Power supplies

[sp3ctre]

I see the 2018 MBP’s have a new design power supply. Has anyone noticed any difference in use?

I want to buy a spare supply for another room and just wondering if it makes a difference whether I get the new one, an older one, or a 3rd party power supply.

Any experiences with 3rd party power supplies?

 

[Lennyvalentin]

Apple ones tend to be well made but expensive. As recent MBPs use USB3 power delivery for charging you're no longer constrained to a proprietary magsafe plug, so any USB3 PD power supply capable of delivering sufficient wattage for your 2016 onwards MBP should work. Theoretically - I can't guarantee anything of course...

 

[sp3ctre]

Apple ones tend to be well made but expensive. As recent MBPs use USB3 power delivery for charging you're no longer constrained to a proprietary magsafe plug, so any USB3 PD power supply capable of delivering sufficient wattage for your 2016 onwards MBP should work. Theoretically - I can't guarantee anything of course...

Yeah, that’s what I thought. Had a nightmare with fragile Apple power supplies over the years so interested to see if there are any reliable 3rd party ones.

 

[laz232]

Yeah, that’s what I thought. Had a nightmare with fragile Apple power supplies over the years so interested to see if there are any reliable 3rd party ones.

My two cents:
The insides of the Apple supplies tend to be very well designed, but their cords are very weak / bad design.


Source: am electronic engineer that does circuit design and deals with DfM issues.

 

[Newtons Apple]

My two cents:
The insides of the Apple supplies tend to be very well designed, but their cords are very weak / bad design.


Source: am electronic engineer that does circuit design and deals with DfM issues.

I have never have an Apple cable go bad but the good thing about the 87watt charger is that the cable unplugs so the cable can be replaced if needed. The charging cable seems to be quite robust in construction.

 

[Lennyvalentin]

Had a nightmare with fragile Apple power supplies over the years so interested to see if there are any reliable 3rd party ones.

All of my Apple cables have lasted until I got rid of it for other reasons (like with the 30-pin connector on iphone 4, for example.) Just avoid kinking the cable or twisting it. When you need to roll it up don't use the fold-out cable holder found on some of Apple's power bricks, instead just let the cable fall into a natural lazy loop maybe 15-20cm in diameter or so. With care it will last essentially forever.

 

[leman]

Yeah, that’s what I thought. Had a nightmare with fragile Apple power supplies over the years so interested to see if there are any reliable 3rd party ones.

The major problem with Apple power supplies before 2016 was the charging cable (breaks easily). This has been fixed with the USB-C power supplies, since the cabe is now much sturdier and also detachable. All in all, you'd have hard time finding a power supply that matches Apple's in quality.