Continuing its march to take over the tech world, USB-C is getting an upgrade to handle up to 240 watts,
which is enough to power most of the gadgets you use every day.
It's an awesome feature, but it's also a little confusing.
So let's break down how exactly this works, what devices will use it,
and how to know if your electronics are compatible. The main reason that the USB implementers forum
wanted to bump the max power delivery from 100 watts to 240 watts
is to get closer to a world of near universal charging for consumer electronics.
100 watts is more than nearly any phone would need,
but as USB-C charging grew as more popular on laptops,
that 100 watt limit rules it out for higher powered machines such as gaming laptops
and mobile workstations that designers and engineers use. USB-C can even be used to power laptop docks and monitors,
but that 100 watts again simply isn't enough for larger displays either.
That means the upgrade to 240 watts will be good news for a huge number of everyday people,
not just folks who have ever had a laptop charger break or go missing,
but also those who have had a hard time getting a new one in a pinch
because of the huge number of incompatible charging tips out there.
I mean, there are so-called universal chargers with over a dozen interchangeable tips included,
and even those won't fit in every laptop.
Ask me how I know that. But what do you need to take advantage of this new standard?
Well, this is where it gets a little tricky.
You can't just send 240 watts of power down any old USB-C cable.
Part of the reason for this is that the new USB power delivery specification
that allows for such high wattages works by bumping up the maximum voltage to 48 volts,
while keeping the 5 amps of current the same. And if you remember from high school physics that volts times amps equals watts,
48 times 5 is 240. So back to talking about power.
When you use higher and higher voltages, you increase the risk of electrical arcing that can damage equipment.
Now, this isn't a big deal when connecting a cable or a wireless plugged in,
but when you go to unplug it, that's when arcing can cause a serious hazard.
This means that 240 watt USB-C cables have to be engineered differently.
So that cord you got three years ago isn't going to work.
The good news is that older USB-C cables are being deprecated or phased out,
but this is obviously going to take some time, so what should you look for?
Well, the USB implementers forum was nice enough to come out with
official logos for cables that can support 240 watts of power,
which should make your search a little easier. But be wary that you'll need to pay attention to determine the data transfer speeds.
Of course, the chargers themselves also need to support the new standard,
and there's an official logo for that too. Keep in mind these logos are probably going to be on the packaging and not on the cables themselves,
so don't go rooting around the pile of bare cables or loose chargers in a bargain bin
and expect whatever you pull out to work. But if you don't see those logos anywhere, remember that the USB implementers forum
is officially referring to these cables and chargers as extended power range, or EPR.
So if you see these letters on a cable or a charger that you're looking at,
you're probably good to go. And of course, the ports on the device you're actually trying to power
need to support the new spec too. So look out for USB power delivery 3.1, which is part of the USB Type-C 2.1 spec,
just to make it all nice and confusing. The spec is very new, so don't expect to see tons of compatible cables, chargers,
and laptops on the market just yet. And there will be some devices that even this new USB revision won't be powerful enough to charge,
such as those really beefy tank-like gaming laptops that have multiple chargers.
They're not going to work with a single cable. But as the USB-C standard becomes more and more capable,
the hope is that in the near future, basically any contemporary corridor
charger will power whatever portable gadget you have.
And full-power USB-C wall sockets might even become a common thing as a result.
Until then, though, make your own labels.
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