Importance of USB-C on hardware

Seearbe

Seearbe

Seearbe

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I was interested in hearing thoughts from the forumites on the importance of new hardware purchases (motherboard and case mostly) having USB-C connectors.

I'm aware that the infinite wisdom of crApple means that they are likely to be removing all USB ports from their laptops and replacing with a USB-C port. But to what extent are PC peripherals likely to go down this route? I'm guessing maybe some external drives.

What other uses might a USB-C port have? Would a port on a case be a convenient place to connect a VR headset for example (although not sure it could be connected to the GPU)?

Or is it all just a bit of useless marketing guff?
 
Useful for charging your phone fast, I'd imagine it will be useful in VR but don't know.

I would always look for a motherboard with at least one USB C at the back.
 
Wegason said:
Useful for charging your phone fast, I'd imagine it will be useful in VR but don't know.

I would always look for a motherboard with at least one USB C at the back.
Click to expand...
Wouldn't you need a USB-C to USB-C cable for this? Do new phones this year come one or just the normal usb-a to usb-c like my P20 Pro does?
 
rhysduck said:
Wouldn't you need a USB-C to USB-C cable for this? Do new phones this year come one or just the normal usb-a to usb-c like my P20 Pro does?
Click to expand...
My Sony Xperia 5 I bought just over a month ago came with a C-C cable for the charger, kind of surprised me to be honest.
 
Wegason said:
I would always look for a motherboard with at least one USB C at the back.
Click to expand...

Yeah, definitely. I think the fact that this isn't necessarily a premium feature (I see some B450 boards include USB-C) means this shouldn't be something anyone would be paying over the odds for. Some x570 boards don't have it of course (Aorus x570 elite for example) but would have the internal header to support case ports. So as long as you have it one place or the other, that would be sensible.

I'm just not sure what it's likely to be used for other than as a phone charger really.
 
I'm gradually getting more and more things that use USB-C so having extra ports is becoming a nice addition... but at the end of the day adapters are cheap.

Currently I have two USB-C ports on my computer (as of Monday as I just upgraded it), one on the back of the motherboard and one on my case's IO - both ports are frequently in use.
The rear port usually either has my external backup drive plugged into it or a charging cable for a tablet/mobile and the front one has the audio interface for my mic plugged into it.
 
I think it's crossed the threshold of ubiquity, and so is worth speccing on a new computer. Bandwidth is high enough that you could put an 8-port USB adaptor on a USB C connector, and still get good transfer rates
 
Reference 2070 Super has a USB C connector on it that some of the custom cards lack. I think they're intended for VR, and while I don't use that yet, the inclusion of the UBB C port did help me decide what custom 2070 Super to go for.
 
I have a USB-C on the front and one on the back on the Board. Useful as I use one to charge my iPad (the iPad Pro 2019 has a USB-C instead of the Old Apple Lightning port)
The other port is used to Charge the iPhone 11 when at my PC - weird one though because Apple kept the Lightning Port but switched it to USB-C for connecting to PC or Plug...
 
GilesGuthrie said:
Bandwidth is high enough that you could put an 8-port USB adaptor on a USB C connector, and still get good transfer rates
Click to expand...

That's more on account of the underlying USB revision than the port shape though.

But actually, if this is Apple's direction of travel, perhaps we will see more USB-C things in the future as manufacturers are likely to want to please both camps.

I guess there's no real reason to sweat over the USB-C on the case though.
 
Apple's laptops already only have USB C ports. 4 on the normal MacBook Pro series. All can be used for charger input or data connection.

I'd suggest more and more things will use the form factor of the plug but as mentioned, adapters are cheap. I don't think many things will be demanding USB 3.2 any time soon.
 
GilesGuthrie said:
Bandwidth is high enough that you could put an 8-port USB adaptor on a USB C connector, and still get good transfer rates
Click to expand...
Actually better motherboards have already good amount of USB ports, including two headers (except Asus) for four USB3s in front of the case.
While lower end motherboards with less USBs often lack also USB-C.

Anyway with PCIe4 there would be plenty of bandwidth to add USBs.
 
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