Newsletter Archives

• Making connections between computers and monitors

  Posted on April 18, 2022 at 02:45 CDT by Ben Myers • Comment in the Forums

  

  ISSUE 19.16 • 2022-04-18

  HARDWARE

  

  By Ben Myers

  With four different standards for video ports and cables, as well as some “mini” ports, it can be downright confusing to come up with the right cables to connect your computer to a monitor.

  In the best of all possible worlds, we would all want to buy a computer and a monitor at the same time, ensuring that they connect to one another and work well together with the right cabling. In our real world, a computer meets an untimely demise and an upscale monitor is still exactly what we need. Or maybe the monitor fails to light up, it becomes too dim, you punch out the screen in anger, or it is simply time for a larger monitor. Possibly you want to attach a monitor to your laptop, duplicating the laptop screen on a larger viewing area or using dual screens to see more information.

  Read the full story in our Plus Newsletter (19.16.0, 2022-04-18).
  This story also appears in our public Newsletter.

  AskWoody FREE Newsletter, AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware AskWoody Plus Newsletter, DisplayPort, Displays, DVI, hardware, HDMI, Standards, Thunderbolt, VGA

• Some laptops claim Thunderbolt 4 support but don’t deliver

  Posted on April 19, 2021 at 01:04 CDT by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  The new Thunderbolt 4 standard works with the latest USB-C–equipped laptops to drive two 4K monitors simultaneously, run high-speed external solid-state drives, and plug into docking stations that support a wide variety of peripherals, cables, and ports.

  The promise of Thunderbolt 4 (TB4) is great, but the reality of this technology — which was announced as recently as January 2020 during the Consumer Electronics Show — is making it hard for some laptops to connect with everything they’re supposed to.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.14.0 (2021-04-19).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Thunderbolt

• There are no USB cables any more

  Posted on March 8, 2021 at 01:04 CST by B. Livingston • Comment in the Forums

  PUBLIC DEFENDER

  

  By Brian Livingston

  It used to be that you could run any old USB cable between just about any two USB ports, and the devices on each end would simply work. But that hasn’t been true for a long, long time.

  As more and more manufacturers wanted to bring different devices with different needs to market, the standard USB-A cable was lost in the shuffle. Instead, we got a gaggle of novel USB connectors named Mini-A, Mini-B, Micro-A, Micro-B, Apple’s similar-but-different Lightning, and more.

  Read the full story in the AskWoody Plus Newsletter 18.9.0 (2021-03-08).

  AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Hardware, Public Defender AskWoody Plus Newsletter, Public Defender, Thunderbolt, USB, USB standards