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chabig

macrumors G4
Sep 6, 2002
11,408
9,109
Yes you can. It won't charge the MacBook as fast as the included charger because it isn't capable of putting out the same amount of power. And if you're using the machine while plugged in, the 18W charger might not be able to charge or keep it charged, but it will lengthen the amount of time you can use the machine before the battery depletes.

But if you're traveling and only want to take one charger, this will be fine. Leave the Air plugged in overnight to charge. Then it won't matter to you whether it takes two hours or four hours to charge.
 

trerep

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 9, 2008
308
84
Venice, ITALY
i am looking for a real answer from someone who has tried

did you try with your macbook air 2020 and a 18 w usb-c adapter from apple??

i know it can charge it and i know it will be slower

but i want to know if, while using it,if the 18w adapter is sufficient to keep it charged or not
 
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deeddawg

macrumors G5
Jun 14, 2010
12,414
6,526
US
i am looking for a real answer from someone who has tried

did you try with your macbook air 2020 and a 18 w usb-c adapter from apple??

i know it can charge it and i know it will be slower

but i want to know if, while using it,if the 18w adapter is sufficient to keep it charged or not
I wouldn't buy one of those as there are better, more flexible options on the market. So no, I've not tried the Apple 18W USB C charger.

That said, I've run my 2020 MBA from a 18W USB-PD powerbank and it's been perfectly fine.
 
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chabig

macrumors G4
Sep 6, 2002
11,408
9,109
i want to know if, while using it,if the 18w adapter is sufficient to keep it charged or not
It will keep it charged if you're not using the machine. If you're using the machine the battery will slowly deplete.
 
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magbarn

macrumors 68030
Oct 25, 2008
2,987
2,338
Just tried it with my 2020 MBA. It barely charges. Keeps fluctuating between "Not Charging" and "Charging".
You could get away with it if you were charging it on sleep mode. If you're just typing a letter it should be ok too. I was surfing some pretty graphics/ad heavy websites and it was barely keeping up.

Are you trying to use it as a travel adapter? I'd rather just take the slightly larger stock charger and you can use it to charge all your Apple devices...(with USB C to lightning for the other iOS devices of course)
I bought this instead to travel as it charges the 2020 MBA faster than the stock charger, plus it's smaller than the stock charger
It goes down to $22 on sale frequently.
 
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chx1975

macrumors newbie
Jun 13, 2012
6
1
For a Macbook Air, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08199Z96G is a pretty good choice -- 27W, 1.6oz.

For higher wattage https://www.zmiusa.com/collections/...ts/zmi-zpower-turbo-65w-usb-c-pd-wall-charger has been 20 bucks since forever and comes with a 5A capable cable which alone usually costs 8-10 bucks at least. It's a killer deal. And the build quality is quite high, a teardown can be found at http://www.chargerlab.com/zmi-zpowe...th-teardown-review-design-within-constraints/ It's 3.37 oz which is very reasonable for 65W.

RavPower has very interesting practices and it's hard to recommend them. https://www.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/im116t/_/g3wcrxw
 
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Erehy Dobon

Suspended
Feb 16, 2018
2,161
2,017
No service
Can i use the 18w usb c power adapter with my new macbook air 2020 ?
Not worth the effort. You really need around 30W to charge the MacBook Air while you're using it.

I used this https://www.amazon.com/AK-A2017121-27W-PD-1-Port/dp/B07DFGKFM3/ for my MacBook Air 2019 (which has the same power requirements as the 2020 model).

This will also fast-charge recent iPhones.

Note that the Anker GaN charger is smaller and cheaper than the equivalent Apple unit. The only negative is that the prongs don't fold into the body. The Anker unit also works fine with Windows ultralight notebooks (that charge via USB-C/Thunderbolt 3) for what it's worth.
 

Isamilis

macrumors 68020
Apr 3, 2012
2,160
1,061
I tried 12w charger (from Anker) with MBA 2020. The symbol in status bar is charging, but based on system status it didn’t charge. however if I keep macbook sleep / off, the battery slowly getting full. Probably abt 4-6 hours (I didn’t really measure it).
IMO, perhaps there is side effect using the lower charger, becau it increase charging time, which also increase duration the battery get high temp. In the end, higher temp will decrease battery life.
 

voodooranger

macrumors newbie
Apr 7, 2021
1
2
Hello all,
Here is my experience. I use the 2020 M1 MBA and this machine is a beast! Well, an efficient beast.

I charged it using my Pixel3XL stock USBC adapter rated at Output: 5V 3A/ 9V 2A (which makes it 18 Watt in fast charging)

I have attached my charging history from 60% to a full. I didn't want to compute the time it took to charge because of the weirdly divided time steps on the graph. Anyone curious can calculate it if they want.

I was doing some heavy browsing- about 10 tabs open on average(Searching papers, reading PDFs, typing documents) connected over WiFi while charging.

I have also attached my activity monitor to show the apps I was using.

Conclusion: Heck yea you can use any wattage USB C adapter (Better be from the good manufacturer adhering to the USB C standards). It would provide whatever power it can. It may charge the battery if the power usage by the machine is lower than the provided power. I would probably not recommend it for full-time use though.

I hope this helps this thread :)
 

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GSWForever8

macrumors 6502a
Apr 10, 2021
530
497
I use the Apple 30w charger and their usb-c cable. It should have shipped with the MacBook. Charges at a good speed and it won’t slow down under heavy load.
 
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