It can already do 240 watts which is really excessive for a mobile computer. Technology trends toward lower power requirements, not higher.
Comment on The EU common charger : USB-C
RobotToaster@mander.xyz 8 months ago
What happens when usb-c can’t physically supply enough power for future batteries?
TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 8 months ago
stealthnerd@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I don’t think there are any 240 watt chargers on the market though despite it theoretically being supported. Last I read, there were some doubts around if it was truly feasible. Laptops that require more than 90 or so watts still come with proprietary chargers because they can’t charge at full rate over USB-C.
My Dell laptop is 240 watts and the only way to charge it at full rate over USB is to buy a proprietary $250 charger from Dell that provides two USB cords that must be plugged in together to achieve a combined 240 watts. The 90 watt charger from my old laptop won’t keep it running for more than an hour.
Anyway, hopefully we see 240 watt USB-C in the future but at the moment it seems to be vaporware. Maybe this ruling will push it forward.
holycrapwtfatheism@kbin.social 8 months ago
There's 240w usb-c on every common marketplace for US market, is that not the case for eu?
stealthnerd@lemmy.world 8 months ago
I’m speaking from a US point of view. To my knowledge there are no 240 watt USB-C chargers in existence.
There are a handful that claim 240 watts but upon closer inspection only provide a max of ~100 watts per port.
There are cables sold with a 240 watt rating but no actual chargers.
Scribbd@feddit.nl 8 months ago
Say that to the graphics devision of computing please.
TonyTonyChopper@mander.xyz 8 months ago
Year after year it takes less power for the equivalent amount of processing capability. These devices only require so much now because people demanded they get exponentially stronger
barsoap@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Not excessive at all for a laptop, a gaming laptop may burn 400W at full tilt. Max power consumption really is more of a matter of how much heat dissipation the form factor allows in those instances: Just because you find a way to do more computation with less watts doesn’t mean that people won’t use it to put more computation in the same space.
Snoopy@jlai.lu 8 months ago
Dunno, probably a new standard. Or a standarised battery ? I’m mot an expert in this area.
I think thats a good opportunity to slow technology and focus on our earth ressource management and waste. We can wait 20 year before buying new machine and set up new standard ? Then every producer test and create new prototype in their lab. With a technological foundation to help with their research ?
akilou@sh.itjust.works 8 months ago
Then we change the standard in the future
TenderfootGungi@lemmy.world 8 months ago
But this law is going to make changing when a better standard should take over. Imagine if this was passed 5 years ago when the terrible one sided USB was common. The only group that will have the power in the future to update it is the USB group, and that is a group of manufacturers that have a driving goal of absolute cheapness at heart, not innovation. This is a terrible law.
themurphy@lemmy.world 8 months ago
That’s why it wasn’t passed “5 years ago”. Because it sucked too much.
USB-C doesn’t, and that’s why you could make the rule. Fuck your potential innovation on the cost of 1.000 tons e-waste a year.
nickhammes@lemmy.world 8 months ago
And the downside of too many chargers was very real. They tried to solve it without the costs of a binding law, and Apple refused to join in. So now they’re stuck with a good connector, and the replacement process for it will probably be a bit worse than it otherwise would have been, whenever it happens
abhibeckert@lemmy.world 8 months ago
It should be difficult. You need to convince ten billion people to buy new chargers if you’re going to switch to a new charging standard and often several chargers per person (five at home? three at work? two in your car?).
Manufacturing and distributing 50 billion or so chargers only makes sense if your new standard is a lot better than USB-C. And if it is, then it won’t be difficult to convince people to move to it.
jabjoe@feddit.uk 8 months ago
We tried your way. It failed. We ended up with no standard and a mess of chargers.
barsoap@lemm.ee 8 months ago
No, it isn’t. The law includes language that allows the Commission to upgrade the standard that applies, not the USB-IF. If the USB-IF does something stupid the Commission can veto it for the whole EU market, which likely means that the USB-IF won’t be stupid. The standard to be used in the EU will never fall behind the currently adopted one (at least when the Commission is competent and it generally is, in these matters. They’re quite good at technocracy).
Overall EU doesn’t really care what the standard is, only that there is a standard and that it’s sensible, and thus let manufacturers figure out the details on their own, but that doesn’t mean that the EU is handing the USB-IF legislative powers: The commission will only rubber-stamp what comes out of the USB-IF if they indeed have no objections.