MBP 16 battery drain under load

[mario-64]

I noticed that the new 16" MBP power adapter is smaller than the battery (96W vs 100W). Does this mean that under load the battery will drain even when plugged in?

 

[The Mercurian]

Wow. That is a good question. Tagging myself in here to see replies from whoever can test this.

 

[leman]

That’s not how electricity works. Also, the battery is not 100W, it’s 100 Watt-hours.

 

[bsbeamer]

This overview might be helpful:

WHAT IS A WATT HOUR?

By Martin Camacho As you may have noticed, we use Watt Hours to explain the capacity of most of our products. For many of us, a Watt Hour isn’t something all that familiar. So, here’s a brief explanation of what it is. A Watt Hour is a unit of measurement for power over a period of time (an...

www.goalzero.com

This thread may also be helpful:

Battery Wattage vs. Charger Wattage

Why is it that the battery wattage is higher than that of the charger for some MacBook models. 1) Would the computer charge faster if you were to use a higher wattage charger? 2) Would the charger not overheat, since its not constantly working at full load? Note: In terms of physical...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[mario-64]

Thanks for the responses. I'm no electrician so at face value this seemed confusing. I was hoping it wasn't like the last Surface Laptop where it would drain under load even when plugged in because the power adapter was too weak

 

[MengkeMary]

100Wh is the capacity of battery, while 96W is the power.

An analogy is distance "100 km" vs "96 km/h". They are different physical quantities that should not be compared together. Even a 20W phone charger can charge the battery, albeit very slow. What you should worry about is the peak power of CPU + GPU: if it's more than 96W, then for sure you cannot charge your laptop when it's in full load.