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Dobbs2

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 5, 2008
379
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I have the 35 watt charger. It's not super fast. My Wife has a MacBook Pro with Mag safe as well.

Trying to travel light when we have to. Is there a charger we can both use, and which one to charge faster than the 35 watt one?
 
Your MacBook Air can be paired with the 70W Power Adapter for fast charging.
If your wife has a 14" MBP, it shipped with the 96W Power Adapter (16" MBP ships with the 140W adapter), so you can pack just that and use the same charger for the MBA+MBP while you are traveling.
 
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What's the minimum? Is it possible to charge the MBA from a 12W USB charger via USB-A to USB-C cable?
 
Is it possible to charge the MBA from a 12W USB charger via USB-A to USB-C cable?
Yes, but if you use it at the same time as you are charging it, you will use more battery charge than the power adapter can supply, so a net loss. Charging MBA will take a long time if let it sit, but it will charge.
 
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if the charger brick has a USB-C port then it's compatible.

i use a 40W anker nano pro. for me 40W is enough and the charger is probably as small as you're gonna get. you want more power then it's gonna be bigger.

edit: apparently the nano 2 can do 65W and is about the same size.
 
if the charger brick has a USB-C port then it's compatible.

i use a 40W anker nano pro. for me 40W is enough and the charger is probably as small as you're gonna get. you want more power then it's gonna be bigger.

edit: apparently the nano 2 can do 65W and is about the same size.

Hey,
can you use the usb-c/magsafe charging cable with this Anker nano charger?

I've seen some reviews indicating that this cable doesn't work with these nano chargers.
 
its a similar questions but to do with the rapid charging. I have just ordered a MBA 15" and comes only with the 35w dual charger. They say that to get the rapid charge your need the 70w charger. I have a few o the 65w usb-c chargers in my house as i have an iphone/ipad/headphones etc that all use some form of PD usb-c charging.

Does apple say that you need the 70w charger just because that is the one that they make and its needed to cover a whole lot of models of devices? or will a 65w charger likely allow for rapid charge with the magsafe plug?

I ask as I am rather confused to how the Power Delivery standard works. Now from what I have read that it's using multiple different voltages and amps to get to the different watts delivered. So like a 30w charger is limited to the 15v delivering at around 1.8amps. the maximum for the 15v delivery is 45w (15v @ 3a). But as soon as you get a bigger unit they jump to being able to deliver at 20V and have a maximum of 5amp to get up to 100w. So a 65w charger can do the max of 20v @ 3.25a where the 70w charger does 20v @ 3.5a.

The way the specification is written, the PD standard allows for the charger and the charging device to talk to each other and negotiate a charging speed. its not constant and allows for the charging device to regulate the power it gets for thermal and efficiency.

Has anyone tried charging a MBA with a 65w PD charger and does it fast charge (20v @ 2-3.x amps) or does it just default down the the slower 15v @ 2amps like the 35w charger works at?
 
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