• Geth@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    3 months ago

    Who are all these people that have outlets next to where they usually use a phone and can use a 1m cable? All my cables are 2m because power sockets tend to be near the ground and phones and other items you charge tend to live on tables, desks and shelves. I don’t understand why the USB spec considers 1m to be enough for anything.

    • Soup@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I like a 2m cable for sure but a 3’ cable should reach most any table, desk, or nightstand. I only have one 6-10’ cable and it’s because it’s routed through my desk. A 3’ standard has been working fine for most people for a long time and saves on materials.

      • domdanial@reddthat.com
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        3 months ago

        Average desk height is like, 30in. If the outlet is 6in off the ground, that gives you 1 foot of leeway to the nearest outlet. Hopefully it’s next to the desk.

        Average elbow height for men seems to be about 1m, give or take. Have to stand next to the outlet to use it plugged in.

        I’m only buying 2m+ cables for wall charging, data transfer cables can be shorter and so can cables for battery banks.

        • Soup@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Buy whatever you want, but as a standard 3’ is fine. My desk is cable managed properly and the powerbar is mounted under my desk. You can use zipties or 3M tape, and if you’re worried about aesthetics 1) if you do it correctly then it’ll be nice and 2) you’d already be the kind of person to use individual wall outlets for everything so yea I doubt it worries you that bad.

    • atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works
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      3 months ago

      It made some sense when the primary function was to sync the phone (iPod, camera, etc.) with a computer. Then I honestly think that companies just never wanted to take the on cost of the cable being longer and heavier especially when they could sell you a second one for more profit and claim some green wins in the weight and material reduction.

      • Geth@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        3 months ago

        I feel like having to hug a power socket constantly is a worse solution to just having all my USB cables be 2m long especially if you want a clean desk.

        For example this setup is not possible with just 1m if you actually want to also use the phone

    • floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      The length limit is because the data rates are so high in USB 3.2 that timing is very tight and signal integrity degrades very quickly with natural cable capacitance. Charging via USB-PD does not have the same limitations, but it’s suffering from the one-cable-does-it-all nature of USB-C