usb-c USB-C for laptops: What about >100W laptops?

[NextMarcus]

All laptops are said to get USB-C, which can be advantageous due to universal adaption and interchangeable connectors.

But some gaming laptops have power suppliers with well beyond 100 W, some even >200W.

 

USB-C can not handle currents that high. Their workload is limited to 100W (20V 5A), which is excellent for a connector of that small size, but can not cope with the workloads of the circular DC connector.

Will they be able to charge through two USB-C ports simultaneously then?

Edited September 26, 2018 by NextMarcus
Adding tag and better phrasing. + Completing incomplete sentence.

[Origami Cactus]

1 minute ago, NextMarcus said:

All laptops are said to get USB-C.

Who said that?

In some cases it just wont be practical.

 

[Jurrunio]

Even with USB C, laptops can still have their dedicated charging ports.

[NextMarcus]

4 hours ago, Origami Cactus said:

Who said that?

Some Internet articles claimed that. But I also agree: Laptops who require more than 100W should just keep using the DC connector.

 

4 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

laptops can still have their dedicated charging ports.

Exactly. I hope manufacturers of gaming laptops that require more than 100W do not chop off the input wattage just for USB-C.

And the DC connector is actually more reversible than USB-C due to being circular.

The DC connector is perfectly fine in that case.

 

The only thing that actually annoyed me about the DC connector is that different laptop vendors used slightly different connector sizes and diameters deliberately, which made their power supplies non-interchangeable. But Dell and MSi accidentally used the same connector size, of which the former unfortunately blocks charging from non-original power suppliers.

More recent Lenovo laptops even had a new rectangularly shaped connector. And Asus netbooks also had an unusual (but reversible) rectangular connector that looks similar to USB-C.

 

I am also not sure if the implementation costs on USB-C are higher than a DC connector, which could be a slight disadvantage for budget laptops. But high-end laptops should not switch to USB-C due to the significantly lower workload limit than the classic DC connector.

[NextMarcus]

4 hours ago, NextMarcus said:

All laptops are said to get USB-C, which

I forgot to complete that phrase.

[Jurrunio]

31 minutes ago, NextMarcus said:

The only thing that actually annoyed me about the DC connector is that different laptop vendors used slightly different connector sizes and diameters deliberately, which made their power supplies non-interchangeable.

That's good. Different brands (or even same brand different models) can have different voltage supplied to the batteries, and the chargers arent designed to be adaptive in that way. The last thing you want is too much voltage into your battery.

[NextMarcus]

2 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

That's good. Different brands (or even same brand different models) can have different voltage supplied to the batteries,

Correct.

But that's another thing I wonder about.

Asus usually has 19 V, Lenovo 20V and Dell and MSi 19.5V. I am not sure about Acer.

But I do not believe that a difference of 0.5V will do any bad.

 

At lease the connectors with same voltage should have the same size.

[Jurrunio]

1 minute ago, NextMarcus said:

Correct.

But that's another thing I wonder about.

Asus usually has 19 V, Lenovo 20V and Dell and MSi 19.5V. I am not sure about Acer.

But I do not believe that a difference of 0.5V will do any bad.

 

At lease the connectors with same voltage should have the same size.

and then there's the warranty problem. If the stock charger broke the device, the responsibility is certainly on the brand that made the laptop (or the customer, one of the two). No doubt. If it's a 3rd party charger though, who would take the blame? The customer, more often than not. There's just too many reasons for the sellers to declare 'it's not their fault'.

[genexis_x]

7 hours ago, NextMarcus said:

Some Internet articles claimed that

Most of them are BS

[JoostinOnline]

8 hours ago, NextMarcus said:

Some Internet articles claimed that.

Oh, well that settles it.

[TLCH723]

Until they come up with usb-d that support 2x the wattage, i.e. 200W. there will be no usb-c gaming laptop.

[NextMarcus]

On 9/27/2018 at 3:20 PM, TLCH723 said:

Until they come up with usb-d that support 2x the wattage, i.e. 200W. there will be no usb-c gaming laptop.

USB-D

 

But they also need to consider physical connector limitations.

The larger DC connector's tips have much larger conductor surface sizes, which allows them to power devices that need much higher voltages and currents well above 10 A, maybe even 20A, while USB-C ends at 5A. USB-B Micro ends at 3,1A as far as I know.

Edited October 2, 2018 by NextMarcus
Mentioning USB-C 5A limit.

[deferentlemur]

Systems with high power requirements can still charge from USB-C, although the charging speed will be reduced if the port doesn't provide as much power as the native charger. Also, there are a number of low-profile chargers on Amazon with interchangeable tips, but I don't know of any with greater than 100 watt capability. 

 

I just realized I didn't address your original comment. Charging is possible via multiple ports if the system is built to support it (remember that Asus behemoth that requires two power bricks, and a Pelican case to transport it?), but I haven't seen any actually set up that way for USB-C. It would be a fiasco for manufacturers to start requiring multiple charging connections. I have no doubt the eventually all laptops will SUPPORT USB-C charging, but I don't forsee them actually REQUIRING it, except for lower-power systems. Except Apple products. Who knows what they will try to get their customers to do.