Can you use a 45W charger with the 2017 MBP?

[currahee2100]

Hey guys,
Just curious. Thinkin about going and buying the 2017 MBP at lunch time. I'm still torn between it and the Air. I have a battery bank that puts out 45W, should be the same as a 45W USB PD charger... was wondering if it would be good enough to power the MBP? It doesn't need to charge the laptop, just provide juice to run on.

Too bad the MBA doesn't have a brighter screen, otherwise I would have gotten it for this reason. Extended battery life helps

 

[anthdci]

It totally depends on what you are doing and whether it is the 13 or 15? if your number crunching on the 15" the CPU where it has to run at full power then that alone will draw (a rated) 45w. So the rest of your system will take the total draw above what the 45w the power supply can handle. That will cause your battery to drain.

If you are just sitting about browsing then you'll probably end up charging it.

 

[currahee2100]

Thank you. I will be getting the 13", because it's just going to handle light workloads- when I'll be at a coffee shop or library just studying quietly. If I want to do photoshop or light video editing, it's definitely when it's going to be plugged in so that is not a problem.

As long as it can pull something, even though it's rated lower than the charger then I'm happy

 

[anthdci]

Thank you. I will be getting the 13", because it's just going to handle light workloads- when I'll be at a coffee shop or library just studying quietly. If I want to do photoshop or light video editing, it's definitely when it's going to be plugged in so that is not a problem.

As long as it can pull something, even though it's rated lower than the charger then I'm happy

you'll be fine then, that cpu is only 28w, there is no gpu to worry about. The 13" pro comes with a 60w power supply so it's not a massive difference.

 

[vseera]

I use a 45w charger on mine when travelling all the time and have never faced an issue. I do a lot of stuff on it except play games, so I am not sure what will happen if you do something extreme on your MBP 13, but for the most part, it seems as fast as the 60w charger.

 

[BigMcGuire]

I use a 30w Anker charger on my 13' 2017 TB MacBook with the i5. As long as I'm not doing anything incredibly demanding on the CPU, the laptop behaves identically to the stock charger.

 

[currahee2100]

Thanks guys! The 30W is helpful too since I have a fair bit of 30W chargers lying around... I got a 2018 MBP 13”, and the 45w power bank works well