This protocol has been around since 2000 and most will associate it with the familiar and still ubiquitous rectangular USB-A ports or the smaller micro USB ports. Here’s a quick overview of those protocols. At present most USB-C devices and cables support at least USB 3.2 Gen 2, but they can fall back to USB 2.0 and will ultimately be able to support USB4 which should arrive in mid- to late 2020. The USB protocol is the crucial piece of information that will let you know what a specific USB-C port or cable can do. Similarly thanks to the up to 40Gbps data transfer speeds possible via USB-C you can plug in an external hard drive to vastly expand your storage and see speeds comparable to your internal drive. That means you don’t need to wedge a massive gaming laptop into your bag if you want to enjoy high-end PC gaming. If you need to boost your laptop’s performance on occasion, a USB-C port that supports Thunderbolt 3 or USB4 will allow you to add an external GPU. An easy example is the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus charging another smartphone. Another useful feature with some USB-C devices is bidirectional charging, which allows one device to charge another. Not only is USB-C able to supply considerably more power than its predecessors, but it can do so while still transferring data at high speeds over the same cable. It was in direct response to devices dropping the traditional headphone jack and offered standardization around an existing port along with new features like hotword detection and support for noise cancellation.

While earlier versions suffered from a variety of issues including power drain, USB Audio Device Class 3.0, a specification created by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF in 2016, brought USB-C audio options more in line with the older 3.5mm standard. With the venerable 3.5mm headphone jack rapidly disappearing from smartphones, USB-C can step in as the wired headphone solution for those that aren’t sold on or can’t always rely on Bluetooth options. Using compatible cables and devices, you can expect up to 4K at 60 frames per second to two monitors or 5K at 60fps to a single monitor. You can deliver the image to the monitor, have it function as a USB hub and if the monitor has its own power source it will also power your laptop through a single Thunderbolt 3 USB-C cable, it’s a dream docking situation. One of the places that you can really feel the benefits of USB-C is connecting to a USB-C monitor.

How can you tell usb 2 vs usb 3