This $19.99 Cable Lets You Charge the Surface Pro or Laptop With USB Type-C

I have been using the Surface Laptop 2 and Surface Pro 6 over the past few weeks, and the lack of Type-C charging is really annoying. Even though Microsoft is slowly embracing Type-C with products like Surface Go and Surface Headphones, we are yet to see Type-C on its flagship products like the Pro and Laptop line.

And if you have been wanting to charge your Surface Laptop or Pro device with Type-C, you will now be able to do so. A new company by the new of J-Go Tech is selling a $19.99 cable that lets you charge the Surface Laptop or Pro device with Type-C. You can charge the devices using a battery pack or a direct wall charger — it essentially has a Surface Connect on one side, and Type-C on the other.

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J-Go Tech says the cable charges at 15V, and it should work with most USB Type-C Power Delivery devices. The minimum output required for the cable to work with the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop is 36W, but the recommended output is 60W. The folks at The Verge tested the cable and they were able to charge the Pro and Laptop with a wall charger as well as a battery pack. The cable is only for charging, though, so you won’t be able to use it for data transfer at all.

Even though the cable sounds like a very good product, it’s exactly what Microsoft didn’t want to happen with Type-C on Surface. The company previously said that one of the main reasons it’s avoiding using Type-C on its devices was to prevent third-party products causing compatibility issues and affecting the end-user experience. And that’s exactly what’s happening with this $20 cable.

You can get one here.

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Conversation 13 comments

  • pesos

    Premium Member
    18 December, 2018 - 1:44 pm

    <p>"<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">The company previously said that one of the main reasons it’s avoiding using Type-C on its devices was to prevent third-party products causing compatibility issues and affecting the end-user experience. And that’s exactly what’s happening with this $20 cable."</span></p><p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">What? What compatibility issues are occurring and how is the end user experience being affected? You state that's "exactly what's happening" with this $20 cable with no details or even an anecdote to back it up… no such statement was made in the Verge review so I'm confused what you're basing this on…</span></p>

    • harmjr

      Premium Member
      18 December, 2018 - 2:13 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#383988">In reply to pesos:</a></em></blockquote><p>This was something Microsoft stated about people trying to charge the Surface 3 that had the Micro USB port. It caused confusion.</p><p><br></p><p>Windows Central has some of the quotes in their article. <a href="https://www.windowscentral.com/why-no-usb-type-c-new-surface-pro&quot; target="_blank">Why Microsoft's new Surface Pro doesn't have a USB Type-C port</a></p><p><br></p><p><br></p>

      • pesos

        Premium Member
        18 December, 2018 - 3:28 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#383994">In reply to harmjr:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Not sure you're reading what I wrote… The issue is not the first statement about MS… the issue is the next sentence where the author claims compatibility issues are "exactly what's happening"</p>

        • harmjr

          Premium Member
          18 December, 2018 - 4:49 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#384041">In reply to pesos:</a></em></blockquote><p>Ok how I see "exactly what's happening". So this company <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">J-Go Tech</span> makes a cable that under powers the Surface device at 15W well below the 36W or 60W recommended. Panos (Microsoft) did not want to do USB C because people would use cell phone charges that would under power the device. So a third party cable is thus in properly charging this unit.</p>

    • JCerna

      Premium Member
      18 December, 2018 - 10:29 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#383988"><em>In reply to pesos:</em></a><em> I don't think he is saying that this is a bad adapter, the issue is that people may (normals) will buy this and try to use it with USBC accessories that may or may not work. User could also use a charger that can damage the device since not all USB chargers are made to one standard. Many newer machines that have USB C ports have hardware/software redundancies to prevent damage to your device if you use the wrong charger.</em></blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote><em>Yes you can buy this and if you do your research you can make sure you use the right USB C charger. But again "normals" may buy this and use it the wrong way.</em></blockquote><p><br></p>

  • Boris Zakharin

    18 December, 2018 - 3:05 pm

    <p>Well, yes, a badly made USB type C charger could break your device. That is why you can't just buy a random USB type C cable from a no-name company like you could with MicroUSB, even for your phone. The worst that would happen with those is that they didn't work.</p>

  • digiguy

    Premium Member
    18 December, 2018 - 6:40 pm

    <p>I guess there is some confusion here. This is a cable, not a charger. A cable cannot give watts, that is done by the charger… And volts are not watts. Watts are volts x amps, e.g. 15v x 3A = 45W. Now the Surface pro 3 uses 12V not 15V. Other surface devices work at 15V on the surface connect. Now the principe of Power Delivery is that the voltage is negotiated between the PD charger and the PD device and the highest supported by both is chosen. However here the device is not a PD one, but surface connect, so I wonder if 12V devices will work or even be broken by this….</p>

  • MikeGalos

    18 December, 2018 - 8:26 pm

    <p>Ooh. A dongle. A dongle that might work or might destroy your computer depending on the charger you use.</p><p><br></p><p>Wow. There's a news story we need.</p><p><br></p><p>Actually, the news story is the last paragraph with a reminder of why you do NOT want to use a 3rd party product in your charging system. </p><p><br></p><p>I guess that's not just burying the lede but also burying the computers of users who don't finish the article.</p>

    • SvenJ

      18 December, 2018 - 11:55 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#384120"><em>In reply to MikeGalos:</em></a><em> </em>It's not a dongle, it's a cable. If you want to argue that, then every wire we have been using to connect two things together is now a dongle and to be looked at with disdain. In reality all a dongle is, is a short piece of cable with two connectors on it that we bought because we were too cheap to by the right cable.</blockquote><blockquote>Now, I have a couple of these specific charge cables and have found them to work just fine on my Surface Go. Admittedly different than a Surface Pro or laptop, but still uses a Surface Connect. I have used my Pixel 3 charger, my Chromebook charger, and a USB-C battery pack that supports power delivery up to 45W. I have used each of those charges with the Go's USB-C port too. All with success. Yes it charges slower with the Pixel charger, to the point you are better not trying to use it at the same time, but it does indeed chare it. The cable has little to do with the functionality, but it is clear that the Surface Connect, on the Go at least, does sufficient power negotiation to make this work. Always sort of suspected it was USB-Cish in its makeup. I'm going to enjoy my new 'dongle' as it allows me to power my Go with a big @$$ battery while leaving the USB-C port open for things like an external drive, or a second monitor.</blockquote><p><br></p>

      • MikeGalos

        19 December, 2018 - 12:55 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#384174">In reply to SvenJ:</a></em></blockquote><p>A cable doesn't change from one format to another. A cable just extends distances.</p>

        • Chris

          19 December, 2018 - 3:04 am

          <blockquote><em><a href="#384180">In reply to MikeGalos:</a></em></blockquote><p>And yet, there are well known companies, like Startech, who make "cables" that change from HDMI to DVI (which is a change in format), but they aren't dongles. All the USB cables that have one USB type A plug on one end, and a Micro USB on the other are technically "dongles", but everyone calls them cables.</p><p><br></p><p>Hell, the Lightning cables for Apple devices are called cables, not dongles, even though they are dongles, since they do exactly the same thing as this USB-C to Surface Connector cable. They literally change format.</p><p><br></p><p>Realistically, the IT industry calls something that is about 20cm long, a dongle, or even an adapter. Anything longer than that is typically called a cable.</p>

          • pbakalor

            Premium Member
            19 December, 2018 - 12:26 pm

            <blockquote><em><a href="#384185">In reply to c.hucklebridge:</a></em></blockquote><p>Well obviously a dongle dangles, but a cable tangles</p>

  • santosh_d9

    26 December, 2018 - 2:36 am

    <p>I love laptops and its <a href="http://www.lotterysambaad.com/2018/12/lottery-sambad-today-lottery-result.html&quot; target="_blank">Accessories</a>. </p>

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