Well, generally speaking, you can't use "just a single cable". Because a USB-C cable only carrying a power charge would still technically be a USB-C cable. And you would never know until you tried to connect your display with it
I do use a single cable in that it's just one cable coming from my monitor or dock. It's just one charging adapter in my bag. So generally speaking I am just plugging in a single cable to my monitor or carrying a single charger in my backpack. I'm not plugging in power, HDMI, network, and a USB hub separately every time I hop from one desk to another, just plug the one cable on the desk and it's good to go.
Sure, I'm not literally talking about a single cable I'm taking from one port to another port, but the fact I can just plug my laptop into my monitor and get all of that is awesome. And if I bought a good cable I could totally do that. The fact I'm able to charge all my devices off my laptop charger is awesome. The fact one could cheap out and buy a cable that wouldn't work with all the features of the monitor/laptop link doesn't make that less awesome. I just use the included cables with the docks or what not or make sure to buy a cable that does what I need if replacing/upgrading and it's not a problem.
You're still not convincing me the existence of cheap cables that can't do it all makes having several different cables and power adapters a better time. In one case you're absolutely forced to have them be separate every time, in another it's only that they're separate if you're buying cheap bullshit online from trash vendors.
> I do use a single cable in that it's just one cable coming from my monitor or dock.
I do, too. However, what I wrote is a fact. Almost everything in the USB-C spec is optional, and you can't deduce which optional parts a USB-C cable supports from the cable alone.
I'm not just constantly picking up random cables off the street and trying to use it to connect my monitor. While what you're saying is true, you're practically describing a non-issue. Devices usually come with a cable that matches its capabilities, and if you're replacing it just check the capabilities when you buy the replacement cable. Don't buy random cables, keep cables related to their usage (aka leave the cable plugged into the dock or monitor, or at least near it), and its not a problem. I keep my charge-only cable with the battery bank, the laptop power adapter has a fixed cable on the brick, I keep the cable plugged into the dock and the screen, I keep a cable that meets the specs needed for Android Auto in the car, and I'm never confused about what goes where.
For your link, this is a good vendor. They're (presumably) accurately describing the features of the cable. If it matches your needs, buy it! But clearly its specs don't meet my needs for my monitor, so I wouldn't buy it if I was replacing the cable for my monitor. Not that I even needed to buy a separate cable, the dock/monitor/etc all came with cables that matched the device's needs and have so far lasted many years. Use the included cable and it is not a problem. The line about "cheap bullshit from trash vendors" are vendors selling cables that don't meet their listed specs on the store listing. Which is why I don't buy cables from AliExpress or Amazon or others, I can't trust the cable to be what it says it is.
Even back in the day pre-USB-C you'd still have to check the specs on the cable. What voltage does your laptop run at? How many watts is it going to pull? What size barrel? Polarity? If I reached into a bin full of various "laptop chargers", what are the odds it would work with your device? Pretty damn slim! And what are the odds that power brick would charge your phone as well? Zero!
Reach into a bin full of USB-C-based laptop chargers, what are the odds it'll work with your USB-C laptop? Extremely high! What are the odds it'll charge your phone as well? Extremely high!
Which experience is better?
This whole issue is largely because we're starting to get to the point where the data transfer speeds we're hoping for is getting pretty insane from a physics standpoint, and it doesn't make sense for every cable to be built to that level. If I'm getting a cable that I know I'm only ever going to want to charge a few watt device off of, I don't need it to be built to the spec of many many gigabits of throughput. This is even getting to be true with digital video cables in general. I've got some DisplayPort cables on my desk here. What max resolution and refresh rate do they support? How about these HDMI cables? Did they even bother listing their specs on the sheathing? Nope! But should they have just created a new connector every few years requiring all new cables and have monitors with a dozen different ports on them?
I'd say having different cable specs that are clearly known when originally sold is an OK compromise for continued growth without needing new connectors. This issue of "not all cables support all things" as some reason why the old way of having a million different cables and connectors was better is focusing on such a tiny problem compared to how much better practically everything else is. Are you seriously arguing for the barrel and other proprietary connectors, different power adapters for everything? Are you seriously arguing for having either proprietary docks or needing to plug in several cables going from one desk to another?
In the end, I am using one cable to connect my laptop to my whole desk setup, right now. This is better than the past where the same setup would have required a bunch of cables. Sure, I do have other cables in the house that would physically connect but not do all the things, but once again that never happens because I'm not trying to use only one cable that I don't know the specs on to try and do everything. And FWIW, I could do that "one cable to do everything" if I picked the right cable at the start. I could just use this cable on the monitor to charge at the nightstand, in the car, with the battery bank, to charge all my other devices, etc.
It's exactly what you're talking about. Pick a random cable and show it doesn't meet all potential possibilities of USB-C, that seems to be your entire point. That not all cables can do everything as if it's some critical failure of USB-C. I'm never just ending up with some random cable that I didn't already know the specs on, so it's a non-issue.
Like, cool, you found a USB-C cable I can't use with my monitor. So I won't buy that one, I'll buy a different one. They're clearly spec'd on nice retailers, so buying the right one isn't an issue, once again unless you're with crappy stores.
This big "issue" is way better of a problem than how things were before. I'll take this trade any day.
Well, generally speaking, you can't use "just a single cable". Because a USB-C cable only carrying a power charge would still technically be a USB-C cable. And you would never know until you tried to connect your display with it