DisplayPort Comes To USB's Type-C Connector

[Nobu]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#Power
Optional connectors add 75 W (6-pin) or 150 W (8-pin) power for up to 300 W total (2?75 W + 1?150 W). Some cards are using two 8-pin connectors, but this has not been standardized yet, therefore such cards must not carry the official PCI Express logo. This configuration would allow 375 W total (1?75 W + 2?150 W) and will likely be standardized by PCI-SIG with the PCI Express 4.0 standard. The 8-pin PCI Express connector could be mistaken with the EPS12V connector, which is mainly used for powering SMP and multi-core systems.

You could do the same for the monitor's power, is what I was trying to say.

[DrYak]

The best would be charging in the reverse direction as mentioned by some:

- single cable between laptop and monitor (or discrete dock, with monitor attached to it).
- laptop is charged by USB3 connector (100W is enough for most laptops)
- monitor (or dock's monitor-out) is driven by this new "display port over USB3 highspeed lanes".
- rest of USB's data lane could be used for a few other peripheral (mouse/keyboard, or even gigabit lan).

Single cable to do everything.
Even better than Apple (which still needs separate charger, and separate thunderbolt).
All the convenience of laptop dock, but without the problem of each constructor having at least 3 different proprietary connectors for the dock.

[Ferdinand]

The best would be charging in the reverse direction as mentioned by some:

- single cable between laptop and monitor (or discrete dock, with monitor attached to it).
- laptop is charged by USB3 connector (100W is enough for most laptops)
- monitor (or dock's monitor-out) is driven by this new "display port over USB3 highspeed lanes".
- rest of USB's data lane could be used for a few other peripheral (mouse/keyboard, or even gigabit lan).

Single cable to do everything.
Even better than Apple (which still needs separate charger, and separate thunderbolt).
All the convenience of laptop dock, but without the problem of each constructor having at least 3 different proprietary connectors for the dock.

What about supplying the GPU with extra power via usb-c?

[droidhacker]

You could have power coming off the PSU to the GPU and routed directly to the monitor through the USB port, but it would be a huge strain on the PSU if the monitor is a decent size (and even more if it's a TV). Still, that would probably be more efficient than those bricks most older monitors use--newer ones have really small power supplies, some even integrated into the monitor itself; my old samsung had a two prong plug that went straight into the back of my monitor.

Edit: Now that I'm thinking about it, it would be a bit inconvenient if you used your monitor for anything other than your PC...for example, if it was in a media-center, connected to your stereo, game console, HTPC, etc., which one would supply power? Would they all? What if more than one were on at once?

The circuit for handling that kind of thing is basically trivial.
Even arduino's have it like that.

[droidhacker]

if you were routing from the GPU -> motherboard USB then yes, otherwise you've got a problem with this if you're talking a USB port on the GPU powering the monitor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCI_Express#Power

because high end GPUs draw a lot of power and so you don't really have the headroom for 30-45 watts per monitor

You remember those video cards that had one or two extra wires running to them from the power supply? Yeah, that's how.

[droidhacker]

What about supplying the GPU with extra power via usb-c?

That would probably be a bad idea.
In the case of a laptop, you could draw power from a monitor over the USB, but you would want to bypass the graphics parts altogether and run that power to the charging circuit.