I’ve struggled for almost three years with a USB-C extension cable to avoid having to link Apple’s clunky USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter (models a1621 and a2119) to my MacBook Air. I’d like one with a right-angle jack to the MacBook, to keep the cord flowing away from my work area.
This one has never worked well. I have to unplug and replug, twisting it this way and that, before it connects to my power adapter, my external screen and an external USB-A trackball. It works, but I’ve found no orientation that does so consistently.
So: Can anyone recommend a right-angle USB-C extension cord that will consistently work with a MacBook Air?
I bought this one a while back. Barebones, but never had any issues.
Perhaps better might be just getting a right angle adapter. Then you can use whatever cable you like. I got these a while back (2 for $6) and they do fine both in terms of 100W power as well as 10 Gbps data transfer. They’re currently unavailable, but there’s a bunch of very similar offers.
But I noticed that you were asking about an extension cable (M-F), while the Fasgear cable Simon linked to is a M-M cable.
I don’t know if that will work with the multiport adapter, since that adapter has a built-in cable. A gender changer may be necessary if you can’t get a M-F version of that cable.
Oh, you are right, darn it! Thanks, David. The hunt continues!
Will try this one, although a few reviews suggest it may suffer from the same problem—an inability to carry power and support an external screen and a trackball.
It works with only two of the four possible connection possibilities for the MacBook’s two USB ports (Port 1, rightside up and rightside down; Port 2, ditto)—but one of them is the one I’d hoped for, and it still beats the completely unpredictable connection for the Awnuwuy cable.
I wonder why this is such a hard thing for the Mac, which of course is supposed to “just work.”
… well, it did until it didn’t. After reliably working for almost a week, it now is just as wonky and unreliable as its predecessor. Despite repeated MacBook restarts.
UPDATE: Well, who’d’ve guessed the bottleneck was Apple’s own USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter? Replacing it with a Baseus USB C to HDMI Adapter seems to have done the trick—regardless of extension cord brand.
Even then it’s fussy about orientation. If it’s rotated 180º, the USB trackball and/or the monitor won’t connect. But when it’s plugged in that one way, it always works. An $18 well spent—to bring the whole shebang into my MacBook with just one cord.
