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User profile for user: rockman44413
rockman44413 Author
User level: Level 1
14 points

Usb C Charge Cable v.s. normal Usb C Cable?

I've always had this question for a very long time.

For the Usb C to Usb C cable for intend to use for SSD hard drives, I plan to buy this cable.

First I bought a Belkin Usb C to Usb C Cable of 3 meter, after test the SSD hard drive speed reduce to 30 Mb/s while the other Usb C cable the test is 400 Mb/s.

So I go to apple store and I see this :

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MLL82AM/A/usb-c-charge-cable-2-m?fnode=6e4994fffd4c5c93d8d798da2be7b2b56a7715a9417a7b4afc60fc0541ff5ac223b60b06fad087aabed6b87b7a0a2d1e31dbe85b90c0b7ff24b2a944b82c2128f227bbbcf5824eaf75824d09b5ad5948e70eecf0c52a901e99d2c3c690026709


I'm so confused by the word "Charge" and here're my questions:

  1. What's the special point of Charge Cable comparing to regular Cables?
  2. Is there any data speed difference by the word "Charge"?
  3. Regular cable can also charge my devices, the reason I need Charge Cable is because it can "Fast Charge"? the "Fast Charge" is power adapter related only or it also depends on the cable that regular cable may or may not "Fast Charge"?
  4. Normally I charge my iphone ipad with the original power adapter, but since now you see USB charing stations everywhere, in Coffee shop, Airports, Hotel room, etc., can I understand as long as it's a USB port I can charge my devices and except extreme bad luck situations, it won't damage my ios devices battery and will not cause any data security issues?


Thank you a lot!

Posted on Mar 2, 2020 3:17 PM

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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
60,284 points

Posted on Mar 2, 2020 6:00 PM

The Apple USB-C charging cable is used to provide power to the laptop. The Apple USB-C charging cable can also connect a USB device, but the USB will be restricted to USB2 data transfer speeds (and USB protocol only).


Keep in mind USB-C is the name & style of the connector. USB-C has nothing to do with the actual transfer speeds or protocols. It is very unfortunate this name was chosen to describe a connector. A USB-C style cable should list the actual protocols supported. For transferring data at the fastest rate of the device you will want to purchase the Apple USB-C Thunderbolt Cable to connect external USB-C Thunderbolt or USB devices. The Apple USB-C Thunderbolt cable has a lighting bolt symbol on the connectors to distinguish the high speed data cable from the Apple charging cable.


Be wary of vendor advertising as they will mention "compatibility", but they don't always tell you what the item can actually do. They sometimes only tell you what the standard is capable of doing when they talk about compatibility. I've found myself digging into the technical specifications of a product in order to learn the truth of what a product can do.


which is sometimes used to intentionally mislead buyers. Check the specific protocols and speeds supported by the actual cable and not what the standard supports. If you examine the advertising you will see they sometimes mention USB3 compatible with speeds up to 5Gb/s. If you read it carefully they are saying USB3 is capable of 5Gb/s transfers which is true, but consider what they are not saying as well. They are not saying the item is capable of USB3 transfer rates.

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User profile for user: HWTech
HWTech
User level: Level 9
60,284 points

Mar 2, 2020 6:00 PM in response to rockman44413

The Apple USB-C charging cable is used to provide power to the laptop. The Apple USB-C charging cable can also connect a USB device, but the USB will be restricted to USB2 data transfer speeds (and USB protocol only).


Keep in mind USB-C is the name & style of the connector. USB-C has nothing to do with the actual transfer speeds or protocols. It is very unfortunate this name was chosen to describe a connector. A USB-C style cable should list the actual protocols supported. For transferring data at the fastest rate of the device you will want to purchase the Apple USB-C Thunderbolt Cable to connect external USB-C Thunderbolt or USB devices. The Apple USB-C Thunderbolt cable has a lighting bolt symbol on the connectors to distinguish the high speed data cable from the Apple charging cable.


Be wary of vendor advertising as they will mention "compatibility", but they don't always tell you what the item can actually do. They sometimes only tell you what the standard is capable of doing when they talk about compatibility. I've found myself digging into the technical specifications of a product in order to learn the truth of what a product can do.


which is sometimes used to intentionally mislead buyers. Check the specific protocols and speeds supported by the actual cable and not what the standard supports. If you examine the advertising you will see they sometimes mention USB3 compatible with speeds up to 5Gb/s. If you read it carefully they are saying USB3 is capable of 5Gb/s transfers which is true, but consider what they are not saying as well. They are not saying the item is capable of USB3 transfer rates.

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Usb C Charge Cable v.s. normal Usb C Cable?

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