Unbalanced USB-C ports has become a common bad design in the laptop industry.
This is why I choose the Framework laptop over the big names. Their design has balanced USB ports were it can be charged from the left or right. Balanced power USB ports improves user experience with using on a couch or in a bed. Plugging in two USB to NIC adapters allows the weight to be balanced while working on a lap or some other non-desk environment.
Balanced USB-C ports sold me and what I first look at when reviewing a laptop.
not sure how you can make a cable that doesnt connect power from end to end. I can see if it doesnt charge as fast as others if it doesnt have the bits required for higher current support. and if a device requires >5V to charge, thats on the device not the cable.
> other cables won't transfer data
again, not sure you can make a cable that doesnt connect the USB2 pair from end to end. but if device doesnt use USB2 and requires something else without mentioning it then that again seems to be on the device not the cable.
Source is the eternal benevolent champion of usbc compliance testing, Benson Leung: https://www.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/tdduha/commen...
(and also my personal experience, but Benson explains why)
I also have cheap cables that don't seem able to do data transfer. Guessing it's not actually following the USB-C spec.