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andrewj

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 4, 2008
244
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The 140W power adapter is quite large. I wonder if you can use third party USB-C charges with the MagSafe cable. I'm hesitant about carrying around and traveling with the 140W power adapter given its size.
 
I'm sure reviewers will try for us. Won't take long to find out what works and what doesn't.
 
You can probably buy one of those fancy GaN chargers that are probably half the size of the MBP power brick.
 
The way I understood it, 140W is the charger to use if you want the full fast charge capability which gives you 50% charge in 30 min.

I suspect that the maximum performance of the device can only be achieved when plugged in. Full brightness, fans running, heavy processing happening.

Details are light, but you can also charge the Max using USB-PD so the smaller GaN chargers will work as long as the system is not consuming more than your GaN brick can provide. What we don’t know yet is what kind of throttling happens when connected to less powerful chargers.

140W is a lot. You can’t get a 140W charger from anyone right now other than Apple. We need to understand the tech specs of how the Max uses power and accepts power.
 
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Dell do a 130 Watt USB-C power adapter, that's pretty close. Based on Apples CPU/GPU consumption numbers I expect full performance when using a 100 Watt USB-C which some Thunderbolt 3 docks and Monitors can deliver which is nice.

In their own slides the system seems to peak around 65 Watts just for the chipset under 100% load so I'm expecting display and fans and storage all that would come up to around 100 fully maxed. But again I'm making educated guesses and extrapolations so we'll have to wait and see for the final info.

One thing I think is really cool the new MagSafe cable is braided!
 
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You would think though with the GaN technology it would still be significantly smaller. The size of the charger seems in line with the older non GaN Apple chargers.
Keep in mind this is the most powerful of its kind right now at 140W. GaN chargers still have thermal considerations, which drives some sizing.

And nobody knows the actual dimensions of the brick right now, but it seems to be roughly the size of the 96W. So that’s a considerable miniaturization for 40% more power.
 

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I cannot understand.
Such an energy efficient machine, arm cpu, more power with less watts, etc,
why does it need such a huge 140w adapter?

With such transition in apple silicon,
I really hoped that the new machines could even function with a good powebank!
And then, voila, 140w power adapter.

Someone to tell me what I am missing here.
 
I cannot understand.
Such an energy efficient machine, arm cpu, more power with less watts, etc,
why does it need such a huge 140w adapter?

With such transition in apple silicon,
I really hoped that the new machines could even function with a good powebank!
And then, voila, 140w power adapter.

Someone to tell me what I am missing here.
This is a mobile workstation class machine with a very large battery. It’s built for performance with a high level of efficiency but it’s priority is speed. Just look at how big the Max chip is vs the M1.

You need 140W for fast charge abilities. You probably only need 100W for regular charging. That’s a guess.
 
This is a mobile workstation class machine with a very large battery. It’s built for performance with a high level of efficiency but it’s priority is speed. Just look at how big the Max chip is vs the M1.

You need 140W for fast charge abilities. You probably only need 100W for regular charging. That’s a guess.
But if the battery life is as good as it is, not sure how much the fast charging helps.
 
I cannot understand.
Such an energy efficient machine, arm cpu, more power with less watts, etc,
why does it need such a huge 140w adapter?

With such transition in apple silicon,
I really hoped that the new machines could even function with a good powebank!
And then, voila, 140w power adapter.

Someone to tell me what I am missing here.
It charges from 0% to 50% in 30 minutes. That's why they put that big charger in the box (though it's only marginally larger than the previous 97 Watt model)

Some educated guesses based on Apples data put the laptop at 100 Watts when the CPU and GPU are both at 100% load. You can totally run this on a smaller charger but if you're running it completely fully flat out it may use the battery if the power adapter alone can't power what the machine needs.
 
The 140w is for fast charging, period! To achieve 50% charge in 30 minutes, lots of juice needs to be fed into the battery in a relatively short period of time.

Apple says you can charge your MBP using the TB4 ports. So logic dictates if you’re not maxing out the machine, a 60w+ charger should keep you in good shape.
 
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But if the battery life is as good as it is, not sure how much the fast charging helps.
Fast charging is always potentially useful … There will always be a time that the battery is at 0% because of either a long day of use and forgotten charging, or traveling without charging options en route and a short layover… It’s always useful.

Personally, i always fast-charge my iPhone, just because i dont like having it sit on the charger for long periods of time, so I can just have it on for like 20-30 minutes and go up to 80% and then use it until it hits 20%.
 
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And what happens when you use both the 140W MagSafe and also connect the MBP to a USB-C dock which supplies power? Will that confuse the MBP? I'm thinking about the High Power mode when maybe this is a case where the 140W MagSafe power delivery could be important.
 
And what happens when you use both the 140W MagSafe and also connect the MBP to a USB-C dock which supplies power? Will that confuse the MBP? I'm thinking about the High Power mode when maybe this is a case where the 140W MagSafe power delivery could be important.
I’m interested in this as well. I’m buying an external monitor and the USB-C port provides 90w of power. What happens when the MagSafe is also plugged in?
 
I’m interested in this as well. I’m buying an external monitor and the USB-C port provides 90w of power. What happens when the MagSafe is also plugged in?
Per Apple on the 5k LG...
Connect the UltraFine 5K Display to your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air via an included Thunderbolt 3 cable, which supports full 5K video, audio, and data simultaneously. Or connect the display to your MacBook or iPad Pro via an included USB-C cable, which supports stunning 4K video, audio, and data simultaneously. This display provides host charging power to your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air. For optimal performance on the 16-inch MacBook Pro, connect to power using the MacBook Pro’s 96W adapter.
 
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I mostly uses my current MBP both at home and on the go. Fast charging might not be a big deal for me, and the current 96W charger is my limit for being to big. I ended up buying a 100W GaN charger to on the go and then will use the 140W at home.
 
I wonder if you can use third party USB-C charges with the MagSafe cable.

I just bought a 100w Nekteck GaN USB-C charger and when I connect the Magsafe cable to it from my 14" MBP (8/14) it does not transfer power. It does transfer power from the Apple 67w adapter that came with the machine and it also works with the 97w Apple adapter from my Intel MacBook Pro 15...

The Nekteck charger does work fine when connected to a TB4/USB-C port.
 
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To be honest, it was much smaller than I did expect. It’a mostly just a longer 67W adapter than it is a longer 96W adapter that I thought. I didn’t note that the new one was a GaN charger also.
 
I cannot understand.
Such an energy efficient machine, arm cpu, more power with less watts, etc,
why does it need such a huge 140w adapter?

With such transition in apple silicon,
I really hoped that the new machines could even function with a good powebank!
And then, voila, 140w power adapter.

Someone to tell me what I am missing here.
that 140W is for fast charing even when the 16" is in boost mode..otherwise you can charge the 16" even with the 96W
 
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