Chromebooks can now warn users when connecting to an 'inappropriate' USB Type C cable

Sometimes you can plug an inappropriate cable into your device, affecting your work performance. So what to do?

Google has the solution! The Mountain View company has just announced that it has added a new feature that allows Chromebooks to display a notification whenever a user plugs in a USB-C cable that doesn't support, or doesn't work, ideally with the device. In addition, users will also receive specific notifications if the cable they are using does not support the high-performance connection standards, such as USB4/Thunderbolt 3, that the device has.

Chromebooks can now warn users when connecting to an 'inappropriate' USB Type C cable Picture 1

This will certainly be a very useful feature as most modern Chromebook models today already support Thunderbolt, USB 4.0 (akin to Thunderbolt 4), and these connectivity standards are also gaining popularity. than. As mentioned, although at first glance, all USB Type-C models look very similar. But in fact, they can support different data transfer standards (USB 2.0, USB 3.0, USB 3.1 Gen 1, etc.), with different speeds. USB Type-C types that are considered good on the market today will usually have to support a minimum of USB 3.0 processing capacity and an external display.

The USB cable compatibility notification feature launches as part of the new Chrome OS 102 update. However, it should be noted that this feature is currently limited to Chromebook models with 11th or 12th generation Intel Core CPUs, USB 4 or Thunderbolt support. In other words, you probably won't see those warnings on older or lower-end Chromebooks — at least for now.

Micah Soto

Update 31 May 2022