6 ms·

Back in late April/early May I was doing some travel and realized I had totally forgotten my 96 W charger for my work Macbook Pro at home. "Well," I thought, "n

Back in late April/early May I was doing some travel and realized I had totally forgotten my 96 W charger for my work Macbook Pro at home. "Well," I thought, "no fun to spend my own cash on a new charger, but better than the disaster of losing capacity to work while traveling, guess I'll just pop into an Apple Store and pick one up." They didn't have one. OK, I asked -- did they know anyone who did? "No clue, you might want to call Apple Support." Doing so revealed that there were none of these available anywhere, and the schedule on which they were projected to be available was early July. Fortunately, I had two fallbacks: (1) I was traveling in metro LA, which meant that I could check craigslist or FB marketplace or whatever and maybe a handful of 15mm Angelinos would have something up for sale. (2) The MBP charged via USB-C so presumably I could find anything that could deliver 96W or thereabouts and use it. Option #1 panned out, but it was still a flashbulb moment for me indicating that we're not exactly in familiar territory economically. It isn't just consumption goods that are sometimes scarce, this was a key piece of equipment the lack of which might have interrupted my productive capacity entirely or forced the cost/adaptation of entirely new substitutes.

hamandcheese 4y ago
You don’t need anywhere near the full wattage, you will just charge slower. I frequently get by with a 60W charger, and I’ve even charged with the USB ports in my car which I think are 30W max.
yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
> The MBP charged via USB-C so presumably I could find anything that could deliver 96W or thereabouts and use it. Do macs let you trickle charge at lower power? If that works, you could limp along with any USB-C charger.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  Yes, you can get by on significantly less power if you can charge it while the lid is closed. It might just run on the USB-C power with the lid open, and say "not charging" but when the lid is closed it will start to fill up the battery to capacity.
- chroma 4y ago
  Unless you have very stressful workloads, you should be able to use the laptop normally with a lower capacity power brick. It will just charge slowly or not at all. Absolute worst case you can close the lid to charge it.
- liminalsunset 4y ago
  One of the unique features of MacBook devices, is that as of the 2019 16", they can charge off of as little as 5V. I have powered mine from a power bank and cable that did not support "fast charging" (I think it topped out at 2-3A) and the computer charged just fine off it, albeit exceptionally slowly and barely at all when running. If you are curious about what works with what, there is a YouTube channel called ChargerLab that tests different devices plugged into different chargers.
radicaldreamer 4y ago
One thing about USB-C PD is that you don't need the 96W charger or even an Apple charger to charge your MacBook. While you may miss out on "fast charging" at maximum speed, any USB PD compatible charger will charge your MacBook at the fastest speeds available based on compatibility, automatically. Anker chargers work fairly reliably, are more easily available than Apple chargers (on Amazon etc.) and there are several options for 100W+ PD available.
- parker_mountain 4y ago
  > you don't need the 96W charger Depending on the workload and model of computer, 96W can absolutely be required, and a lower wattage inadequate. The new PD spec allows for up to 240w, with special cables required.
  - mixmastamyk 4y ago
    Yet, not for common workloads and 12+ hours of sleep per night.
  - Dylan16807 4y ago
    You can put it into a medium power setting. 96W of drain will use up the maximum-size laptop battery in a single hour. It's not necessary.
    - fnordpiglet 4y ago
      When I play Kerbal Space Program, which runs in mono, it uses the full 96W and doesn’t even charge the battery. Calculating that delta v is that hard.
    - parker_mountain 4y ago
      > 96W of drain will use up the maximum-size laptop battery in a single hour. It's not necessary. When I work in blender, especially in larger scenes, it's necessary. When I play games, it's necessary. When I run a long build in Unity, with a render pipeline stage, and the fans kick on, and I'm maxing out my laptop running 120w+, it's not even adequate. There's a reason the new PD spec goes up to 240w (2.5x 96w), and it's not because they felt like it - playing games absolutely is a workload that requires it. It's not necessary, for you. For those of us who do more than edit text files, it's extremely necessary.
reaperducer 4y ago
there were none of these available anywhere I had a similar experience. I ordered a MacBook Pro charger August 2, and didn't receive it until October 13. Luckily, I was just buying a spare, so I didn't need it urgently. But when shopping for anything these days, if I see it, I get it because it may not be available tomorrow, and may take weeks to arrive. Heck, I ordered a Target gift card last week to give a a gift, and it's not expected to arrive until just before Thanksgiving. And it's just a gift card!
efortis 4y ago
I charge mine with a 12V lighter adapter: https://twitter.com/efortis/status/1512063976007299075?s=20&t=MwmRkvvUYX9b-wXKNNpKbw https://twitter.com/efortis/status/1512063976007299075?s=20&... Charger $25: https://www.ebay.com/itm/353767632151 https://www.ebay.com/itm/353767632151 AC to 12VDC converter $6: https://www.ebay.com/itm/381560744533 https://www.ebay.com/itm/381560744533
bluedino 4y ago
My personal MacBook, personal Lenovo, and my work Dell all have (finally) USB-C I only need one power cord, one dock, one USB-C monitor, for all of them. It's great. My phone uses Lightning but I don't really mind. I have so many Lightning cables and USB ports in my computers and docks and outlets and powerstrips...
- fragmede 4y ago
  thankfully lightning's been deprecated too, so soon it'll all be usb-c
plantain 4y ago
I travel with a tiny 15W GaN charger, only slightly bigger than my thumb. I don't know what you do with your MBP, but for 15W charges up overnight and holds battery level or even slowly charges while being used. If you're transcoding something or gaming perhaps you could get it to slowly discharge.
- SkyPuncher 4y ago
  There are tons of things that cause my MBP to burn through power. Slack is the most obvious. Then, you have Chrome that will sometimes fire update some high rendering page. The most sure fire way to kill the battery is fire up an IDE and do any sort of software development. Introspection, compilation, specs, etc all take up a bunch of battery. With that being said, you certainly don't need 100W for a laptop. In fact, I'm not even sure my Mac can cool itself appropriately with high CPU usage and 50W of power. Most people could get through a full day with a 15W charger. Laptop might be nearly dead at the end of the day, but 15W will fill it back up over night.
  - brainbag 4y ago
    Anecdotal, but my M1 Max seems to drain battery very slowly with my daily development with all kinds of things running. Firefox, Brave, Slack, VSCode, Mail, docker containers, etc. It's pretty amazing how long they last. The other day I even accidentally left Factorio running because I got distracted getting my kid ready for school, and I hadn't noticed until a few hours later in a meeting when I heard the technology research sound. It was not plugged in the entire time, and I still had at least half the battery life.
- fullstop 4y ago
  I have one of these and it is fantastic: https://www.ravpower.com/products/rp-pc151-100w-2-usb-c-ports-pd-wall-charging-adapter https://www.ravpower.com/products/rp-pc151-100w-2-usb-c-port... When I got it it was closer to $50, though, and not $70.
esskay 4y ago
I run my 16" Pro (M1 ultra) on a 35w power delivery from my monitor daily - its plenty even under a fair bit of workload. The 95w is only used in extreme circumstances. Even compiling and light video editing isn't going to use enough to need anything more than 60w.
- vanilla_nut 4y ago
  Probably an M1 Max -- afaik the Ultra is only for Mac Studio desktops. I use a Gigabyte M28U monitor, which has 16W of charge. Pathetically low, but as long as I'm not compiling anything or running any especially heavy processes, it keeps my battery from draining! Clamshell results in a slow charge.
  - esskay 4y ago
    Sorry yep you're right its the Max
briHass 4y ago
Other industries that depend on manufactured goods (not electronics) have been feeling this for a while. Tried buying HVAC supplies recently? Flex duct has been very difficult to get for the past year, as have many other supplies and of course, the HVAC units themselves. I think Mitsubishi is still quoting next year for many of their products. Some areas even relaxed their energy codes (e.g. allowing R6 duct instead of R8) because of the shortages.
mixmastamyk 4y ago
Part of the problem is that there are at least three different mag-safe connectors, as I recently found out. Had to order an old one recently and took a week or two to arrive.
yieldcrv 4y ago
tangentially, I did a lot of travel this past summer a lot of cities and towns are just not back, at all. they’re trying to have a bustling life but many local staples are closed, shuttered, resources strained. Opening hours just wrong and unknown, current existence of the place also unknown. US, around Europe kinda too bad. but yes unfamiliar territory economically
stoplying1 4y ago
I don't get it, other than the Apple-y-ness of it all? Maybe that's not important but ... ? Every single thing I own and need to function on a daily basis (other than my immersion water boiler for otg-espresso) operates on USB. Preferably type-c, but plenty of things still need a USB-A-to-C in the mix because resistors are hard, I guess. Also, open hardware hackers,, my trimmer and touthbrush are basically internally identical. An we please make these inter hangeable? Using a "thin-client" laptop with cheap default -cafe alliances d chesap ones means I can live out of a bag, using redundant chargers - either a tiny 45w charger that literally fits in my bu^H^H pocket, or charge my laptop, phone and Ledger using a 100W charger that is barely more than double the physical-size of the smaller charger.
gameshot911 4y ago
In April 2020 I was in Mexico City, and needed to get a new Apple 30W charger for my M1 Air. After scouring a ton of local tech shops to not avail^, I finally trekked to the official flagship Apple store. And they had exactly ONE in stock. It completely surprised me that even the official store serving a city of millions had such a limited inventory. And it's not even like it's an esoteric product, the 30W comes standard with all new Air laptops! (They did say they get shipments from the US daily and could have one delivered the following day if they happened to be out, but I wanted to avoid another hr+ trek that way if possible. I've heard of JIT inventory managememt, but to keep it THAT thin at such a major retail location really blew me away!) ^Some had lower wattage Apple chargers, but not a single one had 30W or above.
throwaway290 4y ago
Apple stores and authorized resellers haven't had high-watt chargers for very, very long time all over the world. I expect it's not a priority since only legacy laptops use them, but it sucks big time because I have one.

hamandcheese 4y ago

You don’t need anywhere near the full wattage, you will just charge slower. I frequently get by with a 60W charger, and I’ve even charged with the USB ports in my car which I think are 30W max.

yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago

> The MBP charged via USB-C so presumably I could find anything that could deliver 96W or thereabouts and use it. Do macs let you trickle charge at lower power? If that works, you could limp along with any USB-C charger.

rootusrootus 4y ago
Yes, you can get by on significantly less power if you can charge it while the lid is closed. It might just run on the USB-C power with the lid open, and say "not charging" but when the lid is closed it will start to fill up the battery to capacity.
chroma 4y ago
Unless you have very stressful workloads, you should be able to use the laptop normally with a lower capacity power brick. It will just charge slowly or not at all. Absolute worst case you can close the lid to charge it.
liminalsunset 4y ago
One of the unique features of MacBook devices, is that as of the 2019 16", they can charge off of as little as 5V. I have powered mine from a power bank and cable that did not support "fast charging" (I think it topped out at 2-3A) and the computer charged just fine off it, albeit exceptionally slowly and barely at all when running. If you are curious about what works with what, there is a YouTube channel called ChargerLab that tests different devices plugged into different chargers.

radicaldreamer 4y ago

One thing about USB-C PD is that you don't need the 96W charger or even an Apple charger to charge your MacBook. While you may miss out on "fast charging" at maximum speed, any USB PD compatible charger will charge your MacBook at the fastest speeds available based on compatibility, automatically. Anker chargers work fairly reliably, are more easily available than Apple chargers (on Amazon etc.) and there are several options for 100W+ PD available.

parker_mountain 4y ago
> you don't need the 96W charger Depending on the workload and model of computer, 96W can absolutely be required, and a lower wattage inadequate. The new PD spec allows for up to 240w, with special cables required.
- mixmastamyk 4y ago
  Yet, not for common workloads and 12+ hours of sleep per night.
- Dylan16807 4y ago
  You can put it into a medium power setting. 96W of drain will use up the maximum-size laptop battery in a single hour. It's not necessary.
  - fnordpiglet 4y ago
    When I play Kerbal Space Program, which runs in mono, it uses the full 96W and doesn’t even charge the battery. Calculating that delta v is that hard.
  - parker_mountain 4y ago
    > 96W of drain will use up the maximum-size laptop battery in a single hour. It's not necessary. When I work in blender, especially in larger scenes, it's necessary. When I play games, it's necessary. When I run a long build in Unity, with a render pipeline stage, and the fans kick on, and I'm maxing out my laptop running 120w+, it's not even adequate. There's a reason the new PD spec goes up to 240w (2.5x 96w), and it's not because they felt like it - playing games absolutely is a workload that requires it. It's not necessary, for you. For those of us who do more than edit text files, it's extremely necessary.

reaperducer 4y ago

there were none of these available anywhere I had a similar experience. I ordered a MacBook Pro charger August 2, and didn't receive it until October 13. Luckily, I was just buying a spare, so I didn't need it urgently. But when shopping for anything these days, if I see it, I get it because it may not be available tomorrow, and may take weeks to arrive. Heck, I ordered a Target gift card last week to give a a gift, and it's not expected to arrive until just before Thanksgiving. And it's just a gift card!

efortis 4y ago

I charge mine with a 12V lighter adapter: https://twitter.com/efortis/status/1512063976007299075?s=20&t=MwmRkvvUYX9b-wXKNNpKbw https://twitter.com/efortis/status/1512063976007299075?s=20&... Charger $25: https://www.ebay.com/itm/353767632151 https://www.ebay.com/itm/353767632151 AC to 12VDC converter $6: https://www.ebay.com/itm/381560744533 https://www.ebay.com/itm/381560744533

bluedino 4y ago

My personal MacBook, personal Lenovo, and my work Dell all have (finally) USB-C I only need one power cord, one dock, one USB-C monitor, for all of them. It's great. My phone uses Lightning but I don't really mind. I have so many Lightning cables and USB ports in my computers and docks and outlets and powerstrips...

fragmede 4y ago
thankfully lightning's been deprecated too, so soon it'll all be usb-c

plantain 4y ago

I travel with a tiny 15W GaN charger, only slightly bigger than my thumb. I don't know what you do with your MBP, but for 15W charges up overnight and holds battery level or even slowly charges while being used. If you're transcoding something or gaming perhaps you could get it to slowly discharge.

SkyPuncher 4y ago
There are tons of things that cause my MBP to burn through power. Slack is the most obvious. Then, you have Chrome that will sometimes fire update some high rendering page. The most sure fire way to kill the battery is fire up an IDE and do any sort of software development. Introspection, compilation, specs, etc all take up a bunch of battery. With that being said, you certainly don't need 100W for a laptop. In fact, I'm not even sure my Mac can cool itself appropriately with high CPU usage and 50W of power. Most people could get through a full day with a 15W charger. Laptop might be nearly dead at the end of the day, but 15W will fill it back up over night.
- brainbag 4y ago
  Anecdotal, but my M1 Max seems to drain battery very slowly with my daily development with all kinds of things running. Firefox, Brave, Slack, VSCode, Mail, docker containers, etc. It's pretty amazing how long they last. The other day I even accidentally left Factorio running because I got distracted getting my kid ready for school, and I hadn't noticed until a few hours later in a meeting when I heard the technology research sound. It was not plugged in the entire time, and I still had at least half the battery life.
fullstop 4y ago
I have one of these and it is fantastic: https://www.ravpower.com/products/rp-pc151-100w-2-usb-c-ports-pd-wall-charging-adapter https://www.ravpower.com/products/rp-pc151-100w-2-usb-c-port... When I got it it was closer to $50, though, and not $70.

esskay 4y ago

I run my 16" Pro (M1 ultra) on a 35w power delivery from my monitor daily - its plenty even under a fair bit of workload. The 95w is only used in extreme circumstances. Even compiling and light video editing isn't going to use enough to need anything more than 60w.

vanilla_nut 4y ago
Probably an M1 Max -- afaik the Ultra is only for Mac Studio desktops. I use a Gigabyte M28U monitor, which has 16W of charge. Pathetically low, but as long as I'm not compiling anything or running any especially heavy processes, it keeps my battery from draining! Clamshell results in a slow charge.
- esskay 4y ago
  Sorry yep you're right its the Max

briHass 4y ago

Other industries that depend on manufactured goods (not electronics) have been feeling this for a while. Tried buying HVAC supplies recently? Flex duct has been very difficult to get for the past year, as have many other supplies and of course, the HVAC units themselves. I think Mitsubishi is still quoting next year for many of their products. Some areas even relaxed their energy codes (e.g. allowing R6 duct instead of R8) because of the shortages.

mixmastamyk 4y ago

Part of the problem is that there are at least three different mag-safe connectors, as I recently found out. Had to order an old one recently and took a week or two to arrive.

yieldcrv 4y ago

tangentially, I did a lot of travel this past summer a lot of cities and towns are just not back, at all. they’re trying to have a bustling life but many local staples are closed, shuttered, resources strained. Opening hours just wrong and unknown, current existence of the place also unknown. US, around Europe kinda too bad. but yes unfamiliar territory economically

stoplying1 4y ago

I don't get it, other than the Apple-y-ness of it all? Maybe that's not important but ... ? Every single thing I own and need to function on a daily basis (other than my immersion water boiler for otg-espresso) operates on USB. Preferably type-c, but plenty of things still need a USB-A-to-C in the mix because resistors are hard, I guess. Also, open hardware hackers,, my trimmer and touthbrush are basically internally identical. An we please make these inter hangeable? Using a "thin-client" laptop with cheap default -cafe alliances d chesap ones means I can live out of a bag, using redundant chargers - either a tiny 45w charger that literally fits in my bu^H^H pocket, or charge my laptop, phone and Ledger using a 100W charger that is barely more than double the physical-size of the smaller charger.

gameshot911 4y ago

In April 2020 I was in Mexico City, and needed to get a new Apple 30W charger for my M1 Air. After scouring a ton of local tech shops to not avail^, I finally trekked to the official flagship Apple store. And they had exactly ONE in stock. It completely surprised me that even the official store serving a city of millions had such a limited inventory. And it's not even like it's an esoteric product, the 30W comes standard with all new Air laptops! (They did say they get shipments from the US daily and could have one delivered the following day if they happened to be out, but I wanted to avoid another hr+ trek that way if possible. I've heard of JIT inventory managememt, but to keep it THAT thin at such a major retail location really blew me away!) ^Some had lower wattage Apple chargers, but not a single one had 30W or above.

throwaway290 4y ago

Apple stores and authorized resellers haven't had high-watt chargers for very, very long time all over the world. I expect it's not a priority since only legacy laptops use them, but it sucks big time because I have one.