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Have a USB instrumentality adjacent you? Look intimately astatine the larboard -- bash you spot a color? It turns retired that it really means something. There's a standardized colour strategy that communicates accusation astir that device's capabilities.
Mind blown? If you ne'er noticed this, you're not alone. Most USB devices enactment good connected immoderate compatible port, but they whitethorn not beryllium optimized for optimal performance. For example, if you've noticed a rodent seems to enactment amended successful 1 larboard implicit another, it's not successful your head. One astir apt supports USB 3.0, and the different doesn't.
Despite the information that they stock a cosmopolitan larboard shape, each USB-A and USB-C devices are not created equal, with perchance precise antithetic transportation speeds, powerfulness transfer, and generations of akin devices. Even 2 USB-C ports close adjacent to each different connected the aforesaid laptop could person precise antithetic capabilities erstwhile it comes to information transportation velocity and powerfulness delivery.
Let's instrumentality a look astatine what they mean.
What your USB larboard colour means
There are 7 large colour that bespeak a device's procreation and what benignant of information transportation speeds you tin expect. If you person a uncommon instrumentality with a colour not listed here, fto maine cognize successful the comments.
- Black: Denoting USB 2.0, this is the 2nd astir communal you'll spot connected devices of each types, supporting speeds of up to 480 Mbps.
- White: These are first-generation devices -- USB 1.x -- with the slowest imaginable transportation speeds that don't typically transcend 12 Mbps. They're besides immoderate of the astir common, recovered connected devices that don't necessitate information transportation oregon precocious powerfulness delivery.
- Yellow: These ports tin enactment either USB 2.0 oregon 3.0, and are "always on", meaning they tin proviso powerfulness adjacent erstwhile the instrumentality they're connected to is off.
- Orange: Like yellow, but with enactment for USB 3.0. Always on. You mightiness spot these connected your brace of headphones.
- Blue: Supporting USB 3.0 SuperSpeed exertion and above, bluish ports place a instrumentality susceptible of accelerated information transfer: up to 5 Gbps (that's 5,000 Mbps) -- a important leap from erstwhile generations. Besides laptops, you'll spot bluish ports connected thumb drives and outer storage.
- Teal: Just similar blue, but denoted arsenic USB 3.1, supporting faster transportation speeds of up to 10 Gbps.
- Red: These are the newest and fastest devices available, categorized arsenic USB 3.1 Generation 2 and USB 3.2. They enactment different important summation successful information transportation speeds -- up to 10-20 Gbps. Red USB ports are besides ever on.
Blue USB-A ports bespeak transportation speeds of up to 5 Gbps.
The colors connected your laptop's USB ports tin besides bespeak astatine a glimpse what procreation of USB exertion it supports. For example, the Acer Chromebook Plus Spin 514 features 2 identical USB-A 3.2 ports, susceptible of transferring information astatine speeds of up to 5 Gbps. If your laptop's USB ports don't person a color, it simply means the shaper chose not to usage a colour for plan oregon fund reasons.
When buying a caller laptop, see the speeds your USB ports support, arsenic this is 1 facet that astir consumers thin not to analyse closely. Lower-priced oregon older laptops whitethorn person ports with much constricted speeds, portion newer laptops whitethorn forgo USB-A connectivity altogether successful favour of faster USB-C ports.
Also: What is Thunderbolt, and however is it antithetic from USB-C?
In that vein, USB-C ports tin besides person their ain colors, but they're a small much specialized. Most USB-C ports are differentiated betwixt modular connectivity with USB 2.0 (common successful older laptops, with speeds of up to 480 Mbps) and 3x, which supports speeds of up to 10-20 Gbps.
A measurement supra modular USB-C are Thunderbolt ports, often marked with the Thunderbolt icon adjacent to the larboard itself, which enactment speeds of up to 40 Gbps. These ports enactment immoderate of the fastest USB transportation speeds disposable connected the market, and you'll spot them connected high-end laptops.
USB 4 is 1 of the newest and astir almighty technologies available, with prime laptops presently supporting this technology. The MacBook Pro M4 is 1 specified example, with speeds up to 120 Gbps. USB 4 and Thunderbolt ports are backward compatible, truthful they person nary occupation moving slower devices erstwhile plugged in.
The bottommost line
So what does each this mean for you? I urge looking astatine your laptop's spec expanse to find the differences (if any) betwixt the USB ports connected your laptop. If 1 of them is faster than the other, it volition beryllium specified, and you tin expect amended show by connecting the close devices to the corresponding ports.
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