Personally, I have only ever had negative experiences with type C (touchbar MacBook pro, Nintendo Switch). Type C was one of the main reasons I sold my MBP and switched to Linux. It was just impossible to find peripherals / cables that worked reliably.
Aside from being a fragile and poorly designed physical connector, the state of protocols that can be run over it is a disaster. My grandmother definitely will not be able to troubleshoot why her devices don't work properly together when she uses a USB type C cable to connect Thunderbolt devices. I suspect this will be the same for many other users.
While having a ridiculous number of different connectors isn't great, I think it would have been reasonable to at least have different connectors for power, data, and video (even if they were all part of the same spec, and just keyed different to help end users figure out what to plug in where).
I would also have really liked to see a solid core connector. Apple Lightning is a good example of what that would look like -- there is no tiny wafer inside of the device-side port to crack, and both the port and connector are much more durable. Not that I think we should all use lightning, but it's an example of a reasonably well designed connector in my view.
Finally, I think the fact that so many vendors have failed to properly implement the spec is a sign that it's a bad spec. Raspberry Pi and Nintendo presumably have competent engineering departments. By and large, nobody had difficulty getting microUSB right.
Did you actually manage to break that tiny wafer or it's more of a theoretical concern? I admit I had the same concern as you, but I'm not a mechanical engineer, and I'm sure a lot of thought was put in the mechanical design of the connector.
It seems to me that the outer metal sheet on the connector will prevent a "wrong" angle on the wafer.
Not with type C. But I’ve seen friends break the very similar wafer in HDMI ports.
All it takes is for one fragment if debris to get wedged in the wrong way, and now that port on your expensive device is broken irreparably.
It may have that durability during normal use, but I doubt that these tests account for being shoved in backpacks or banged around in potentially dirty environments. Most people I know don’t use their laptops in sterile labs.
There are very affordable (relative to the cost of a new laptop) online businesses specializing in this exact problem. But a skilled hobbyist (possibly with some advise from Youtube) or decent phone repair shop can do it too.
It's actually not that hard (put kapton tape around, remove old using hotair and tweezers, clean with flux and wick, solder new with iron or hotair, a compatible solder or paste, and lots of flux. Clean with spray/brush). Assuming you can source a replacement part, but between Digi-Key/Mouser, eBay and AliExpress that's rarely impossible.
If Apple Lightning ever does get replaced by USB-C, it will be a huge loss. I can't articulate all of the reasons why, but it is a delight to use compared to USB-C. Plugging in a Lightning cable is the only thing that feels half as good as plugging in a 1/4" TS cable. Solid and satisfying.
> Personally, I have only ever had negative experiences with type C (touchbar MacBook pro, Nintendo Switch)
Out of curiosity, what issues have you had with the charger/port of the Switch? I've had a Switch for a couple of years now, and the closest thing to an issue I've had with charging is that I can't use a less powerful charger (e.g. the one for me phone) effectively with it, but I basically knew that going in.
AFAIK, it's highly discouraged to use any charger or dock other than the official Nintendo ones. Apparently Nintendo really bungled the USB-C charging protocol implementation and it's possible your switch will get fried if using 3rd party chargers or docks.
Strange, we have four switches in my family and I charge them on anything from phone chargers to 12v usb-c car chargers to 65 watts lenovo laptop chargers.
I guess if there is a possibility for that it is very low or I am very lucky.
They finally figured out[1] why some docks would brick the Switch. The bad docks were implementing USB-PD in microcontroller and putting too much voltage on pin. Proper USB-PD adapters are fine; it is only a couple Switch-specific docks that were problematic.
Supposedly, though Nintendo's USB PD implementation in the Switch is a little jacked, as long as you use a charger that implements its PD support with an actual dedicated PD controller, you should be safe. The Nyko travel dock that infamously fried Switches faked it with a microcontroller which could sometimes overvolt one of the pins and fry the Switch's PD controller, rendering it unable to charge... at least according to this analysis by an engineer working on a third-party dock: https://www.reddit.com/r/NintendoSwitch/comments/ckaiiv/an_e...
My understanding is that third party chargers work fine though may not charge the Switch while under high load, but most third party docks don't implement PD correctly or at all and that is what can cause issues or bricking. There are also some issues with using A to C cables since USB A chargers will only provide 5V, so if the output amperage isn't high enough the Switch can't charge because it will only use a fraction of the available amps regardless of voltage.
Yet another anecdotal data point, but I've done the same with my Switch and MPB. I've charged both from a battery pack, phone chargers, etc. in a pinch and never had any issues (other than really really slow charging speeds).
I've just assumed those "warnings" are there for liability reasons because these companies didn't test their devices' charging capabilities across all possible USB charging devices.
I think most of the issues come from devices that trick the switch into operating in docked mode where it operates at a higher power state and can cause it to overdraw power from a charger. The switch doesn't abide by the standard usb-pd spec and if used with a charger that poorly implements the spec there is a chance it can request too much power.
I think the issues are more with poor quality chargers than the switch itself.
Aside from being a fragile and poorly designed physical connector, the state of protocols that can be run over it is a disaster. My grandmother definitely will not be able to troubleshoot why her devices don't work properly together when she uses a USB type C cable to connect Thunderbolt devices. I suspect this will be the same for many other users.
While having a ridiculous number of different connectors isn't great, I think it would have been reasonable to at least have different connectors for power, data, and video (even if they were all part of the same spec, and just keyed different to help end users figure out what to plug in where).
I would also have really liked to see a solid core connector. Apple Lightning is a good example of what that would look like -- there is no tiny wafer inside of the device-side port to crack, and both the port and connector are much more durable. Not that I think we should all use lightning, but it's an example of a reasonably well designed connector in my view.
Finally, I think the fact that so many vendors have failed to properly implement the spec is a sign that it's a bad spec. Raspberry Pi and Nintendo presumably have competent engineering departments. By and large, nobody had difficulty getting microUSB right.