USB-C has been a game-changer for electronics like phones, laptops, and other small devices, but that's not the case for desktop PCs. After having the trouble of adding a USB-C port to my slightly older computer, I've only used it a few times and often wonder if it's worth the fuss.
The promise of USB-C: one port to rule them all
USB-C promised one thing: one port and a plug that could do everything you'd ever need. At least in theory, this fits that bill. The best USB-C standards today are:USB4 And Thunderbolt 5– Supports video, audio, Ethernet, conventional data transfer and power supply up to 240 W. If you're inclined to tinker, you can make USB-C do even more.
In theory, this should appeal to everyone. However, on desktop PCs the benefits did not materialize at all.
USB-C has changed the design of the laptop
Before USB-C became mainstream, the sides of laptops were a miniature showcase of the variety of ports we had at the time. You'll regularly see HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort, VGA, FireWire, USB Type A, at least one 3.5mm port, RJ45 ports, and more varied charging ports than I remember.
USB-C has radically changed all of this. You can often find laptops that literally only There are USB-C ports and one single auxiliary port for the convenience of people who like wired headphones. One fork replaced at least a dozen others.
If you have a peripheral that requires one of these specialized ports, all you have to do is pick up the appropriate adapter and you're good to go. There's also a healthy market for USB-C docking stations, which typically provide several different ports for different purposes. You can almost always find a dock that has the ports you need if you're willing to shop around a little.
This has allowed laptop manufacturers to significantly reduce the number of ports a laptop has while physically reducing the size of the device without sacrificing usability.
However, none of this applies to desktop PCs.
Desktop computers generally don't need USB-C
Unlike laptops, desktop computers usually don't take up much space. Even the smallest desktops have as much space as the thickest laptops. This means that one of the biggest benefits of USB-C—saving space—isn't that important for desktop computers.
You can easily fit a half-dozen USB Type A ports on the back of an average motherboard without crowding out other essentials.
Unlike laptops, thicker ports like RJ45 (which is used for Ethernet) don't make desktops noticeably thicker or take up too much space. In fact, many high-end motherboards often come with two Ethernet ports. The same is true for video ports. Most GPUs have at least two ports, some have four or even five.
Desktops also don't benefit much from the other benefit you get with USB-C—the ability to carry audio, video, Ethernet, power, and data over a single cable—since most things you plug into a desktop still use a dedicated connector.
The vast majority of all desktop computer peripherals, such as the keyboard, mouse, and webcam, still have a USB Type A connector on one end. Monitors typically still use dedicated video cables such as HDMI or DisplayPort rather than USB-C. Routers still connect to desktop computers using standard Ethernet cables.
The only area where USB-C excels is in data transfer speed. The fastest standard using USB-C is Thunderbolt 5, which can (if all devices support it) transfer up to 120 gigabits per second one-way or 80 gigabits per second bi-directional. If you have a high-speed peripheral, such as an extremely fast external SSD, this speed is very convenient.
USB-C standards are a huge mess
To make matters worse for USB-C on desktops, the set of standards that USB-C can use is an opaque mess. Physically, any USB-C cable can be connected to any USB-C port, but that's where the compatibility guarantees end.
USB-C can be used for everything from the USB 2.0 standard, which can only transfer data at speeds of up to 480 megabits per second and provide 15 W of power, to Thunderbolt 5, which supports speeds of up to 120 gigabits per second in one direction and can output up to 240 W.
How do you know what you're getting when you plug in the cable? Very often this doesn't happen – you just have to plug it in and hope for the best.
USB-C tried to solve a real problem: too many ports. However, rather than unifying the world of technology with one easy-to-use port and plug, it shifted the problem and in some ways made it worse. We used to have more ports than we could shake a digital stick at. We now have more standards using USB-C than we can shake a stick at, but they all use the same port and plug!
Of course you are could replace all the ports on the back of your motherboard with USB-C, but why would you need that? You can know with relative certainty what you'll get when you plug an Ethernet cable into an Ethernet port. You're not going to plug a DisplayPort cable into the DisplayPort port on your GPU only to find that one component only supports the Year 2000 standard. When each port is tailored to a specific use, there are few, if any, surprises.
Unfortunately for USB-C, the fragmentation of the standard means there's little reason for desktop users to want more USB-C ports—one port and a plug for each standard is easier to deal with when space isn't a pressing issue.
