News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats by illumin8 on Tuesday November 22, 2016 @12:55PM (#13015920)
It's for charging only. This seems to be a huge disadvantage to USB-c... you have to buy different cables for different purposes, even though they have the same physical connector.

Can you imagine if AC power had the same plug for both 110V and 220V? And you just had to "guess" which one was the right one?

Re:2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats by revelation on Tuesday November 22, 2016 @12:58PM (#13015943)
They do? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEC_60320

That's a common problem with power supplies that require setting a hard switch to choose between 110V and 220V.

Re:2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats by throwanem on Tuesday November 22, 2016 @01:09PM (#13016041)
Which is why it's rare at best to encounter such power supplies in new manufacture, and has been for quite some years now. Instead, they sense the line voltage and configure themselves accordingly.

It's hard to see the profusion of semi- and incompatibilities permissible in the USB-C connector as anything but a regression.

Re:2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats by schoen on Tuesday November 22, 2016 @10:03PM (#13019602)
For the socket side of the same problem, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_electricity_by_country and search for "Power cords with type A or B plugs which are rated at only 125 V may present a safety hazard" (each of the seven occurrences reflects a country that always or sometimes uses U.S.-style sockets with a higher voltage such as 240 V).
Re:2016 Retina MacBook Pro Caveats by mitchty on Tuesday November 22, 2016 @01:10PM (#13016057)
Yep, I bought some fun electronic bench gear, on the back it says validate the 110/220/240 setting prior to use.

On that note, always look on the back for a manual switch. Just to be safe. Its unlikely a regular consumer would need to but I'm learning to change my habits.