Gary, this is why I am a subscriber. You give excellent, reliable, and quick explanations for everything and I do not expect you to work for nothing. You deserve to be paid. Thank you for all your hard work.
but charging cables are important a 65 W charger with a wrong cable may charge only in 15 W, I personaly tested it and you can see it in system report/hardware/power section the power your macbook is charging with.
One issue that could be addressed is using charging devices in your car. In 2018, I bought a new iPad. Twice after charging it in a friend's car, the iPad screen became distorted. I exchanged those iPads at Best Buy and haven't had problems after avoiding charging it in a vehicle. Someone suggested the problem was my friend having a cheap charger in his car.
I can't think of why a charger would cause this. I think it must have been something else non-power related. Like the heat or sun in the car, or how it was sitting while charging.
@@macmost I also had a similar experience with my iPhone 11. I had reported this issue to Apple support (in an Apple retail outlet). Apple support had me check on some confounding factors like exposure to Sun, phone case, kind of cable, etc.. but there was no explanation. Problem 1: As soon as I got into my car, I used to put my phone on the power mat. It used to charge my phone wirelessly but past 30 min of wireless charging my device used to heat up! Problem 2: My car doesn't support wireless CarPlay. During long drives, I used to connect my phone using a cable to get CarPlay features like navigation, music, etc.. Again my device used to heat up. I could not enjoy CarPlay features on my car because of the fear of heating up my phone. Problem 3: Even if I did not want to charge my phone (either wirelessly or via cable), I could not put my phone securely while driving. I hate to keep my phone in my pockets while driving. The power mat was a perfect shaded place. I finally ended up insulting the power mat with a thin wooden brick as recommended by one of the Apple representatives in the store. My wife also had an iPhone 11 at that time but her phone did not show any of these heating problems when she used my car. However, my iPhone 11 did well for 4 years despite these issues. The battery health was at 85% when I traded it for iPhone 15 plus. I am glad I don't have these issues now with iPhone 15 plus.
I do. I'm too clumsy and it would get scratched up otherwise. But made sure nothing impedes it closing normally. Even the smallest bit of material between the screen and keyboard could break it.
Good one! I always had these questions in mind. Q: Can I charge iPad Pro and iPhone using MacBooks charger? (Will they heat up or won’t work? You mentioned I can use iPads charger to charge the macbook, however would that be totally fine? In the past I remembered it was okay to use lower watts charger but not higher, but to be clear now it’s totally fine to use higher or lowrr
These USB chargers are very complex now. If a cheap charger does something bad, it can’t fry your very expensive Apple product. I’ve seen a nice iPad Pro ruined by a cheap charger. Wrong voltage being delivered will ruin the power input chip in the device. Nothing to do with the rated power delivery. (The “very complex” bit has to do with the charger being able to delivery a selection of voltages, adapted to the device’s wants.) I only ever buy second hand genuine Apple chargers, rather than cheap 3rd party ones. (Be careful to get a real one!)
I think it's worth mentioning that the iPhone (in my case 11) throws up a "liquid detected" error and refuses to charge on some third-party cables, even if they are sold as iPhone comptabile. Others work, there's no real logic, except for Apple being cheeky.
@@macmost Happened straight out of the box. Had to use a different one. Works fine on my iPad without warning. And I've seen others report this too. I appreciate that the cable might not be to spec, but it's still an erroneous warning.
My takeaway was that you can use the MacBook charger to charge an iPhone (using the right cable). I hadn't realised that the device being charged will take what it needs even if the charger has a high output.
This is an excellent and accurate video. I have gotten into so many arguments over the years with people trying to say that a high amp charger can damage your device and that's just not the case. As long as the volts are the same, you're good to go. The device will only pull what it needs.
Electrical engineer here to say you are exactly right. The wattage (or amperage) rating is what the power supply CAN put out. It doesn't 'force' it on your device. If your charger is too small, it will take longer to charge your device, but it won't harm anything.
I almost never buy true (OEM) chargers or cables. I’ve noticed that while Apple chargers tend to have a long useful life, a few of the non-Apple chargers and cables just don’t last long. They flat quit working. Does someone make a cable or charger tester that will tell me if a charger block or cable still has continuity?
One point you didn’t really touch on regarding the differences between usb A and C is that usb A is only ever capable of supplying 5 volts. USB C can negotiate different voltages…if the charger supports it. (ie 5v, 9v, 12v, 20v, etc). So using ohms law, if a device can negotiate a higher voltage, this equates to more wattage at less current than lower voltages which allows for smaller wire gauges to be used. It’s really cool that it’s able to do this now, but unfortunately adds more complexity that the average user would likely not understand. The cable is important too. Some really cheap USB C cables may not have the data lines to support the auto negotiation or worse allow negotiation of more power than the conductor size can handle without heating up. For that reason I try to avoid the really cheap cables.
I’ve got a question: why have I heard that if you use a charger with higher voltage than your original charger, that this can damage your Device - but you say if your mac does not have quick charge but you use the quick charge, it will default to regular five volts? What is happening that’s special in Mac to make sure it defaults and doesn’t damage it? Why don’t all devices use this like vacuums for example? I was searching if I could do this with my vacuum and people said no - higher current is OK and higher watts is OK (as long as the combo of current and voltage is such that Voltage is lower than what you need) but you cannot use a charger that has a higher voltage as this may damage the vacuum! Sorry for the long question!
Very useful, thanks Gary. I have read that Apple chargers protect iPhones and iPads by slowing down the charger when the battery is nearly full. Is this true, or is it the iPhone or iPad that slows down the charging?
my suggestion is to buy 65W and 85W GaN chargers. 65W GaN chargers will handle any 14" MBP and smaller. They are much smaller than Apple 60w MBP charger, much cheaper, and have multiple USB C and A ports. You have a lot more versatility and a much smaller package. For each 65W GaN charger, I will have both a Magsafe 3 cable and USB-C 65 watt connected to it. This way I can plug in my phone, MBP, or PC laptop, Android tablet..whatever I throw at it. Another tip is for the rather limiting single port MBP charger, is that if you have a cheap unused USB mobile dock sitting around, you can plug that dock into the MBP charger then plug the Magsafe or USB cable into the Power Delivery port. This way you will have additional USB C and USB A ports to plug other stuff into.
Great video! I have a couple of portable phone chargers I am not looking to upgrade right away… if I use a USB-A to USB-C cable, will I still get the fast charging “PD” from the USB-C portion of the cable?
@macmostvideo... Is there anything to be concerned about using the iPhone charger to charge my MacBook pro, while using an adapter for North America to Europe power...??? I've always traveled with my big, heavy charger that came with the laptop (and long cord) and I am only learning now that I can use the little phone charger block that can connect to my computer.... so now I need to know if there is any risk/concern with plugging in the little power charger into the adapter I need to use while in Europe... travelling soon.... Hope to hear back:) Thank you in advance! (And thank you for this video!)
No issue there other than being aware that the lower wattage of the iPhone charger will mean it takes longer to charge your MacBook. So if you are using it most of the day, you'll want the regular charger or equivalent. But for using it a bit here and there , and then charging overnight or during the day doing other things it isn't an issue. I do exactly this, but bring a mid-range charger that has multiple USB ports so I can charge both my iPhone and MacBook at night together. Why not, since they are pretty cheap?
Thank you and Im so sorry! I have a question... I just recieved a replacement printer- the other one had issues. They are exactly the same model and make, although this one of course is a few years newer (2021 vs 2024) Would it be best to remove the printer, and uninstall all the drives and then when i plug the new one in, Re-install them as a ‘clean’/fresh install to set up the new printer (or it will do it automatically like last time)? I hope that make sense! Thank you! I have a macbook pro and the printer is an epson workforce printer Oh! When i got the first printer, I didnt actually go to the site and dowload it all... Just did it automatically when i hooked it all up. I would hate to uninstall it and have issues re-installing but thought it may be best to install the new one as if I never had one before.... what would you do? And sorry this must sound dumb
Just as long as the charger supports USB-C Power Delivery 3.0 or 3.1 specifications, you should be able to safely charge newer iPhones with no issues. I have a Baseus 120 watt USB-C charger and I can safely charge my iPhone 12 with a USB Type C to Lightning cable.
A guy at a repair store told me my iPhone 13 which had a sudden power off, and subsequently diagnosed to be a charging IC fault, that you should never use any other charger apart from the 20W plug from Apple. But I used my 2020 iPads 10W charger to charge the phone daily! Or very rarely a 15W wireless charger from portronics. Could you explain if he was right?
Look at the Apple Store and every one is shown with "xxW." (www.apple.com/shop/accessories/all/charging-essentials) Search on Amazon and you get mostly watts too.
I have been using Anker IQ chargers with both my iphone and my M1 macbook air. They work great. I use a 45w Anker charger for the macbook air and it charges really fast. I believe I got 50% charge in less than 45 mins, maybe even more charge. I think my MBA only came with a 30w or possibly a 20w charger. I have an anker IQ 30w I use with my phone and Ipad and both of those charge fine, the iphone 13 pro charges very fast as well. Seems like I get better charging over that than my 45w charger that I use with my MBA. So thats why I have multiple charging blocks.
The M1 air comes with a 30w charger by default. I have the same model. Good move to get a higher power aftermarket charger. I bought a 30w aftermarket charger, but it won't charge my M1 air, as it actually provides far less than 30 watts, despite what the label says. Works fine with tablets and phones though, which draw less power. I will get another aftermarket charger in the future, but like you, I will go for at least 45w. I guess the only difference between the aftermarket and the apple charger brick, is that both are labelled 30w, but only one of them actually provides that much power. Lesson learned.
Not really. I mean technically heat isn't good for a battery, but I don't think the heat from wireless charging will be enough to bother that. I wouldn't inconvenience yourself over many years (assuming wireless is more convenient for you) just to get a potential maybe 1% more out of a battery.
@@macmost Thank you kindly for the reply and answer. It is much appreciated. I thoroughly enjoy the videos, find them very helpful and always look forward to the next one.
I am using the 12 mini and I am still using an old 2A USB-A brick with 2 outlets. I charge my iphone and my backup nexus 5 on it. been using that charger since my iphone 5s
I’ve been enjoying watching you for many years, but I don’t know about this. @LuisRossman has a Mac repair channel and many times he has taken apart MacBook pros and explained what broke them were cheaply made chargers.
Not sure what you are asking. You can't use the USB-A ports on a 2017 MacBook to charge it. You can use them to charge other things. Not sure how many watts, sorry.
@@macmost Yrah charge other thins like the phone A weak chareger is better for the battery life time. Slower tempo charging but heathier. I can not find how many watts USB A delivers, I c'n't find that info anywhere.
Just now my macbook seemed to decide it doesn't like third party chargers I tried charging it from the charging base of my power bank (which has a USB C 100W port), and also tried charging it from my power bank (which can do up to 140W), and it said "battery is not charging" (the power bank indicated it was drawing 58W though) And after leaving it connected to the power bank for a few minuites, it then showed the normal charging icon, so i connected it back to the power bank charging base, and it did the exact same thing again, starts off showing not charging, and after a few minuites it then decides it is charging EDIT: i also have 2 Windows devices that can be charged using USB C, one will charge from a 20W apple charger, but complains, the other completly refuses to charge from the 20W charger (but it will charge from a 30W USB C charger) EDIT 2: ive seen buses that have tables with wireless chargers built into the table (i even tried using it with my phone, but i had to keep my hand on my phone so it didn't go flying), the bus i was on was a "double decker", the wireless charging tables were upstairs (oh, and there were also USB charging ports as well)
I use a MacBook Pro for work, and did not realize you could use its USB-C ports for charging. If I need to bring it on the road, I can leave the power brick and MagSafe cable at home. Thanks for the video!
From the video I discovered that the wireless charger for the iPhone works with my S22 Ultra! An observation: when plugging a USB C cable next to the MagSafe connector, on my MacBook Air it is easy to forget the USB C cable is not an easy tilt and pull off one.
Very useful video. Btw I had charging issues with two different apple chargers [for the same macbook] and simply had to buy a third-party charger, so thanks Apple. I used to believe that the proprietry hardware was superior but not any more!
@Betterthings000 - I strong believe that we no longer have any sort of good quality control anymore, even on reputable brands. Today whatever you buy is gonna be a total gambling game if you gonna get a good product or not. Sure, I might be generalizing too much, but I think you gonna get the point.
Thank you for that. I think it’s so wrong that we pay so much for phones and get no charger. I’ve been using chargers that came with my older phones until I got my 15 pro. Last year I got a new iPad and use that charger for my phone. I now have a drawer with several chargers that I can’t use (I know I could buy compatible cables, but object to paying out more).
Many years ago I had to replace the nicad battery in my acer laptop, I bought what I thought was was a suitable replacement, when it failed and caused some minor damage both acer and my insurer refused to pay out stating my only choice was a recommended but expensive official product, my cheap purchase put me out of any cover as stated in the small print. When I moved over to the Apple ecosystem I always ensure I am using official Apple products purchased from them directly or through their stores, chargers, cables, etc, yes I know its expensive but it gives me peace of mind, I also avoid cheap Chinese made adapters, they claim they are safe & certified but I wouldn’t risk using them on an expensive macbook.
Electrical engineer here to say, this is an excellent presentation of this charging mess. I do disagree about cheap chargers, though. You covered the longevity issue, but there is one additional problem with some of them, - they don't always provide clean power, and a really bad one could actually damage your equipment. One correction, though: When it comes to electricity, we always use *_watts_* to measure *_power_* . Always. There are other terms that we *_could_* use for power (energy), like joules, for example, but we don't. We use watts. Sometimes a manufacturer may state the amperage and not the watts, but that's not another term for power. Amperage is the measurement of *_current_* , which is *_not_* power. But if you have the amperage (amps), you can just multiple the amps times the volts and you'll have the watts. Since USB is always 5 volts, it's pretty simple. Let's say your charger says it is capable of sourcing 18 amps. So, 5 X 18 = 90. That's a 90 watt charger.
@@GPDF Yes, in the electrical world, its what we use (and in radio engineering, too), but technically speaking, any unit that can be directly converted (joules, BTUs, etc.) CAN be used. But sticking with watts is a matter of convention to avoid confusion. If a manufacturer avoided using this standard term, I would suspect them of chicanery, and would avoid their product.
FYI USB is no longer just 5V. There is a negotiation to choose between 5V, 9V, 15V, & 20V (and others). Because current dictates wire size and not power, higher voltages allows for thinner cables.
I really appreciate this information. I just purchased a new MacBook and was wondering if it was necessary to use the charger that came with it. Thank you so much!
Two items I wish you had covered… First, You didn’t mention anything about charging an Apple Watch. Would love to hear about third-party products to could do that or even cables. My second question would be if there’s any harm to leaving your MacBook Pro plugged in when not use.
You need to have that special charging pad to charge the watch, but third party ones are fine. I use a cheap compact one while traveling in fact. And you can plug it into any USB power and it should work. There's definitely no harm to leaving your MacBook plugged in while not using it. That's the normal way to do it. Why wouldn't you? Keep it charged so if you need to use it away from power it is ready.
@@macmost I was a little concerned about battery degradation if left plugged in. Not many years ago, it was recommended to completely discharge and recharge a battery regularly for phones and laptops.
@@macmost Well yes my last laptop was probably that long ago but my MBPro health is at 88% after only a year and appears to have lost 1000 mAh in just a year
@@OMG-2 Not great, but how many cycles? If you were not keeping it plugged in and draining battery needlessly when you weren't using it, then you may have used a lot more cycles than you needed to, which could account for it.
Thanks for this! I've been using ugreen's power brick that can accommodate max of 3 charging cords for my iphone, ipad and watch for some time now. but when my partner bought his samsung s24 he was told by the sales person to specifically use only a 20w power brick since anything higher would damage his phone -- that got me thinking about my charging practices for apple
Is this a valid comparison? MacBook Air (M1): 30W USB-C Power Adapter2 MacBook Air (M2): 30W USB-C Power Adapter or 35W Dual USB-C Port Power Adapter2 13-inch MacBook Pros (M2): 67W USB-C Power Adapter2or 67W USB-C Power Adapter (13.6-inch models only)3 14-inch MacBook Pros (M2): 67W USB-C Power Adapter2 15-inch MacBook Pros (M2): 87W USB-C Power Adapter1 16-inch MacBook Pros (2019): 96W USB-C Power Adapter1
3:50 it answers to my question/comment I put under your video on how chosing a monitor for a Mac, but now I have another question 😄 If I connect a MacBook Air M3 to a usb-c powered on a Monitor, will the Mac be "on charge" all the time? Even if the monitor is off? Is it good for the battery of the Mac? 🤔 Thank you for your answer 🙏😊
If the display supports power out back to the Mac over the connection, then yes it would be getting power. Not sure if the screen is off. That probably depends on the screen. But why would you turn it off (as opposed to letting your Mac sleep?) It is fine to keep your MacBook plugged in all the time. It will handle battery health automatically.
Yes. I didn't realize that "Quick Charge" was a specific brand. I was using "Quick" as a synonym for "Fast" and referring to Fast Charge (which is what Apple calls it in their docs).
Thank you for this video . Might I suggest a video topic of certain cable for example various type of Lightning Cables some only charge the device, others also does data transfer, others charge as 2.4 amp, and so on.... Thank you for your consideration.
Lighting cables? I don't think there are many lightning cables that ONLY charge and don't do data. Maybe there are, but I've never seen them. I'd imagine if the cable costs $2 or something that would be it.
really helpful video, thank you. What about the adapter of the charger? the one the you change when you travelling in another country, does it make a difference if is it from apple rather than a cheap one from amazon?
You don't need to buy that from Apple. Just get a travel plug adapter. Should cost a few dollars. Anything too expensive is converting the power voltage which you don't need since the chargers work at both voltages. Also, note you may not need anything but a cable. On a recent trip to the UK I had enough USB outlets in my room that I never needed even a power adapter.
I have a question, so I can use without any problem my iPad power adapter to charge my iPhone 14 (that doesn't come with one) but can I use the same lightning cable from the iPad to charge my iPhone or is it better to use the cable that came with my phone to do it?
The iMac mail app is preventing OSX Sonoma to enter sleep mode and thus the external usb hub has all its led ON all the time. The external usb hub has a printer and other devices connected that are using usb A. How to setup a shortcut/automation i can run that closes the Mail app and puts the system to sleep? Or better would be to choose Sleep from the menu and the Mail app will automatically close
I find that the Apple wireless magnetic charger takes longer to charge my phone and the phone tends to get warmer than when I plug a charger into the port.
So, if traveling, I guess if you want to cut down on chargers and be as minimalistic as possible, get the highest watt charger possible with USB-C / USB-A ports and the required cables?
Yep. Or if you know that the place you are going to has USB power (meeting rooms, a lot of hotels, etc) you don't need any. Though I always chicken out and bring one anyway, plus a backup one in case I actually forgot my first one.
I like this idea so much and I hope one day everything would need one charger. But I like to take to take them all just incase I need to charge them simultaneously overnight
A thing you missed out is charging iPad with a higher wattage charger. I used my Macbook 30W charger to charge my M1 iPad Pro. It does charge quicker but the iPad gets very hot till a warning message appears saying that "your device has overheated and charging will stop until the temperature has fallen". If I'm not mistaken iPad doesn't officially have "Quick Charge" unlike iPhone and Apple Watch. Just something for everyone to take note of.
@@macmostYes. I did had Apple's official magnetic folio case on, standing on the table with cover open. Happened a few times both while working on it and left idle. I've since stopped using the 30W charger.
When we use an external monitor with the MacBook with the lid closed using clamshell mode and it continues to charge the MacBook. Isn't this constant charging dangerous for the health of the battery ?? Is there any other way we can work on the external monitor with the laptop lid closed without clamshell mode ??
No. It isn't "constant charging" as your MacBook knows how to handle this properly. Lots of people use their MacBook all day in clamshell mode like this. It is perfectly normal.
What happens when you charge using two different ports on your MBP? I ask this because my LG monitor uses USB-C for both display and charging AND I have my MBP charger plugged into a separate USB-C port. A previous MBP was hooked up this way and the battery swelled. I had to get the "top plate" and battery replaced. I can't say for sure if this two port hookup caused the problem, and would be curious if it did. (I kinda think it did not).
Macbooks will only "draw" power through one port at a time, whichever is providing the most power. They can supply power out through multiple USB-c ports at the same time, however. The battery swelling during the same period was probably just coincidence. From my understanding, if your monitor provides power through the USB-C cable, you should be able to just use that to power your laptop, and not even use the charging brick. Give it a try and see if it works.
@@jdillon8360 It works. It takes a rather specific USB-C cable, which I have. This cable allows me full resolution and refresh rate with my somewhat older LG monitor and power to the Mac. My concern has been the power delivered FROM the monitor to the MBP. Using the USB-C cable, you can't turn off the power from the monitor to the MBP. I've always had distrust for non-Apple chargers. This Mac Most ( @macmost )video was quite helpful, giving me confidence to use the power from the monitor, with one fewer cable plugged into my Mac.
@@thebroz1138 Glad to hear that it works! Yes it can be a bit of surprise to realize that a monitor can supply power to a laptop, but that's the beauty and versatility of USB-C. I also distrusted non-apple chargers in the past, but it seems these days with USB-C there is less reason for concern. The charger might work, or not, but it won't damage our equipment. Yeah MacMost is a great source for reliable information.
You mixed up two different things. USB Quick Charge is a proprietary protocol developed by Qualcomm. Please see here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quick_Charge Apple devices are *not* compatible with Quick Charge. Instead, they are compatible with USB Power Delivery protocol, which is a different protocol that became an industry standard. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_hardware#USB_Power_Delivery
I think I didn't realize that "Qualcomm Quick Charge" was anything. I was simply looking at Apple's docs and they reference fast charging and I was using "quick" as a synonym for "fast." All the research I did was on Apple's high-voltage charging. So as long as the quick/rapid/high voltage charger says it will do its thing for Apple devices, you should be OK, right?
@@macmost I would say using the term Power Delivery is definitely better. Or USB PD. This is an industry standard now and you know you are getting the right thing. If you buy a cable that says it can fast charge and it is compatible with Apple devices, still you can be fooled to get something that can fast charge for example Xiaomi and is compatible with Apple when slowcharging only.
@@honzaskypala Yes. I think the main point I'm trying to convey here is that you CAN change with other chargers. Because some people think you can't use anything but the official charger made for that model. Knowing you can get a regular-speed charge is better than thinking you are just stuck with a dead battery (when traveling, forgetting your charger in the morning, etc).
Interesting, but you should talk about current, not watts, but that's another story, since USB voltage is or should be constant as you noted. Watt = current x volt.. My 2023 Toyota Sienna comes with wireless charge pad, but it is not strong enough to charge a qi iphone battery case. So not all wireless chargers are the same. It is hard to figure out ratings.
I thought about whether to use watts or amps (current) and decided on amps after reviewing tons of product listings and finding that watts were used almost all the time.
