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Can you charge these new MacBooks with a powerbank?

I

ian87w

macrumors G3
Original poster
Simple question out of curiosity. Can these Apple Silicon MacBook Air be charged with a power bank outputting 18-20W USB-PD?
 
I think anything at least 15w will work, it just will take some time. After you plug it in, make sure that the MacBook is getting the charge and not the other direction.
 
Works fine. I've seen people use a 10W charger from old iPads on their M1. It'll register as charging in macOS.

In fact, 5W charger on the Intel-based MacBooks will work, and I suspect it will continue to work on Apple Silicon.
 
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Tagbert said:
I think anything at least 15w will work, it just will take some time. After you plug it in, make sure that the MacBook is getting the charge and not the other direction.
Click to expand...

How do you set the MacBook to charge from the battery, or if you want to go the other way, set it to charge the external battery? It's great to have that choice, but I'm not sure how it works?
 
RedTomato said:
How do you set the MacBook to charge from the battery, or if you want to go the other way, set it to charge the external battery? It's great to have that choice, but I'm not sure how it works?
Click to expand...
I've discovered at least on my Anker power banks that you press and hold the power button until all the LED's cycle through on the power bank. Once thats happened it will reverse itself....charge the connected device or be charged by the connected device. You have to press and hold the power button for a good 10 seconds or so.
 
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