Why You Can’t Charge Your Laptop With Just Any USB-C Port

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With the rise of USB-C, we’ve come as close as we ever have to a universal charging standard. The European Parliament in particular has been instrumental in forging the path for USB-C as a common charger among tech devices, going so far as to even force Apple –- a company that is historically very reluctant to give up its own proprietary tech –- to switch to USB-C for its iPhones. Europe has also taken aim at charging bricks, with a new rule for power bricks that requires them to feature a detachable USB-C cable.

Outside of reducing e-waste and simplifying chargers for consumers, the reason for this is that USB-C has matured greatly, offering unmatched versatility under a singular, reversible connector. USB-C has a huge data bandwidth, enabling speeds of up to 80Gbps for USB4, can deliver up to 240W of power with Power Delivery 3.1, and can transmit audio and video, meaning it can be used to connect to external devices or peripherals. USB-C also supports DisplayPort Alt-Mode, and the Apple-Intel jointly produced Thunderbolt interface uses USB-C.

Yet for all its strengths, USB-C can still be confusing –- primarily in how OEMs implement USB-C, and how clearly those ports are identified. Additionally, just because USB-C can do all of these things doesn’t mean every USB-C port will support them. Which is why you can’t charge your laptop with just any USB-C port; it needs to be one that supports power delivery (USB-C PD). By the same token, just because Thunderbolt 5 uses USB-C doesn’t mean every USB-C port supports Thunderbolt 5.

Understanding USB-C charging and power delivery

A close up of a USB-C cable plugged into a laptop

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The evolution of USB has spanned numerous generations and has been quite a journey, with USB-C landing in 2014. However, preceding USB-C was the first USB Power Delivery (USB PD) spec, which was made for older USB-A and B connectors in 2012. It originally supported a default power profile of 5V/3A/15W, and would form the basis of USB PD charging. When USB-C and the first USB-C cables arrived, they would support USB PD 2.0 with fixed voltages of 5V, 9V, 15V, and 20V, and a maximum power delivery of 100W. We’ve now landed at USB PD 3.1, enabling dynamic and adjustable voltages between 5V and 48V, and a maximum power output of 240W.

As USB-C has evolved, it has grown to encompass many revisions, both to the main standard and the Power Delivery specification. The USB standard has had an identity problem for years, with every revision or update creating confusion (USB 3.2 Gen 1, USB 3.2 Gen 2, USB 3.2 Gen 2×2, etc.) –- both in how OEMs implement them and how the end user can identify them. And because the USB-C port houses such a wide range of possible specs, this makes it a problem identifying what your specific port is capable of, to say nothing of finding a compatible cable. With the new USB4 2.0 and how similar it is to Thunderbolt 5, this compounds the identity crisis even further.

The USB-IF has created an entire line of logos and icons to explain what ports and cables are capable of, but these are just guidelines; manufacturers aren’t required to use them, and sometimes don’t.

Always refer to the documentation, and make sure you have appropriate cables

A close up of USB-C ports on a MacBook Air in an outside setting

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In some cases, like with its Chromebooks, Google uses slightly different icons to identify USB-C ports. Many Chromebooks have USB-C ports on both sides, and many of these support both DisplayPort mode and charging. This enables the device to be charged while also being connected to an external display. But you’ll need to refer to the product’s documentation to be sure of what ports you’ve got. The 2025 MacBook Air, as another example, has 2 USB-C ports right next to the MagSafe 3 charging port. These are Thunderbolt 4 ports, meaning they can charge up to 100W, support DisplayPort, and have data rates of 40Gbps –- but you wouldn’t know that from looking, as they’re not marked. Instead, you have to look up the tech specs to be sure.

Once you’ve established that your USB-C port(s) support PD, you then need to make sure you are using the correct cable to get the most out of it. Assuming all USB-C cables are created equal is a mistake; you need to make sure the cable supports the power and data specs of the ports you have. Avoid using older USB-A to USB-C cables, as many of them don’t have the required 56k ohm pull-up resistor needed to make them safe. When USB-C PD reached 100W charging, USB-IF certified cables began to require an E-Marker chip that negotiated supported power, and that requirement continues with the newer USB PD 3.1 spec that supports 240W. The best way to find certified cables that match the specs of your device is to use the USB-IF search tool provided for free.

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Stephan Dorsey

Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.

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Recent Reviews

AI is causing cognitive fatigue. Here’s how to work with more haste and less speed

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Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.

ZDNET’s key takeaways

Staff who use AI can end up with more to do, not less.
Think carefully about the tools you’re using and why.
Adopt a set of standards and refine your outputs.

The promise of productivity boosts from AI can come with an unwelcome side order of stress. Harvard Business Review found that AI doesn’t reduce work; it intensifies it, leading to cognitive fatigue and unsustainable hours.

While the common perception is that AI can help reduce workloads, allowing employees to focus more on higher-value and more engaging tasks, HBR’s research found that staff using AI worked more quickly and often ended up with more to do, not less.

Also: Forget productivity: Here are 5 strategic shifts that drive real AI value

While we’ve written about how some professionals are finding ways to turn AI’s time-saving magic into a productivity superpower, we’ve also recognized that some employees have started to become tired with the low quality of AI outputs.

Ankur Anand, group CIO at tech recruiter Harvey Nash, said professionals who want to avoid cognitive fatigue must understand how to use AI effectively and its potential risks.

“That focus will help to reduce the noise around the workload that AI creates,” he told ZDNET, suggesting that many people have unrealistic expectations about the productivity boost that AI will provide.

Also: Why I ditched Copilot for Claude in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint – and how you can, too

“Many organizations are telling their people, ‘We want to understand how you’re making an impact with AI,'” he said. “But these professionals are not empowered, which means that using AI adds a lot of pressure, because they need to prove themselves on their own terms.”

If you’re going to make the most of AI at work, then you’re going to have to find an effective balance between completing tasks quickly and producing high-quality work.

Here’s how the experts believe professionals can ensure they reap the benefits, not the problems, of AI — and they suggest that you’ll need to focus on three core areas: tools, guidelines, and outputs.

Limit your toolset

Alex Read, senior enterprise product manager for data at energy provider EDF UK, told ZDNET that the best way for professionals to reap the benefits, not the challenges, of AI is to be uber-focused on tools that help you produce value in your roles.

While there are thousands of potential AI-enabled services on the market, Read said sensible professionals limit their horizons.

Also: How this travel company’s AI rollout drove a 73% satisfaction boost: A 5-step playbook for your business

In his own role, for example, Read focuses on how AI can help him build a data platform and update information accurately, efficiently, and productively: “Anything outside of that scope is noise for me.”

That sentiment resonated with Nick Pearson, CIO at technology specialist Ricoh Europe, who told ZDNET it’s important to take a step back and think carefully about how an AI tool can help you produce value in your role.

“If you think about the phrase ‘gen AI,’ the tech is very good, by definition, at generating outputs,” he said. “I could go to bed in the evening, set the model to work, and we could have four new IT strategies produced overnight.”

Also: Worried AI agents will replace you? 5 ways you can turn anxiety into action at work

However, quantity doesn’t necessarily mean quality. Pearson suggested it’s important to focus on AI’s blind spots, particularly as most models are trained on preexisting content.

“AI can’t inspire people, per se; it can’t naturally create something new, because it’s actually quite recursive,” he said.

“And the judgment you have to put in sometimes, on top of everything else, whether it be an ethical or a capability judgment, is not there automatically in the technology.”

It’s in this gap, said Pearson, that human experts play a critical role: “We’re toying with that concern as an organization and saying, ‘Where does AI really play an important role, versus where are we upskilling people in areas that AI probably won’t play for a long time?'”

Work to the guidelines

HBR’s research found that an initial productivity surge when AI is adopted can lead to lower-quality work, turnover, and other problems as people work harder rather than smarter.

To correct this issue, HBR said companies need to adopt an “AI practice,” or a set of norms and standards around AI use that help professionals ensure they use AI in a constrained but productive manner.

Also: 90% of AI projects fail – here are 3 ways to ensure yours doesn’t

At EDF UK, Read is part of an internal AI Center of Excellence in enterprise IT, which enables policy for the effective use of AI across the wider organization.

In addition to Read, who contributes input from a data-use perspective, the group includes other tech representatives, such as the firm’s senior manager of AI, principal software engineer, and principal solution architect.

“The remit of this center is to make sure that, when the federated business units are looking to build, develop, and deploy AI services, they have platforms, guidance, best practices, architectural assets, and materials to guide them on how to safely and efficiently adopt AI and operationalize it at scale,” he said.

Some of the key themes the center considers when assessing AI tools are scalability and reusability, ensuring a proposed service doesn’t replicate one already in use.

Also: 5 ways to use AI when your budget is tight

“All new tools and services related to AI will go through that hopper and funnel to understand scope and ensure the security, regulatory, and ethical side of things are understood,” he said, suggesting that all professionals should use their organization’s pre-existing guidelines to foster an appropriate exploitation of emerging tech.

“The benefit that guided approach brings is that it allows us to be clear in our messaging around what AI services can be used, how they’re used from a use-case perspective, and ultimately, what personas are allowed to use them.”

Refine your outputs

Even when tools are assessed and considered acceptable, there can still be an overreliance on AI outputs. Worse, some professionals can drown in the insights they receive, leading to higher stress and fewer benefits.

Louise Newbury-Smith, head of UK&I at technology specialist Zoom, told ZDNET that one way to ensure your outputs are constrained is to focus on prompting.

“Use simple amendments to be specific, such as ‘Give me the top three things with the biggest impact.’ That approach should guide your prompt, rather than saying, ‘Give me everything you know about this topic.'”

Also: 5 ways to fortify your network against the new speed of AI attacks

Newbury-Smith said the successful use of AI is all about being smart about how it’s exploited, and that effectiveness comes down to enablement and engagement. If a prompt yields too much information, refine it until you get what you need. She said this should still be faster than trying to get answers without AI.

The basic message for professionals is that effective applications of AI are all about you staying in the loop, said Bernhard Seiser, vice president of digital, data, and IT at AOP Health.

Think before you use AI, and think again before you push your outputs around the organization.

“It doesn’t help the business if you get AI-generated emails that are many pages long, and then you need ChatGPT to summarize the text,” he told ZDNET.

Seiser said that while there are certain tasks generative AI is good at and worth using for, in the end, “you need to use your brain.”

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