As this is our most requested video to date, we decided to put Ben, one of the Technical Analysts here at Star Labs in front of a camera and show you a brief...
The USB C connectors are way easier to break than a large barrel jack and they wear out faster too. If the USB C port is soldered to the motherboard, then you are in for a very expensive repair.
I used to be in the laptop repair biz. The most common failure mode we saw was the barrel connector. Even ones that were detached from the motherboard like the IBM Thinkpads had.
Honestly, I think that that has less to do with the connector itself and more because the power cord gets yanked.
I’d assume that you could get a similar effect with any connector, USB included. Well, Apple’s MagSafe ones maybe not, as that’ll just pull the cord away.
The part that wears out is the thing that maintains tension, and that is on the (cheaper, replaceable) cable for USB.
My understanding that this issue was part of why the move away from mini-USB to micro-USB and later USB-C happened. Mini-USB had the tensioning gizmo on the device, rather than on the cable.
Accomplished by moving leaf-spring from the PCB receptacle to plug, the most-stressed part is now on the cable side of the connection. Inexpensive cable bears most wear instead of the µUSB device.
Maybe don’t treat expensive hardware like it was made by Fisher Price? Why should consumer electronic manufacters cater to the careless at the cost of conveinence?
The USB C connectors are way easier to break than a large barrel jack and they wear out faster too. If the USB C port is soldered to the motherboard, then you are in for a very expensive repair.
I used to be in the laptop repair biz. The most common failure mode we saw was the barrel connector. Even ones that were detached from the motherboard like the IBM Thinkpads had.
The Apple mag-connectors are pretty awesome. I’ve never owned a macbook, but I still think those are the cat’s ass.
Yup, got lucky if it was on a daughterboard but I’ve had dudes donate their broken machines when they got the solder quote.
Honestly, I think that that has less to do with the connector itself and more because the power cord gets yanked.
I’d assume that you could get a similar effect with any connector, USB included. Well, Apple’s MagSafe ones maybe not, as that’ll just pull the cord away.
The part that wears out is the thing that maintains tension, and that is on the (cheaper, replaceable) cable for USB.
My understanding that this issue was part of why the move away from mini-USB to micro-USB and later USB-C happened. Mini-USB had the tensioning gizmo on the device, rather than on the cable.
googles
Yeah.
https://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/18552/why-was-mini-usb-deprecated-in-favor-of-micro-usb
Maybe don’t treat expensive hardware like it was made by Fisher Price? Why should consumer electronic manufacters cater to the careless at the cost of conveinence?