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The EU is enforcing USB-C on portable devices
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tooki:
So likely your cable is failing: part of the design of USB-C (compared to micro-USB or Lightning) was to move the contact and retention springs from the jack to the plug. That way, the cable wears out and not the device. The port has no moving parts at all.

Some reports say that loose USB-C ports can have the same cause as intermittent Lightning ports: dust packed into the bottom.
eugene:

--- Quote from: tooki on June 27, 2022, 12:29:38 pm ---It’s not perfect, but it’s better than the complete free-for-all that the 5.5mm barrel jacks are.

--- End quote ---

You are correct, barrel jacks are far from standardized. So just as a thought experiment, let's design a new power port that will remain useful for years to come.

To get things going, I propose the following:

It should be circular like barrel jacks and 3.5mm headphone jacks.

It should have a mechanism to keep it from slipping out. 3.5mm phone plugs have simple, functional feature. On the other hand, I'm willing to consider something with a positive locking mechanism that requires one to squeeze the connector in order to remove it. That might not be a good idea, I don't know. I'm willing to listen.

It should have a larger diameter than 3.5mm. Not because I think bigger is better, but because that would make it difficult to accidentally plug it into your headphone jack.

Just tossing it out there as something we can discuss without hostility or any hint of brand loyalty.
PlainName:

--- Quote ---If that goal is simply to decide on a common power port to use on all portable devices, then any USB port, in fact, just about any data port, is a poor choice.
--- End quote ---

Not at all. A data and power port means there is only one connector, one cable, needed instead of at least two and probably three on some devices. The downside is that there is only one connector, one cable, so plugging in power from a wallwart and sending data to some device, showing the GUI on a display and talking to the network all at the same time can be tricky. It needs daisy-chaining in the standard, but instead we have additional hubs.
SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: tooki on June 27, 2022, 06:01:33 am ---I think that depends entirely on the mechanical design (e.g. does the housing reinforce the jack, how is it mounted to the PCB, etc). Because many a laptop has died because of a failed barrel jack.

--- End quote ---

On this model, the jack is in the (metal) chassis frame,  connected to the PCB via wires internally.  Obviously this laptop was made to last as well as to be serviceable...   clearly no future for the designers involved who were probably all sent to re-education camps! :D

(Not to mention that Dell used the same barrel connectors on several generations of laptops, and the chargers all work across all of them!)
SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: eugene on June 27, 2022, 05:29:52 pm ---[...]
It should have a mechanism to keep it from slipping out. 3.5mm phone plugs have simple, functional feature. On the other hand, I'm willing to consider something with a positive locking mechanism that requires one to squeeze the connector in order to remove it. That might not be a good idea, I don't know. I'm willing to listen.
[...]

--- End quote ---

I don't think positive locking mechanisms are a good idea.   My laptop barrel jack has saved me from disaster numerous times when stumbling over the power cable (by simply getting ripped out of the socket, rather than breaking anything)....    a positive locking cable would have broken something on those occasions.
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