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jaduffy007

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 23, 2018
146
139
Currently own a Caldigit TS4 dock. Regarding the "Computer" labeled Tb4 connection on the back, reviewers & docs say "up to 98W". What does that mean? The machine determines the watts delivered?? My wife has a 2020 M1 MacBook Air that ideally would receive 30-35W. My concern is, 98W will damage the charging port or battery.

Thoughts? Thanks !!
 
Up to meaning it supplies that power at most. It will not damage your computer.

It’s the same way your household electrical outlet is up to 1,800W. It won’t damage anything.
 
Up to meaning it supplies that power at most. It will not damage your computer.

It’s the same way your household electrical outlet is up to 1,800W. It won’t damage anything.
Thanks !!
 
Currently own a Caldigit TS4 dock. Regarding the "Computer" labeled Tb4 connection on the back, reviewers & docs say "up to 98W". What does that mean? The machine determines the watts delivered?? My wife has a 2020 M1 MacBook Air that ideally would receive 30-35W. My concern is, 98W will damage the charging port or battery.

Thoughts? Thanks !!
Seconding JPack's post. Your MacBook Air came with a 30-watt Power Adapter. Any USB-C power adapter that supplies LESS than this will likely charge your computer slower than the original provided adapter. Any adapter supplying more than 30-watts will still charge your computer just fine. 98-watts is the maximum wattage supplied by your dock. Which is to say that it ought to charge and power a higher end 14-inch Apple Silicon MacBook Pro or any 16-inch Intel MacBook Pro (both of which come with a 96-watt power brick) at a comparable rate to the supplied brick, but might have trouble doing so with a 16-inch Apple Silicon MacBook Pro (all of which came with 140-watt power bricks). You can go with a higher-wattage brick than what came with your device, but going lower means that your device might sip power faster than it will optimally charge.
 
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