Review: RAVPower's Ultrathin 45W USB-C Power Adapter Can Fit in Your Pocket

[MacRumors]

RAVPower recently introduced a new 45W USB-C Power Adapter that uses eGaNFET circuitry allowing for an ultrathin design more portable than traditional USB-C power adapters.

Made from white plastic, the power adapter measures in at 2.8 inches long, 2.1 inches wide, and 0.56 inches thick. Compared to the 29/30W USB-C chargers for the MacBook and the MacBook Air, it's longer, but thinner.

The thinner design allows the power adapter to fit easily in a pocket, bag, or backpack. It's not as oddly square-shaped as Apple's own chargers, which makes it more convenient to carry. RAVPower does not ship this power adapter with any cables, so you're going to need to supply your own USB-C to USB-C cable or USB-C to Lightning cable.

Since this is a 45W charger, it's ideal for the MacBook Air or the MacBook, but won't really work for the 61W 13-inch MacBook Pro or the 85W 15-inch MacBook Pro.

It is, however, also useful paired with a USB-C to Lightning cable to charge an iPhone or with a USB-C to USB-C cable to charge one of Apple's new iPad Pros more quickly.

Design wise, this is a nice looking power adapter. The aforementioned white plastic is unblemished aside from a RAVPower logo at the top, and there's a single USB-C port at one side.

RAVPower's adapter next to 29W power adapter from Apple​

At the back, there's a set of prongs for plugging it into an outlet, which fold down when the power adapter is not in use. This also allows it to be pocketed or tucked away in a small pouch in a backpack.

At 45W, the RAVPower charger enables fast charging with the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, X, XS, XS Max, and XR when paired with one of Apple's Lightning to USB-C cables. Fast charging charges your iPhone to 50 percent in a half hour, and with the RAVPower charger and the required cable, my iPhone XS Max charged from 1 percent to 52 percent in a 30-minute time period.

When using the 45W RAVPower adapter, I was also able to charge the new USB-C 11-inch iPad Pro faster. With the standard 18W charger it ships with, the iPad Pro charged to 45 percent from 1 percent over the course of an hour.

With the 45W RAVPower adapter, the iPad Pro charged from one percent to 66 percent during the same time period. As a caveat, though, faster charging is available with 29W/30W chargers too, as I was also able to reach a 66 percent charge in one hour using a standard 29W MacBook power adapter. The same goes for iPhone fast charging - 45W offers no benefit over 29W/30W.

On my MacBook, the standard 29W charger charged it to 62 percent over the course of an hour, which is the exact same result I got with the 45W charger, so there's also no benefit using 45W over 29W/30W with a MacBook.

45W is overkill for charging a MacBook, MacBook Air, 11-inch iPad, or iPhone, but it's not enough power for a 13 or 15-inch MacBook Pro under a heavy load (technically you can charge either of these machines with the 45W adapter, but it's not going to be enough when using a lot of power), which makes RAVPower's adapter kind of an odd choice for Apple devices.

Bottom Line

I don't really have much else to say about the power adapter. RAVPower makes good products, and the new ultrathin USB-C power adapter is no exception.

It's portable, offers faster charging for the iPhone and iPad Pro, and works well with Apple's MacBook and MacBook Air. It has a foldable plug, and with its thin body, it's ideal for travel because it's not going to take up much space.

Unfortunately, RAVPower has priced its new USB-C power adapter rather high, charging $55 for it. That's more expensive than the $49 power USB-C 30W Power Adapter direct from Apple, and more expensive than many non-ultrathin ~30W USB-C power adapter solutions.

RAVpower's power adapter is nice, but it doesn't seem worth the premium over other 30 and 45W power adapters just to save a bit of space. There are many more affordable charging options on the market, and for Apple devices, 30W seems to be the sweet spot for fast charging the 11-inch iPad Pro, iPhone, and the MacBook and MacBook Air so why shell out extra money for RAVpower's solution?

RAVPower does often discount its products, though, so if you're in the market for a pocketable 45W USB-C charger, keep an eye out for a sale before picking this one up.

How to Buy

The 45W USB-C ultrathin charger from RAVPower can be purchased from Amazon for $54.99.

Note: RAVPower provided MacRumors with a 45W power adapter for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

Article Link: Review: RAVPower's Ultrathin 45W USB-C Power Adapter Can Fit in Your Pocket

 

[dsraj]

How do you review an “ultra thin” product and not include even one photo showing the thickness?

*eyeroll*

EDIT: Appreciate updating the post with a photo of the side. Thanks Juli!

 

[konqerror]

The Amazon page claims UL listing, which is good, but it looks like they sent a pre-production model here. Almost discounted it on lack of safety.

 

[nutmac]

As the author stated, $54.99 is not very competitive against Apple's offerings, which include $49 30W charger (iPhone 8 or newer, iPad Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air), $69 61W charger (13" MBP), and $79 87W charger (15" MBP).

Granted, 45W is higher than 30W, but iPhones, iPad Pros, MB, and MBA aren't going to charge any faster with it. And it is below the full requirement of 13" MBP.

Hopefully, it will be discounted to more reasonable level ($39.99 or less) soon.

 

[garotemonkey]

Apple already works quite hard to make the smallest power adapter possible while still filtering and shaping the electricity it delivers to a very high standard.

It's always possible to make a charger even smaller or cheaper ... by lowering that standard.

http://www.righto.com/2012/03/inside-cheap-phone-charger-and-why-you.html
http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html

Now I ain't saying RavPower is some kind of fly-by-night operation with a charger that will wreck your laptop. But I am saying that a _smaller_ charger delivered at a _higher_ price than what Apple charges is a little suspicious.

 

[jclo]

How do you review an “ultra thin” product and not include even one photo showing the thickness?

*eyeroll*

Sorry, thought the comparison photo showed thickness well enough and it has a direct mention in the article. I'll add another photo.

 

[Analog Kid]

45W was an odd choice... It isn't appreciably less volume than the Apple adapters but that extra power rating kind of goes to waste for the products it's compatible with. I wonder why they didn't go lower power and smaller, or high enough power to support a MBP.

 

[konqerror]

Now I ain't saying RavPower is some kind of fly-by-night operation with a charger that will wreck your laptop. But I am saying that a _smaller_ charger delivered at a _higher_ price than what Apple charges is a little suspicious.

Literally, the very first sentence of the article explains why. This is built with GaN transistors which are more efficient, cooler, and more expensive than traditional silicon transistors. There's likely supply constraints too.

 

[jettredmont]

45W is a compromise size. As stated, it won’t help most of your consumer Apple devices. But, if you have a MacBook Pro the 45W source will keep you working at full power 50% longer than a 30W and will charge the device 1/3 faster. No you can’t run your render farm indefinitely on this power supply, but there is a huge advantage in how long you can do the highest-power-consumption tasks, and how little time you need between those tasks.

For someone who has the Pro not because they need full power 100% of the time but because they need that power just some of the time when they render a video or compile an app, the 45W charger is a good deal.

60W would obviously be better, but 60W supplies with equivalent protections are much more expensive to build and much more bulky and so are more rare in the third-party market

 

[pubb]

Am I the only person who dislikes terms like "fits in your pocket"? I mean, Virginia Woolf filled her pockets with enough rocks to drown herself...

 

[harshw]

How does this compare with the new Anker PowerPort PD1 30W charger? It's supposed to be smaller than the Apple 30W and cost $29. If the iPads can't charger faster with the 45W RavPower charger and the Anker costs that much less, it seems to be the better buy (Neither the Anker nor the RavPower are going to charge a MacBook Pro running at full tilt in any case)

 

[cerberusss]

I wonder why they didn't go lower power and smaller, or high enough power to support a MBP.

Because 45W actually is more than enough power to go through the day, for most people. Apple's chargers are charged such that you can relatively rapidly charge the laptop from empty to full. This RAVPower adapter is not going to do that. However, to get through the day, you likely don't need more than 30W.

For the last year, I get through the day with a 45W charger. During the day, I use Xcode plus Firefox, Apple Mail, Slack, Excel, TeamViewer and a couple of other apps. Works fine.

 

[nvatsya]

RAVPower recently introduced a new 45W USB-C Power Adapter that uses eGaNFET circuitry allowing for an ultrathin design more portable than traditional USB-C power adapters.

Made from white plastic, the power adapter measures in at 2.8 inches long, 2.1 inches wide, and 0.56 inches thick. Compared to the 29/30W USB-C chargers for the MacBook and the MacBook Air, it's longer, but thinner.

The thinner design allows the power adapter to fit easily in a pocket, bag, or backpack. It's not as oddly square-shaped as Apple's own chargers, which makes it more convenient to carry. RAVPower does not ship this power adapter with any cables, so you're going to need to supply your own USB-C to USB-C cable or USB-C to Lightning cable.

Since this is a 45W charger, it's ideal for the MacBook Air or the MacBook, but won't really work for the 61W 13-inch MacBook Pro or the 85W 15-inch MacBook Pro.

It is, however, also useful paired with a USB-C to Lightning cable to charge an iPhone or with a USB-C to USB-C cable to charge one of Apple's new iPad Pros more quickly.

Design wise, this is a nice looking power adapter. The aforementioned white plastic is unblemished aside from a RAVPower logo at the top, and there's a single USB-C port at one side.

RAVPower's adapter next to 29W power adapter from Apple​

At the back, there's a set of prongs for plugging it into an outlet, which fold down when the power adapter is not in use. This also allows it to be pocketed or tucked away in a small pouch in a backpack.

At 45W, the RAVPower charger enables fast charging with the iPhone 8, 8 Plus, X, XS, XS Max, and XR when paired with one of Apple's Lightning to USB-C cables. Fast charging charges your iPhone to 50 percent in a half hour, and with the RAVPower charger and the required cable, my iPhone XS Max charged from 1 percent to 52 percent in a 30-minute time period.

When using the 45W RAVPower adapter, I was also able to charge the new USB-C 11-inch iPad Pro faster. With the standard 18W charger it ships with, the iPad Pro charged to 45 percent from 1 percent over the course of an hour.

With the 45W RAVPower adapter, the iPad Pro charged from one percent to 66 percent during the same time period. As a caveat, though, faster charging is available with 29W/30W chargers too, as I was also able to reach a 66 percent charge in one hour using a standard 29W MacBook power adapter. The same goes for iPhone fast charging - 45W offers no benefit over 29W/30W.

On my MacBook, the standard 29W charger charged it to 62 percent over the course of an hour, which is the exact same result I got with the 45W charger, so there's also no benefit using 45W over 29W/30W with a MacBook.

45W is overkill for charging a MacBook, MacBook Air, 11-inch iPad, or iPhone, but it's not enough power for a 13 or 15-inch MacBook Pro under a heavy load (technically you can charge either of these machines with the 45W adapter, but it's not going to be enough when using a lot of power), which makes RAVPower's adapter kind of an odd choice for Apple devices.

Bottom Line

I don't really have much else to say about the power adapter. RAVPower makes good products, and the new ultrathin USB-C power adapter is no exception.

It's portable, offers faster charging for the iPhone and iPad Pro, and works well with Apple's MacBook and MacBook Air. It has a foldable plug, and with its thin body, it's ideal for travel because it's not going to take up much space.

Unfortunately, RAVPower has priced its new USB-C power adapter rather high, charging $55 for it. That's more expensive than the $49 power USB-C 30W Power Adapter direct from Apple, and more expensive than many non-ultrathin ~30W USB-C power adapter solutions.

RAVpower's power adapter is nice, but it doesn't seem worth the premium over other 30 and 45W power adapters just to save a bit of space. There are many more affordable charging options on the market, and for Apple devices, 30W seems to be the sweet spot for fast charging the 11-inch iPad Pro, iPhone, and the MacBook and MacBook Air so why shell out extra money for RAVpower's solution?

RAVPower does often discount its products, though, so if you're in the market for a pocketable 45W USB-C charger, keep an eye out for a sale before picking this one up.

How to Buy

The 45W USB-C ultrathin charger from RAVPower can be purchased from Amazon for $54.99.

Note: RAVPower provided MacRumors with a 45W power adapter for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

Article Link: Review: RAVPower's Ultrathin 45W USB-C Power Adapter Can Fit in Your Pocket

[doublepost=1543482807][/doublepost]how much time it takes to get fully charged?

 

[Enclavean]

Apple already works quite hard to make the smallest power adapter possible while still filtering and shaping the electricity it delivers to a very high standard.

It's always possible to make a charger even smaller or cheaper ... by lowering that standard.

http://www.righto.com/2012/03/inside-cheap-phone-charger-and-why-you.html
http://www.righto.com/2012/05/apple-iphone-charger-teardown-quality.html

Now I ain't saying RavPower is some kind of fly-by-night operation with a charger that will wreck your laptop. But I am saying that a _smaller_ charger delivered at a _higher_ price than what Apple charges is a little suspicious.

Is the total footprint even smaller? Its barely any thinner (based on the pictures) and its longer

 

[pallymore]

Is the total footprint even smaller? Its barely any thinner (based on the pictures) and its longer

It is also much wider when plugged in. (apple's plug is on the side, this one is in the middle of the back face.)
this might make it harder to use when you are traveling on trains or planes since spaces around power sockets are limited.

 

[RevTEG]

Anyone know what “braided” looking cord is connected to the Apple brick in the 3rd pic? Non of my Apple ones look like that.

 

[MhzDoesMatter]

How do you review an “ultra thin” product and not include even one photo showing the thickness?

*eyeroll*

Or in Normal People speak: Can you add an additional photo showing the thinness? Thanks.

 

[jclo]

Anyone know what “braided” looking cord is connected to the Apple brick in the 3rd pic? Non of my Apple ones look like that.

Yeah, it's the Stella plug: https://www.macrumors.com/review/ten-one-design-stella-plug/

 

[gnomeisland]

Wouldn’t one advantage of 45w over 30w be if you want to power a hub and the device? The MacBook and the IPad Pro 2018 only have one port and basically need a hub with USB power pass through. In that case the power is decided between the hub (and plugged-in devices) and the device.

 

[RevTEG]

Yeah, it's the Stella plug: https://www.macrumors.com/review/ten-one-design-stella-plug/

Thank you.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

Wouldn’t one advantage of 45w over 30w be if you want to power a hub and the device? The MacBook and the IPad Pro 2018 only have one port and basically need a hub with USB power pass through. In that case the power is decided between the hub (and plugged-in devices) and the device.

Exactly, many hubs advertise using 8-12 watts of the power from your USB-C PD, so the 45W cube would be good with a MacBook or MacBook Air and Hub, but maybe not enough for a 13" MB Pro if you add a hub.

I wonder if this is why my Yoga 720 Win convertible doesn't use the USB-C for power delivery and has a separate power port. In addition to a dedicated power input, it has a USB-C port that I plug a hub into, and a USB-A port in case I don't have the hub with me and need to plug in a thumb drive or external HD. That still leaves the USB-C for syncing or charging a device, or to plug into a monitor.