3 ms·

Couldn't you build a charger with high capacity that detects the device and delivers the appropriate output? I can imagine it's not that much more expensive tha

by dx034 10y ago

Couldn't you build a charger with high capacity that detects the device and delivers the appropriate output? I can imagine it's not that much more expensive than a standard charger and would be a great selling point.

gambiting 10y ago
That's not a problem - you can safely charge your phone even with a 100W charger, your phone is smart enough not to draw more power than it needs. The problem is, that a more powerful charger needs to be physically bigger. 65W Mac charger is definitely a lot bigger and heavier than a 5W iphone charger. So you can't make iphone chargers which are still very small, yet can charge MacBooks when needed.
- roninb 10y ago
  I can charge my Chromebook Pixel 2 with my LG G5 charger. It will take forever to charge fully and will drain faster than I'm using it, but it absolutely works. This was still infinitely more useful than my SO's Macbook/iPhone combo during the hurricane that knocked out power to my city for about 5 days. (90% lost power for some amount of time while around 20% still didn't have electricity 5 days later, my SO included. I didn't cover the recovery schedule after that.) While I was able to charge my laptop completely on a mobile power bank they was relegated to their phone until we were able to find a hotel with power restored to charge it at. Again, it's not like people will just be able to carry around one cable "to rule them all" but they will have a lot more utility with just the one cable than they used to.
  - guitarbill 10y ago
    > It will take forever to charge fully and will drain faster than I'm using it, but it absolutely works. Not sure if you can call this "working", which was gambiting's point.
    - roninb 10y ago
      Did you just stop reading the comment after that sentence? I was able to fully charge my laptop from a power bank using a phone's USB cable while everyone else was relegated to simply using their phones and waiting for power restoration. What is not "working" about that?
      - gambiting 10y ago
        Well, while I absolutely agree that being able to charge your laptop from a power bank is cool, I still think it's a usability problem - like in my original example, where my mum just doesn't understand how a micro usb charger can charge slower than another micro usb charger. Devices should be seamless, and you shouldn't have to worry about it - if you can charge your laptop with a charger, it should provide enough power to keep using it while it's charging - yet most phone charger will not do that with laptops. Tech savvy people won't have a problem with it, obviously, but a lot of consumers will.
        roninb 10y ago
        I think you're understating how big of a difference there is between a laptop charger and a phone charger. Of course two identical AC adapters for phones are difficult to differentiate; the cables are the same gauge, the bricks are about the same size, they both came with phones. I'm not sure your mother would have as much difficulty differentiating something the size of a laptop charger from something the size of a phone charger... It's not like laptops are going to start shipping with phone-sized chargers all of a sudden.
        gambiting 10y ago
        Again, case in point, Asus Transformer T100 charger: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/271922569141?lpid=122&chn=ps&googleloc=9046781&poi=&campaignid=620800750&device=c&adgroupid=27378723426&rlsatarget=pla-181480843746&adtype=pla&crdt=0 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/271922569141?lpid=122&chn=ps&... It's marginally larger than a normal phone charger. Side by side, it's only slightly bigger than Apple ipad charger.

by dx034 10y ago

gambiting 10y ago

That's not a problem - you can safely charge your phone even with a 100W charger, your phone is smart enough not to draw more power than it needs. The problem is, that a more powerful charger needs to be physically bigger. 65W Mac charger is definitely a lot bigger and heavier than a 5W iphone charger. So you can't make iphone chargers which are still very small, yet can charge MacBooks when needed.

roninb 10y ago
I can charge my Chromebook Pixel 2 with my LG G5 charger. It will take forever to charge fully and will drain faster than I'm using it, but it absolutely works. This was still infinitely more useful than my SO's Macbook/iPhone combo during the hurricane that knocked out power to my city for about 5 days. (90% lost power for some amount of time while around 20% still didn't have electricity 5 days later, my SO included. I didn't cover the recovery schedule after that.) While I was able to charge my laptop completely on a mobile power bank they was relegated to their phone until we were able to find a hotel with power restored to charge it at. Again, it's not like people will just be able to carry around one cable "to rule them all" but they will have a lot more utility with just the one cable than they used to.
- guitarbill 10y ago
  > It will take forever to charge fully and will drain faster than I'm using it, but it absolutely works. Not sure if you can call this "working", which was gambiting's point.
  - roninb 10y ago
    Did you just stop reading the comment after that sentence? I was able to fully charge my laptop from a power bank using a phone's USB cable while everyone else was relegated to simply using their phones and waiting for power restoration. What is not "working" about that?
    - gambiting 10y ago
      Well, while I absolutely agree that being able to charge your laptop from a power bank is cool, I still think it's a usability problem - like in my original example, where my mum just doesn't understand how a micro usb charger can charge slower than another micro usb charger. Devices should be seamless, and you shouldn't have to worry about it - if you can charge your laptop with a charger, it should provide enough power to keep using it while it's charging - yet most phone charger will not do that with laptops. Tech savvy people won't have a problem with it, obviously, but a lot of consumers will.
      - roninb 10y ago
        I think you're understating how big of a difference there is between a laptop charger and a phone charger. Of course two identical AC adapters for phones are difficult to differentiate; the cables are the same gauge, the bricks are about the same size, they both came with phones. I'm not sure your mother would have as much difficulty differentiating something the size of a laptop charger from something the size of a phone charger... It's not like laptops are going to start shipping with phone-sized chargers all of a sudden.
        gambiting 10y ago
        Again, case in point, Asus Transformer T100 charger: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/271922569141?lpid=122&chn=ps&googleloc=9046781&poi=&campaignid=620800750&device=c&adgroupid=27378723426&rlsatarget=pla-181480843746&adtype=pla&crdt=0 http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/271922569141?lpid=122&chn=ps&... It's marginally larger than a normal phone charger. Side by side, it's only slightly bigger than Apple ipad charger.