14-inch MacBook Pro Can Fast Charge Via Thunderbolt, But Fast Charge Limited to MagSafe in 16-inch Model

[torontotim]

Didn't even think about it

I looked at it but it was going to delay the order. Anything out of the ordinary delays the order.

Frankly I don't think I'd spend $20 more for a heavier Apple power supply. I'll take their OEM charger and if I want a 100w supply to do some fast charging, I'll buy an aftermarket one. I already have a few USB C chargers between 30 and 60 watts for various other devices, all which should work just fine with the MBP and the USB C > MagSafe cable that comes with the laptop.

 

[_Spinn_]

When the USB-C standards were developed, there was a specific standard for charging, known as USB-C Power Delivery (PD). This allowed for power to be delivered via USB-C cables at up to 100W.

That was fine at the time, but with higher-powered laptops on the way, more power was needed. A new standard was developed to support power delivery of up to 240W, and Apple was instrumental in driving this. This new standard is known as USB PD 3.1 Extended Power Range (EPR). This delivers up to 28V at 5A, supporting anything up to 240W.
Apple’s new 16-inch MacBook Pro charger uses the new USB PD 3.1 EPR standard, and is – as far as I can see – the very first charger on the market to do so.

The problem is that the standard is so new, there isn’t yet a USB-C to USB-C EPR-rated cable available, as Benson Leung explained on Reddit (via CNET).


That means that, for now, you can’t charge a 2021 16-inch MacBook Pro at full power into one of the USB-C ports. Apple does, however, support EPR via its new USB-C to MagSafe 3 cable. That means you can get full power – including that 30-minute 50% charge – using the MagSafe cable.

The limitation is temporary. There are USB-C to USB-C EPR cables in the works, and as soon as they are available, you’ll be able to use them with the 16-inch MBP charger. But, for now, you’ll need to stick to the MagSafe charger for maximum performance.

It does, though, mean that there will be yet another compatibility gotcha when buying USB-C cables …

This article comes from reddit and 9to5Mac. It makes perfect sense.

Very interesting. But as you said this now adds yet another USB-C feature that ports/cables may or may not have - so that's not great.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

The MagSafe plugs into the USB-C Power adapter, so you would need at least a 96W Power Adapter to get Fast-Charging(96W for the 14", 140W for the 16"). USB-C into the Laptop will charge at max USB-C rating (100W) on both machines, but isn't high enough wattage for the 16" to be considered Fast Charging, (Bigger battery, takes longer to get to 50%)

I know.

 

[molamis]

It would be nice to have both magsafe and Thunderbolt in one port to connect a docking hub or monitor with a single cable. They could have done this by adding the pins so that the magsafe connector passed data. To overcome the lack of M1 chip ports, they could have designed the big magsafe connector so it physically blocks one of the three conventional thunderbolt ports which it duplicates.

I will have to go look at those third party magnetic USBC ports. Somehow I doubt they are engineered as well as magsafe 3; I'm pretty sure they don't meet USBC standards.

 

[Arsenikdote]

Nothing to worry about in real life. The battery on the 16 is very impressive but the size I imagine most people will have this tank plugged in more often then not. Thing is so heavy

Have you seen the specs? It is 8.6% heavier. That is equivalent to three tennis balls....six pencils....or about 3 eggs. If that defines a "tank" and makes it "so heavy" then I guess we just have a much different perspective on what a "tank" of a laptop means.

 

[Unregistered 4U]

Ofc, since the usbC can charge max cap at 100W...so 100W for the 14" battery can work...but for the 16" it needs that 140W

I wonder if the USB-C ports have been made to handle the higher power of the upcoming PD revisions so that, with a firmware update, they COULD handle fast charging?

 

[Unregistered 4U]

I will have to go look at those third party magnetic USBC ports. Somehow I doubt they are engineered as well as magsafe 3; I'm pretty sure they don't meet USBC standards.

You’re right, there’s really no such thing as magnetic USB-C right now. USB-C magnetic tip adaptors or cables are not compliant with the USB specifications. I don’t know if they’d ever make it a part of the specifications as having a cable that easily falls apart is not good for something that’s supposed to do all the things USB-C is capable of. MagSafe on the other hand is ONLY designed to charge one specific device and that device has been built to handle the interruptions in power that are expected.

 

[bpeeps]

Use a power supply that would not be powerful enough?

It may not be powerful enough to charge it then and you could notice battery drain while also charging.

 

[Arsenikdote]

I wonder if can you disable fast charging to protect battery health/longevity ?

As long as you are charging with a power sources less than 96W it will not fast charge, so should be fairly easy to limit. But I hope it will be an option under power settings for sure!!

Why they bring magsafe back?? When u Can charge with USB-C?
dont understand Why we need this port, instead of they could put one more thunderbolt

No, you couldn't have it "instead" because MagSafe is not a PCIe channel. You could have lost the HDMI and SD card reader and then gained the extra TB port. I would have loved that, but too many people groaned about dongles and so we lost some flexibility.

I recommend keeping the battery around 50% charged and "exercising" it every now and then by letting it drain to 10%ish and then doing a 100% charge before letting it go to 50 again.

Lithium ion batteries like to be around 50% charged, especially if you're not using them so I highly recommend getting this little tool that just tells the SMC to stop charging when it's reached a given percentage: https://github.com/davidwernhart/AlDente

I would agree with the 50% comment but not with doing a 100% charge. You want to run the smallest range possible from 50% if you want maximum batter life. For example, using to 40% and charging to 60% is great! using to 30% and charging to 70% is good! Typically using to 15% and charging to 85% is the sweet spot since most people who do this cycle will change their laptop long before they need to worry about batter life.

Unless the M1 chip is limited to 4 TB ports by design they could have added a 4th and made Magsafe USB-C cable.

As mentioned before, MagSafe is not taking up a PCIe channel so they have nothing to do with one another. The laptop has four channels and so giving up HDMI and SD card reader would have made an extra TB port available or going to six channels and then you could have 6 ports or keep the HDMI/SD and have 5 TB, but that is a lot larger of a change to the system and I am not even sure if that is possible right now....I would defer to someone with more degrees than me in this field (more than none xD)

 

[Arsenikdote]

The limitation is temporary. There are USB-C to USB-C EPR cables in the works, and as soon as they are available, you’ll be able to use them with the 16-inch MBP charger. But, for now, you’ll need to stick to the MagSafe charger for maximum performance.

But wouldn't the port also have to support it, not just the power adapter? If the spec isn't out yet, are you implying that Apple built the unreleased spec into the ports and will enable it at a later date?

Just to be clear, the 96 watt adaptor is the same included w/ the 16 MBP - it's rather large. The included 67 watt is a new model which I'd prefer to have for packaging reasons.

Personally I rarely use the charger that came w/ my 16" MBP due to this, instead opting for an aftermarket 100 watt gan 2 port charger that is much smaller - think it was only $40 purchased a couple years back... much rather put my $20 into another one of those.

Are you saying the 96W power adapter is the same as the old 16" MBP? Cause the new 16" MBP has a 140W power adapter, not a 96W one.

 

[carestudio]

Nice to know battery can be charged 50% full within 30 mins.
Just saw a new post on caldigit site stating their docks can charge M1 Pro and M1 Max too.

CalDigit Docks and Apple M1, M2, M3, M4 Pro/Max & M1/M2 Ultra Compatibility – CalDigit

www.caldigit.com

If MR is right, you can actually fast charge 14" (that comes with 67W charger) with TS3 Plus @ 87W speed.

 

[jlc1978]

As mentioned before, MagSafe is not taking up a PCIe channel so they have nothing to do with one another.

I realize that. My point is they could have designed a USB-C port with a MagSafe style connection to allow a breakaway cable. Granted ti would require a dongle at one end but such solutions currently exist. Of course, it's moot now.

The laptop has four channels and so giving up HDMI and SD card reader would have made an extra TB port available or going to six channels and then you could have 6 ports or keep the HDMI/SD and have 5 TB, but that is a lot larger of a change to the system and I am not even sure if that is possible right now....I would defer to someone with more degrees than me in this field (more than none xD)

Exactly - they could have gone to 6 channels, assuming the chip design allows it, and had Magsafe / HDMI / SD and 4 TB ports.

Personally, I'm glad the went with an SD slot but that's just my opinion.

 

[CarlJ]

It is a nice add on that USB C can also provide power and charging, but I have always been happy with the charging speed of my old MacBooks, and if USB C provides that as well I think users will be in charging heaven: fast through mag safe, normal if needed through USB C.

Interesting... Their 140W charger has a USB-C port and their new MagSafe cable has a USB-C plug on the other end.

I wonder if the MagSafe cable indicates to the charger somehow, "hey, I'm not your normal USB-C 100W limited cable, I'm the MagSafe cable, it's okay to send 140W to/through me."

 

[SactoGuy18]

I think the issue here is that 1) nobody makes Extended Power Range (EPR) USB Type C to USB Type C charging cables and 2) the USB Type C ports can't handle 140 W charging yet. That's why on the 16" MacBook Pro, there is a USB Type C to MagSafe 3 charging cable.

 

[Kuckuckstein]

Interesting... Their 140W charger has a USB-C port and their new MagSafe cable has a USB-C plug on the other end.

I wonder if the MagSafe cable indicates to the charger somehow, "hey, I'm not your normal USB-C 100W limited cable, I'm the MagSafe cable, it's okay to send 140W to/through me."

Probably not the cable but the port itself. There will be a switch (chip) inside the power system recognizing whether the MagSafe supplies power or the USB C port(s). It will then also feel if the adapter used is strong enough (just saw the article that e.g. the 67W version is not strong enough). Possibly by means of a current meter that recognizes whether the MacBook can surge what (Watt 🤣) is needed.

But I am not an electronics guru. This kind of power management must be standard by now, with all the EVs and electronic devices that can handle different charging solutions. So maybe someone around here knows better than me.

 

[kid1230]

so there's a more PRO version vs the pro....

 

[Lerenard3000]

Apple found the solution if UE asks fort Universal usb c port: they have both.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Use a power supply that would not be powerful enough?

While that might work it might not be a good idea, can overheat your adapter. Just use adaptive charging.

 

[Arsenikdote]

While that might work it might not be a good idea, can overheat your adapter. Just use adaptive charging.

I am not sure that is true. Apple has had something in their charge technology for a while that scales down the power draw dynamically. This is also shown by the 14" MB Pro where you can connect different power bricks using the same USB C cable and port and get different charging profiles. Under other circumstances that would be correct, but Apple has worked around the issue.

Still should use a software feature if available

 

[CarlJ]

Probably not the cable but the port itself. There will be a switch (chip) inside the power system recognizing whether the MagSafe supplies power or the USB C port(s). It will then also feel if the adapter used is strong enough (just saw the article that e.g. the 67W version is not strong enough). Possibly by means of a current meter that recognizes whether the MacBook can surge what (Watt 🤣) is needed.

But I am not an electronics guru. This kind of power management must be standard by now, with all the EVs and electronic devices that can handle different charging solutions. So maybe someone around here knows better than me.

Lightning cables already contain a chip that has a brief startup conversation with the thing they're connected to, to specify what kind of cable it is and what signals to provide on the individual pins, so it wouldn't surprise me to find that USB-C is doing the same thing.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

I have a genuine Apple 5w USB-A adapter that came with an iPhone and a USB-A to USB-C adapter which fits my new 16” MBP. How long will it take to charge?

 

[CarlJ]

I have a genuine Apple 5w USB-A adapter that came with an iPhone and a USB-A to USB-C adapter which fits my new 16” MBP. How long will it take to charge?

Do you want the answer in days, weeks, or months?

 

[pmcarrion]

Does MagSafe disable Thunderbolt charging when connected to a powered Thunderbolt dock/hub?

 

[moootech]

Does MagSafe disable Thunderbolt charging when connected to a powered Thunderbolt dock/hub?

I would also like to know if I can charge simultaneously using both Magsafe and TB ports? Ie, if I have 2 67W adapters and connect one to Magsafe and the other to TB port, can I achieve fast charging?

 

[svish]

It is only due to USB C cable standards.