Apple's 140W 16-inch MacBook Pro charger gets the teardown treatment
Peripherals company ChargerLab has taken apart Apple's first-ever GaN charger, the 140W one for the 16-inch MacBook Pro, and detailed every component sourced.
Do not do this at home
It was already known that Apple uses gallium nitride in its new 140W charger for the 16-inch, and that it was done to improve power delivery while keeping a small footprint. Now a teardown company has stripped a unit to uncover every detail of its construction and design.
ChargerLab, previously known for learning early that Apple would adopt a 96W USB-C power adaptor for the MacBook Pro in 2019, has listed every component.
The company concentrates on how this is the first time Apple has used GaN, and says that as Apple is an industry leader, it expects "more and more manufacturers" will use the technology.
The charger is Apple's first to employ gallium nitride, or GaN. GaN is a material that allows for higher voltage capacity and reduced energy loss due to heat, for example.
The efficiency of the material enables producers to create physically smaller chargers with similar capabilities to more conventional production methods. Apple's new charger also implements the USB-C Power Delivery 3.1 standard, making it cross-compatible with other hardware that adheres to the same standard.
For the 16-inch model, users can recharge using either MagSafe 3 or Thunderbolt 4, but the 140W fast charging capability of the new charger won't get hit unless the MagSafe port and Apple's charger are used together.
The new 140W charger is being sold as a separate purchase to the MacBook Pros, at $99. That price excludes the $49 USB-C to MagSafe cable.
Read on AppleInsider
Do not do this at home
It was already known that Apple uses gallium nitride in its new 140W charger for the 16-inch, and that it was done to improve power delivery while keeping a small footprint. Now a teardown company has stripped a unit to uncover every detail of its construction and design.
ChargerLab, previously known for learning early that Apple would adopt a 96W USB-C power adaptor for the MacBook Pro in 2019, has listed every component.
The company concentrates on how this is the first time Apple has used GaN, and says that as Apple is an industry leader, it expects "more and more manufacturers" will use the technology.
The charger is Apple's first to employ gallium nitride, or GaN. GaN is a material that allows for higher voltage capacity and reduced energy loss due to heat, for example.
The efficiency of the material enables producers to create physically smaller chargers with similar capabilities to more conventional production methods. Apple's new charger also implements the USB-C Power Delivery 3.1 standard, making it cross-compatible with other hardware that adheres to the same standard.
For the 16-inch model, users can recharge using either MagSafe 3 or Thunderbolt 4, but the 140W fast charging capability of the new charger won't get hit unless the MagSafe port and Apple's charger are used together.
The new 140W charger is being sold as a separate purchase to the MacBook Pros, at $99. That price excludes the $49 USB-C to MagSafe cable.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
2. Sort of… as I understand it, if your laptop has an active draw of say 60 watts, and you have a 30 watt charger installed, then instead of charging, you'll be actively draining your battery (albeit more slowly than if the laptop were fully unplugged. This negative-charging of the battery could potentially be damaging.
It is safe, as far as I know of, to charge your laptop with the iPad charger if it is asleep or turned off. So if you were traveling and wanted to bring the lighter, smaller, charger, and was only charging the laptop while you were sleeping overnight, no problem.
As for the teardown, I'm always impressed with Apple's engineering, how well their chargers are made and how much they pack in there. I think the charger probably has more processing power than my first computer did!
https://www.usb.org/usb-charger-pd
Anybody knows why max charging is not working via USB-C, only via the new MagSafe?