, or will be extremely slow.

Thunderbolt 3, for example, is a collaboration between Intel and Apple that offers transfer speeds of 40 gbpsfour times faster than the USB 3.1 standardand support for two 4K displays connected to a single port.

But only devices built to be compatible with Thunderbolt 3 can get those speeds, and even then only if you have a Thunderbolt 3 compatible cable.

Your laptop has DisplayPort if theres a D-Shaped icon next to your USB-C port, but it also might have it and not have that icon.

You could argue that this is a good thing, because it makes the USB-C port flexible.

For most users, however, this is just confusing: cables and devices that fit into the plug may or may not work.

And figuring out what things will work means spending some time plugging terms like MHL and Thunderbolt 3 into Google.

Switching to USB-C means those cables no longer plug directly into your laptop.

This is tidy, but means potentially replacing a large number of cables.

The second option is to purchase a couple of simple adapters, like these, and just use your old cables.

This means keeping track of a couple of dongles, but it gets the job done quickly.

And outlined above, not every USB-C port supports the same display protocols, so youve got to purchase one that works with your device.

It means that purchasing a compatible dongle can be a pain, and buying into all of these things can get expensive quickly.

Usb C Support For My Mac