Intel, in addition to chairing the specification committee, devoted two dozen engineers and drafted a significant portion of the standard. Like the USB standards before it, the new connector is the result of a group effort from over three dozen computer companies. The new Chromebook Pixel features USB Type-C for charging and new devices along with USB Standard-A connectors for compatibility. USB Type-C powered devices can even share the same charger as long as power requirements are met. Thanks to USB Type-C being a standard, accessories and adapters will work on both the MacBook and Chromebook. Google, on the other hand, is taking a less immediate approach with its new Chromebook Pixel, which features two USB Type-C ports but also retains a pair of USB Standard-A connectors and an SD card reader to bridge both new and existing gadgets. USB Type-C’s ability to supply 100W has even caused Apple to do away with its venerable MagSafe power connector. The new connector replaces every I/O port except for the headphone jack, helping enable a thin form factor just 13.1 mm thick. What sets it ahead of all previous connectors is that it’s completely reversible, so there’s no chance of plugging it in “upside down.”Īpple, a company that favors proprietary connectors on its iPhone, iPad and iPod products, has embraced USB Type-C on its latest MacBook. USB Type-C, which came about in the planning of the USB 3.1 standard (SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps), is capable of providing data, display, and even power all through a single port. The connection standard has influenced how we connect our computers to peripherals and data devices it’s even standardized how we charge many of our mobile devices.
#USB 3.1 GEN 2 TYPE C INTEL THUNDERBOLT 3 SERIAL#
USB, short for Universal Serial Bus, is nearly two decades old now. The single new USB Type-C connector that replaces power, USB Standard-A, DisplayPort, HDMI and VGA on the new Apple MacBook. More companies are expected to announce products soon in the effort to further simplify the plug-in experience. The new spec, known as USB Type-C, initially grew out of talks between AMD, HP, Intel, and Microsoft while developing USB 3.1 and eventually involved dozens of other companies, but Apple and Google are among the first to implement it in laptops. Amid the growing challenges presented by designing and building increasingly thinner and lighter laptops, several companies got together to develop a new spec for USB, the universal connection standard born out of Intel’s labs in the 1990’s but eventually widely adopted thanks to Apple and the iMac G3.