I think I’ve just had a bit of a revelation…
USB-C is the best thing ever. Not only because the plug isn’t polarised, but because if you want a true USB-C to USB-C cable there doesn’t appear to be any cheap crappy ones. The ones with a USB-A plug on the end are still cheap garbage, but a cable with USB-C on both ends seems to have a basic level of quality and a price to match it.
After realising my Surface Pro will charge over USB-C when using a proper USB-C charger I set off to Poundland to buy a USB-C cable. Could I find one with USB-C on both ends? Nope. Plenty with USB-A and USB-C at the usual Poundland prices, but that was it. Even Sainsbury’s and Argos didn’t have any. All these shops still sell SCART leads though which is quite odd.
Amazon had some, but it took a lot of searching to make sure the cable had USB-C at both ends, and I noticed the price of the cables went from a few quid to at least £10. The same with USB-C chargers that could deliver enough power.
Maybe it’s something to do with USB-C’s ability to transfer 100W down the cable, so the manufacturers have to bother putting real copper in their cables and bonding the plugs on properly. Even China seems to have stopped producing dangerous USB adapters after we all stopped buying them.
Hopefully USB-C will eventually eradicate micro USB and the complete mess of cables that exist for that. I had a box full until I threw most of them away. Especially those cables with only the power connections and no data.
So now I have a 3m long USB-C cable and a small USB-C AC adapter to charge my Surface Pro. I can now leave the real charger at home. Microsoft, if you’re out there, stop producing Surface Pro chargers as if the device is a laptop. Even Apple have given up with bricks on cables and put all the gubbins of the charger in the plug. What’s the point of a tablet computer if you then have to cart around a full size laptop PSU?
