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why does Apple bother with selling 3 different magsafe adapters?

B

bniu

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 21, 2010
1,128
314
The 85W, 60W, and 45W adapters are all $79 each and it is a well known fact (at least amongst geeks) that the 85W adapter is truly universal between all Apple Intel notebooks.

So since they're all the same price, why does Apple bother maintaining an inventory of all three when they could just sell a single 85W adapter? Wouldn't that simplify inventory alot? When I bought a few spare adapters to leave permanently plugged into various outlets around the house, I bought only 85 Watters so that I didn't have to worry about future compatibility whenever I would end up buying a big boy MBP...wouldn't having just a single power adapter simplify things for the consumer as well?
 
Perhaps they make more money on the lower watt adaptors even accounting for the extra costs in maintaining different items? If so, that in and of itself would be reason enough for them to do it.
 
Probably size as well. The 45w adapter for the MBA is significantly smaller and more appropriate for the size of the MBA when compared with the huge 85W clunker used in the MBPs.
 
Aboo said:
Probably size as well. The 45w adapter for the MBA is significantly smaller and more appropriate for the size of the MBA when compared with the huge 85W clunker used in the MBPs.
Click to expand...

I know I'd rather carry the smaller MBA adapter with me than the MBP version, especially when my Booq case arrives...I suppose if you have multiple notebooks though it'd be nice to grab the 85W and just use it among all of them though.
 
Having heard from people in the know on this one... While the 85W does work pretty reliably, there still is some concern it could zap a Macbook that expects a lower wattage. It also puts out more heat.

So, just to be on the safe side, they sell the lower end adaptors.
 
Aboo said:
Probably size as well. The 45w adapter for the MBA is significantly smaller and more appropriate for the size of the MBA when compared with the huge 85W clunker used in the MBPs.
Click to expand...


If you want to see a huge clunker take a look at the brick that HP supplies with some of their Elitebooks.
 
goMac said:
Having heard from people in the know on this one... While the 85W does work pretty reliably, there still is some concern it could zap a Macbook that expects a lower wattage. It also puts out more heat.
Click to expand...

first part: incorrect. Why would they sell a Thunderbolt display with a 85w adaptor built in if this was the case?

second part: I dunno. never paid attention to that part
 
goMac said:
Having heard from people in the know on this one... While the 85W does work pretty reliably, there still is some concern it could zap a Macbook that expects a lower wattage. It also puts out more heat.

So, just to be on the safe side, they sell the lower end adaptors.
Click to expand...
Not true.
Although you should always use the proper wattage adapter for your Apple portable, you can use an adapter of a higher wattage without issue.
Click to expand...
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2346
 
I'm still wondering why they sell a 85w adaptor for a computer that clearly demands more.

If I were an MBA user, I wouldn't want an adaptor that is larger than it absolutely needs to be so I guess that is why they have more than one.
 
ezramoore said:
Explain yourself.
Click to expand...

When I put my MBP in high load, sometimes it draw power from both adapter and battery. I don't know why that happens, but one can assume that drawing power from both means it requires more power that one can supply.
 
goMac said:
Having heard from people in the know on this one... While the 85W does work pretty reliably, there still is some concern it could zap a Macbook that expects a lower wattage. It also puts out more heat.

So, just to be on the safe side, they sell the lower end adaptors.
Click to expand...

Lol, someone hasn't heard of voltage limiters
 
vitzr said:
This link is dead.
Click to expand...
I just clicked it as quoted in your post. It works.
Gurutech said:
When I put my MBP in high load, sometimes it draw power from both adapter and battery. I don't know why that happens, but one can assume that drawing power from both means it requires more power that one can supply.
Click to expand...
This is true, but only occurs during periods of extreme power demands. For normal use, the 85w adapter is quite sufficient. Read the AC POWER section of the following link for details. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery/power/charging questions:
 
GGJstudios said:
I just clicked it as quoted in your post. It works.

This is true, but only occurs during periods of extreme power demands. For normal use, the 85w adapter is quite sufficient. Read the AC POWER section of the following link for details. This should answer most, if not all, of your battery/power/charging questions:
Click to expand...

I do not feel the same way. I transferred 150GB of files via ethernet several days ago. My battery discharged fully while performing this task. I plugged the machine into power and resumed the FTP transfer. Three hours later my battery had charged to only 7%.

Is a simple FTP transfer an example of "extreme power demand"? Probably not.
 
phyrexia said:
Is a simple FTP transfer an example of "extreme power demand"? Probably not.
Click to expand...
No, I wouldn't expect it to be. I suspect there's more involved here. Launch Activity Monitor and change "My Processes" at the top to "All Processes". Then look to see what other apps/processes may be consuming system resources.
 
phyrexia said:
I do not feel the same way. I transferred 150GB of files via ethernet several days ago. My battery discharged fully while performing this task. I plugged the machine into power and resumed the FTP transfer. Three hours later my battery had charged to only 7%.

Is a simple FTP transfer an example of "extreme power demand"? Probably not.
Click to expand...

no, it's not. in this case, I would look to see if there are other things causing load, or make sure that your charger and battery are both working properly.

Were your fans running loudly?
 
As I recall, the fans were running pretty well. I don't have a monitoring program for the fans (smcfancontrol, is it?)

However, I made a point to switch to integrated graphics and to close all running programs (I forgot my PSU at home that day). When I use this machine at school running only OpenOffice, I get about 6 hours of battery life, so I have not suspected the battery. Likewise, it doesn't feel like it takes a long time to charge if the laptop is sleeping, so I haven't suspected the AC adapter.

I know, for instance, that I cannot play StarCraft 2 indefinitely with discrete graphics and the laptop plugged in. But I was surprised by the ftp battery draw.

It was about 55,000 files spread over 150gb.
 
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