USB Type C is the intriguing new port that started appearing in laptops, tablets, phones, and other devices well over a year ago, but we had no real way test its throughput performance until now. Thanks to Sandisk's Extreme 900, we're finally able to push that small reversible port to its limitations. To do that I gathered up no fewer than eight laptops equipped with USB Type C interfaces, and hauled in a desktop PCIe card for good measure too.
What your USB-C port isn't telling you
USB Type C is supposed to be a universal standard, but it is just universally confusing. A USB Type C port can run at either 5Gbps or 10Gbps and still be tagged USB 3.1 by the notebook maker. USB Type C even technically supports USB 2.0 speeds at a pathetic 480Mbps. So when you see a USB Type C interface, the only assumption you can make is that its transfer speeds can vary from as low as 480Mbps to as high as 10Gbps.
To muddy things much further, Intel's Thunderbolt 3 technology uses the exact same USB Type C interface for transports over PCIe. It will also support USB 3.1's 10Gbps.
There's a longer discussion to be had about Thunderbolt 3 and video-out support over USB Type C, but that's for another day. I did, however, write about Power Delivery and not-so-universal charging on USB C (hint, it's a bit of a mess).
What's probably in your notebook
A few important factors impact performance over USB Type C. Obviously, the first is your PC's source drive. If you're copying from an internal hard drive, as an example, you won't get near the speed of this port, because most drive interfaces can not match USB Type C's best speed.
The other big factor is the controller chip that's used for the port. There seem to be two popular processors available on the market today. It's a USB 3.1, 10Gbps chip found in lots of the early laptops and desktops that implemented USB-C. I didn't have a notebook with the control, so I threw an Atech BlackB1rd MX1 PCIe card with the control into a desktop system. The performance should be pretty much exactly the same as you would escape a laptop. Intel's expensive Thunderbolt 3 processor, including USB 10Gbps capabilities, is another candidate.
The last option you'll see in many laptops is the USB 3.0 controller built into the Intel core logic chipset. This same chip controls the typical USB 3.0 Type A square ports. Many PC makers simply plumb this sign to the oval USB Type C connector. This is really the most common solution as it is cheaper and doesn't consume more power. However, its existence also means that any USB 3.1 Type C port is stuck at USB 3.0's maximum speed of 5Gbps.
How we tested
Sandisk builds this 2TB drive by wiring two M.2 SSDs in RAID 0 internally. It is fairly blistering fast for a USB drive. Plugging into each laptop's USB Type C port, then I ran the AS SSD storage benchmark for pure sequential transfer rate across the port.
The results speak for themselves at the benchmark chart below, ranked from highest- to lowest-performing. Each entry lists the laptop make and model along with the USB controller.
No surprise, the laptop makers that resorted to the lowest-cost alternative (wiring the included Intel USB 3.0 5Gbps controller to the USB Type C port) give you, well, 5Gbps functionality. I didn't examine a 12-inch MacBook since AS SSD doesn't run in OS X, but it uses the exact same control, so expect it to be similar to the others here.
Of greater interest is the operation of the 10Gbps chips: the ASMedia chip and the Thunderbolt 3. In the graph, that is represented by both Dell XPS laptops for Thunderbolt and the ASMedia chip in the background. In these evaluations, the ASmedia has a slight edge on the Thunderbolt 3 controller. Vendors have told me their own internal testing backs that up.
There is one more rather intriguing wildcard from the test, and that's the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro laptop. This 15.6-inch notebook takes a somewhat unusual approach using its USB Type C port by integrating an Intel "Alpine Ridge" Thunderbolt 3 chip, but opting to use only the USB support in it. From the device manager, it even shows up as an Intel USB 3.1 control as you can see from the screen shot above.
Samsung officials affirmed the laptop does not support Thunderbolt 3. I even tested it with an Akitio Thunderbolt 3 drive to verify. Why Samsung did this I just don't understand.
I do know that the operation was oddly slower. It was faster than the plain-jane USB Type C port which uses the Intel processor, but slower than the ASMedia and full Thunderbolt 3 laptops. Weird.
Conclusion
One look at the standard chart should inform you that there are actual hard benefits to having a full USB 3.1 10Gbps port in a laptop or desktop PC. The most obvious is that the time saved waiting for files to copy to your USB drive. The other is taking full advantage of that excellent new USB 3.1 10Gbps drive you just purchased. As USB Type C ports start appearing on more machines, it'll pay to read the fine print at the specs.
What your USB-C port isn't telling you
USB Type C is supposed to be a universal standard, but it is just universally confusing. A USB Type C port can run at either 5Gbps or 10Gbps and still be tagged USB 3.1 by the notebook maker. USB Type C even technically supports USB 2.0 speeds at a pathetic 480Mbps. So when you see a USB Type C interface, the only assumption you can make is that its transfer speeds can vary from as low as 480Mbps to as high as 10Gbps.
To muddy things much further, Intel's Thunderbolt 3 technology uses the exact same USB Type C interface for transports over PCIe. It will also support USB 3.1's 10Gbps.
There's a longer discussion to be had about Thunderbolt 3 and video-out support over USB Type C, but that's for another day. I did, however, write about Power Delivery and not-so-universal charging on USB C (hint, it's a bit of a mess).
What's probably in your notebook
A few important factors impact performance over USB Type C. Obviously, the first is your PC's source drive. If you're copying from an internal hard drive, as an example, you won't get near the speed of this port, because most drive interfaces can not match USB Type C's best speed.
The other big factor is the controller chip that's used for the port. There seem to be two popular processors available on the market today. It's a USB 3.1, 10Gbps chip found in lots of the early laptops and desktops that implemented USB-C. I didn't have a notebook with the control, so I threw an Atech BlackB1rd MX1 PCIe card with the control into a desktop system. The performance should be pretty much exactly the same as you would escape a laptop. Intel's expensive Thunderbolt 3 processor, including USB 10Gbps capabilities, is another candidate.
The last option you'll see in many laptops is the USB 3.0 controller built into the Intel core logic chipset. This same chip controls the typical USB 3.0 Type A square ports. Many PC makers simply plumb this sign to the oval USB Type C connector. This is really the most common solution as it is cheaper and doesn't consume more power. However, its existence also means that any USB 3.1 Type C port is stuck at USB 3.0's maximum speed of 5Gbps.
How we tested
Sandisk builds this 2TB drive by wiring two M.2 SSDs in RAID 0 internally. It is fairly blistering fast for a USB drive. Plugging into each laptop's USB Type C port, then I ran the AS SSD storage benchmark for pure sequential transfer rate across the port.
The results speak for themselves at the benchmark chart below, ranked from highest- to lowest-performing. Each entry lists the laptop make and model along with the USB controller.
No surprise, the laptop makers that resorted to the lowest-cost alternative (wiring the included Intel USB 3.0 5Gbps controller to the USB Type C port) give you, well, 5Gbps functionality. I didn't examine a 12-inch MacBook since AS SSD doesn't run in OS X, but it uses the exact same control, so expect it to be similar to the others here.
Of greater interest is the operation of the 10Gbps chips: the ASMedia chip and the Thunderbolt 3. In the graph, that is represented by both Dell XPS laptops for Thunderbolt and the ASMedia chip in the background. In these evaluations, the ASmedia has a slight edge on the Thunderbolt 3 controller. Vendors have told me their own internal testing backs that up.
There is one more rather intriguing wildcard from the test, and that's the Samsung Notebook 9 Pro laptop. This 15.6-inch notebook takes a somewhat unusual approach using its USB Type C port by integrating an Intel "Alpine Ridge" Thunderbolt 3 chip, but opting to use only the USB support in it. From the device manager, it even shows up as an Intel USB 3.1 control as you can see from the screen shot above.
Samsung officials affirmed the laptop does not support Thunderbolt 3. I even tested it with an Akitio Thunderbolt 3 drive to verify. Why Samsung did this I just don't understand.
I do know that the operation was oddly slower. It was faster than the plain-jane USB Type C port which uses the Intel processor, but slower than the ASMedia and full Thunderbolt 3 laptops. Weird.
Conclusion
One look at the standard chart should inform you that there are actual hard benefits to having a full USB 3.1 10Gbps port in a laptop or desktop PC. The most obvious is that the time saved waiting for files to copy to your USB drive. The other is taking full advantage of that excellent new USB 3.1 10Gbps drive you just purchased. As USB Type C ports start appearing on more machines, it'll pay to read the fine print at the specs.
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