A piece of on-the-street video journalism. USB 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0: what’s the difference? For laptops tested since 2021, our review Tech Specs will mention whether a laptop can be charged via USB-C. Generally speaking if the laptop has a more standard circular ‘barrel’ charger it can’t also be charged over USB-C. It is worth noting that just because a laptop has a USB-C port does not mean it can be charged using it. It's likely the laptop will only gain charge if it's not switched on while you're charging it, unless you have a very powerful battery pack. The upside is if you're running low and only have a USB power bank to hand, you can very slowly charge your laptop using it. It makes for a somewhat hit-and-miss approach to charging, so while it is handy to be able to charge a laptop with the same cable that comes with your phone, in reality this is likely to be a slow and compromised experience. This is particularly important now as so many laptops can only be charged over USB-C, but you will only be able to charge them at decent speeds with the right cable and charger.
There is no hard and fast way of knowing how much power a given USB-C port or cable will accept without checking the manual of the product. Many laptops now come with USB-C ports that are also used for charging in a similar way that most modern smartphones are charged with USB-C. It’s worth keeping an eye on this if you want your laptop to work with your existing wired devices. We expect USB-C ports to increasingly replace USB-A ports on modern laptops, and indeed some laptops, including the latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, already exclusively use USB-C ports. They can be used for anything from charging a laptop or phone to connecting to a monitor or powering a large external storage device.Īs we mention below, USB-C is the only connector designed to manage speeds up to the USB 4.0 standard, though simply having a USB-C port does not guarantee this.
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