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Anker's New 100W GaN Charger Features Three USB Ports, 34% Smaller Size Than Apple's 96W Charger
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I bought the Hyperjuice 100w GaN.. would try to charge my iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch simultaneously and would get the charging "sound" from my phone. Contacted them and they sent a replacement.. same issue. Threw it in the trash and bought Mopoint 100W GaN. Zero issues and much smaller
Apple's game is . . . chargers?
You can also use an adapter to convert a USB-C plug to USB-A if you don't want to use a different cable ?
And I really doubt Anker based this design off concern that people didn't want to change, lol! They could've easily included an adapter to cover those people. They obviously feel like the USB-A port is warranted.
That convoluted wattage distribution chart IS them intelligently managing charging wattage per port. You dislike what you’re asking for.
Read his post again and look at his last sentence. That should be interpreted as an /s (sarcasm) ?
It is intelligently managed. Also, the ports have images next to them to let you know the power distribution. Top shows a laptop, middle shows a smartphone. So you don’t need to “know” anything.
Dammit. I just bought the 735 charger last month. lol. I'm sure I'll find a reason to need this version anyway. haha
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When both chargers are overheated and burned down your house, I've more faith in Apple to take actions and reimburse any damage caused by their chargers.
Those adapters aren't officially supported by the USB specification so use at your own risk. That said, I'm sure they work fine if you're not using it in the "wrong" way, like putting 2 of them onto a C to C cable then plugging an A port into another A port. A ports often don't have the necessary protections to prevent damage from doing this, so this is very dangerous stuff. That's why they made female C-containing adapters not part of the spec.
They feel it's warranted specifically for people who want to use A because there are people that get so sore about having to use an adapter or replace a cable for anything. And that's fine, no one needs to police other people's opinions, but what I was saying is that C ports can totally replace A ports, which is true. Yes an adapter sometimes sucks and sometimes you lose the adapter or the adapter breaks blah blah blah.
Care to back this up with facts in any way, specifically with Anker GaN products?
Something I've always wondered about these chargers is when they say you get more watts with only one cable, is the charger just detecting how many cables are plugged in, or is it actually dynamically dividing power among all the ports that are drawing power?
In other words, if I plug a MacBook Pro into the top port, and I have a fully charged iPad plugged into the second port, will the MacBook Pro get the full 100w (or very close to it, minus whatever tiny amount of power the charged iPad draws in standby), or will it limit the MacBook Pro to 60w simply because it detects a cable plugged into the second port?
In other words, if I plug a MacBook Pro into the top port, and I have a fully charged iPad plugged into the second port, will the MacBook Pro get the full 100w (or very close to it, minus whatever tiny amount of power the charged iPad draws in standby), or will it limit the MacBook Pro to 60w simply because it detects a cable plugged into the second port?
Tim? Is that you? lol
I'm not sure if you've ever used an Anker product but their products are pretty high quality and one of the most trusted brands in this space (maker of cables & chargers).
Well, you also suggested one could use an adapter the other way around, so I was just pointing out that's true on both sides.
I don't think it's so much about people being "sore" about anything vs. convenience for the customer. But again, they could've included an adapter if they felt the product would be better with 3 USB-C ports. What's to get sore about if you don't have to buy anything? Just plug in the adapter once and then you never have to do it again.
I'm guessing there may have also been engineering considerations with 3 USB-C vs one since their marketing is focusing on the compact size (and to utilize a third USB-C port fully, they'd likely have to increase the size due to adding more power).
The chart is just explaining what the wattages will be depending on what port is plugged in, this is just hard-coded logic based on which ports have a plug inserted. There is nothing intelligent about it. It would be intelligent if the wattages supplied were based on how much each device was capable of drawing. For example, Anker has other multi-port USB-A chargers that are able to intelligently assign 5w, 12w, or 18w depending on what kind of device is plugged in, and it's totally agnostic as to which port you use.
If I need to determine which port to use based on some little image, it is not intelligent. What's the intelligence - what are the inputs and outputs?
I plan to tuck a multi-port USB-C charger under a counter and out of the way, and just run two usb-c to usb-c cables to where family and friends tend to charge their devices. How is anyone supposed to know whether the usb-c cable they're grabbing is the laptop one or the tablet one? Should I color code them? How is that intelligent at all?
They just look at how many things are plugged in. It's complicated because you can get variable power draw from a device, so it's only going to look at the total power available as a pool of power that could be drawn, and not what is actually being drawn. You don't want to cause voltage drops if you can avoid it and if you gave very little to the iPad then the iPad wants more (lets say you start gaming with it) it could drop the voltage of the Macbook.
And I don't mind there are such adapters, but generally speaking it's advised to stay away from non-standard things, things that violate the spec. As I said, they probably work fine if you're using it correctly, but who really knows. They can't be certified by USB-IF, for instance.
I am saying the same thing as you but using the word "sore" to indicate a person who is feeling a little uneasy or unwilling to buy a cable or adapter or use a cable or adapter.
I'm saying you may be sore IF you HAVE to buy an adapter or a new cable, not if you DON'T have to buy one.
Anker doesn't typically include adapters, especially nonstandard ones. They often don't include any cables either. It's usually up to you to get what you need to charge.
There are chargers with 3 USB-C ports at the 100 watt level, so it's unlikely engineering is the reason. Like this: https://satechi.net/products/108w-usb-c-3-port-gan-wall-charger?variant=39509480931416
And there's chargers from Hyper etc that have 3 C ports and 1 A port at 100 watts.
If they're giving 22.5 watts or 18 watts to the A port with 3 things plugged in, then you can deliver exactly the same power to a 3rd C port instead of A port and not need any more power from the whole charger.
The difference is that A ports limit your device charging, for instance Apple devices only draw up to 12 watts over A at most. So you limit Apple devices to 12 watts effectively on that port (assuming it supports the Apple 2.4A protocol for A). 18 watts would be much more welcome for Apple devices for sure.
I'm less put off by that then I am that this cool little charger would require as cumbersome a chart in order to break down the multitude of power draw potentials depending on port combos. I'm no engineer, but if a power brick needs manual, it would seem you're building it wrong? ?
And this is why I say I don't think concern that people would be uneasy by lack of USB-A is the reason why they included a USB-A port. Because it they WERE concerned about that affecting sales, then they COULD simply thrown in a tiny adapter and make it 3 USB-C ports.
They could but they don't. I have had 2 Anker chargers, 1 came with a C to C cable, the other no cable. No adapter on either. They COULD have included a type-A adapter but they don't include any.
Honestly what I'm saying is there are people that complain about adapters. Are there not? So they put the A port in the charger. Does this affect sales that much, I don't know! There are chargers that have 3 C ports at 100w, they could have the exact same thing. They could have the exact same power going to a 3rd C port! But they choose not to, presumably because of consumer feedback.
OMG. You guys will complain about anything. The company puts out a very easy to understand chart explaining the distribution of power to the ports, something so many other chargers don't have, and you complain about it being cumbersome. And it's hardly a manual. It's a small chart. You could easily make a picture out of it and save it to your notes on your phone and have it as a very easy to read reference right there in you little old phone for whenever you need it, assuming it wouldn't be too cumbersome to access a note on your phone.
You can use a USB-C to USB-A cable for such cases. But the future is USB-C so there'll be less and less such cases, so the future-proof solution is 3 USB-C ports.