USB-Type C Connector, on the horizon many different variants

After previewing the Apple MacBook portable systems, the USB Type-C reversible connector will start in the coming months to spread on PCs, peripherals and mobile devices. A reversible connector is something that the industry expects since the introduction of the first generation of USB in the 1997, however it is good to note that not all implementations will necessarily support the totality of the features introduced Since the latest version of the USB specification and that there can be almost a dozen USB-C variations with different features.

The USB 3.1 specifications introduced the 24-pin Type-C reversible connector and many other features that while extending the possibilities of using the USB bus, Mantengnono backward compatibility with previous versions of the standard. For the ultimate purpose of creating an interconnection capable of doing almost everything, the data signaling rate has been increased to 10GB/s, so that a USB 3.1 implementation in the state of the art should be able to achieve a peak bandwidth of about 1, 2GB/S. USB 3.1 also supports the 2.0 specification for current delivery, allowing you to transfer up to 100w power on a single cable. The USB Type-C connector and USB 3.1 specifications also allow vendors to deploy proprietary features with alternate and Accessory Mode to differentiate their products. The problem is that not all features are required for implementation.

What happens in practice? The USB Type-C connectors could be used with any USB 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, or Thunderbolt 3 controller, which allows the various manufacturers to build new devices without having to use the expensive and energy-consuming USB 3.1 controllers. The downside is that different devices will be able to have the same physical connector but support different data transfer rates (480MB/s, 5GB/s or 10GB/s). However, the differences do not stop here: The various hardware manufacturers have the option to choose whether or not to integrate support to DisplayPort functionality via USB-C, which means that on certain devices there will also be a display output that On other devices, even with the same connector, it will not be present. Finally, USB Power delivery technologies can also be integrated with the manufacturer's choice.

In All this sea of combinations the only lighthouse is represented by the 8 specific labels that the USB implementers Forum has designed to describe the functionality of the USB-C ports. However, it is good to note that the presence of a USB 3.1 Type-C connector does not provide any immediate indication of its functionality. Currently the only implementation of the USB 3.1 Type-C connector can fully support all the features of the standard may be accomplished using Intel's Alpine Ridge controller, which also supports Thunderbolt 3 at 40Gb/S. To date, the only manufacturer to use Alpine Ridge is Gigabyte, on Intel Z170-based motherboards.

In addition to the various connectors there will also be the proliferation of many different cables and many adaptors that allow new devices to connect to older systems and dated devices to connect to the latest systems. The various implementations of USB Type-C will allow manufacturers to incorporate technology into their products even at non-prohibitive costs and accelerate the spread of the new connector. However, this kind of approach will lead to a great confusion on the market, with the risk that a slice of the public is unable to fully appreciate the capabilities of USB 3.1 Sottovalutandone the potential.