Why MacBook Chargers Are So Big

If you used Apple's iPhone or iPad before purchasing your first MacBook, then you may’ve been surprised when unboxing its charger, which is much larger than other devices. The reasons why, has to do with Apple's decisions regarding power consumption, charging speed, heat, and design.

[Avadnjal]

The charger seems small when you look back at what laptop chargers used to be / still are on some laptops.

[fabrislemos]

If you think MacBook chargers are big, you never used a PC brick

[brwry]

Hang on, there is no way a 20w charger takes 10.5 hours to charge an iPad, it takes like 2 hours tops! 😂

[valdisgerasymiak]

Please don't say that 20W will charge in a day, and 30W will charge in 2h. It's ridiculous.
Good point that iphone mostly will be charged in sleep mode, while macbooks will be charged during operation on max power.

[riccardogiorgi]

I have a 30W charger that I use occasionally to charge my M1 Pro Mac when not in a rush and it definitely doesn’t take days (unless in use)

[lars]

10.5h * 20W/30W = 2h

With that kind of math you could construct submarines.

[stevee]

1:05 Damn, my iPad charges in like 2:30hrs with its 20W charger. I think going to 10.5 hours is just extreme, maybe with the 5w charger but definitely not with the 20w. Also when buying a Mac apple offers you either a 60/90w charger or a dual usb C 35w charger, and the Macs definitely doesn’t take entire days to charge with that 35w that’s for sure

[heyspookyboogie]

Fun fact: despite using less power with the phone off, it will charge slower than just standby / screen off since it can’t negotiate charging rate, etc.

[eugenn]

Actual reason for that: Apple hasn't discovered the GaN technology yet.

[TheStopwatchGod]

The iPhone charges at 27W
The iPad charges at 30-35W, or 20W for the iPad mini.
The MacBook chargers at 70-140W depending on the model.

[joelphilip]

Your numbers are wrong.
It won’t take 10 hours to charge an iPad and certainly won’t take days to charge a mac. I use a 20w for all my devices. Macs take about 10 hours or lesser. P.S. I use a low W adapter to increase battery lifespan

[clusterstage]

one day we will all have a Gigawatt charger. Only then will the term gigachad finally have justice.

[avakaipizza]

Well, the MacBook Air 13inch and 15inch have a 35W Dual USB C port compact power adapter which is small

Edit: 70W Power adapter is big but the same size as a 61W power adapter.

[jonny-]

Your charge times are way off, my 30W macbook air charger would not take days to charge a macbook pro

[BornBeWildOfficial]

Hello everyone, this is your 1/2monthly dose of apple 💀

[zahnbuerste]

Is this a joke? I use the 20 watt charger for my iPad Pro M1 and it takes less than 2 hours. It’s faster than my 13 Pro Max.

[aleksandarkikivideos]

Not true, iPads and new MacBooks are extremly power efficiant, I use 20w and 35w chargers for my MacBookPro14 and two iPad Pros, and they are charged pretty fast while using it. Yes, they are slower than 65w charger, but not that slower :) "10 hours of charging" and "days of charging" is extremly misleading...

[MegaMarian]

It's not mentioned, but newer 3rd party chargers use GaN (Gallium Nitride), which makes the charger smaller and more power-efficient. Meanwhile, Apple chargers still use conventional Silicon.

[SSubz]

I really didn’t think this needed to be explained, it’s just common sense, right?

[Glitchwave_Galaxy]

IDK know about you guys, but Apple Explained is the type of channel you forget about until like a year or two later when you realize it exists.