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MareLuce

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Sep 26, 2010
1,156
494
Will the new iPad charger slowly charge my MBP? Or not at all?

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Your laptop needs requires an 87 Watt charger. https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MNF82LL/A/87w-usb-c-power-adapter
The 13" rMBP uses a 61 Watt charger. https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MRW22LL/A/61w-usb-c-power-adapter
The 12" rMB and MacBook Air takes a 30 Watt charger. https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MR2A2LL/A/30w-usb-c-power-adapter

Looking at that 30 Watt one's compatibility chart the new iPads will also use this 30 Watt charger.

So, no, you will not want to use that charger for your MacBook Pro. It won't be able to provide any where near enough power. While it may charge slowly, you'll definitely kill the charger. Maybe not immediately, but definitely over time.

A few years ago, friend had a 15" Magsafe 1 laptop and used the lower wattage 13" Magsafe 1 charger for it and it got incredibly hot all the time, charged slowly and sometimes didn't keep up with what he was doing on the laptop, and the charger died after about a year. Also, the cord got really soft and broke where it connected at the brick, due to the heat.

You *can* use your MacBook Pro charger for your new iPad, since it'll be capable of providing the necessary amperage to the iPad, but it won't be as efficient. Essentially, you'll waste power running a transformer that's bigger than you need. You won't hurt anything, but it'll be wasteful as far as your home electric bill and keeping the earth "green" goes.

This right here is my problem with the idea of "Hey, it's USB-C! It's universal". While the voltages are all consistent, you still need an understanding of power requirements to know whether it'll produce an adequate amount of amperage for the device.
 
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You *can* use your MacBook Pro charger for your new iPad, since it'll be capable of providing the necessary amperage to the iPad, but it won't be as efficient. Essentially, you'll waste power running a transformer that's bigger than you need. You won't hurt anything, but it'll be wasteful as far as your home electric bill and keeping the earth "green" goes.

That's not how modern switch mode power supplies work, if anything they waste less electricity running a small load than a smaller power supply running near full capacity.
 
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