Chromebooks will judge your USB-C cable and tell you to get a better one

The latest update for Chromebooks has introduced a feature that alerts users to when the USB-C cable being used is not good enough.

Starting with Chromebooks using 11th and 12th generation Intel silicon that have USB4/Thunderbolt 3 functionality, users will be informed if the cable does not support either USB4 or Thunderbolt, or simply cannot handle the data rates required. For instance, one warning says external monitors need cables to support 5Gbps transfers.

“To enable a USB4 connection, replace the cable with a Thunderbolt 4 cable or a USB-C cable with a performance rating of SuperSpeed USB 5 Gbps or higher. Make sure the package of the replacement cable has one of these certified logos,” one of the warnings states.

See also: The 5 best Chromebooks: From budget to rugged to Pixelbook Go

The Chromebook update also includes the ability to resize the magnified portion of the screen when using the docked magnifier, and the Cursive app is being preinstalled to all Chromebooks that use a stylus.

“If you write a sentence that fits better on a different part of the page, that’s not a problem — easily move it by circling the content on the page and dragging it to wherever you like,” Google said.

“Didn’t quite perfect your drawing the first time? Erase it by scribbling over it with your stylus. And if you need to add more notes to the top of the page, just draw a horizontal line and drag your content down to free up more space.”

The company said it would soon allow users to adjust the thickness, style, and colour of the stylus stroke.

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