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brosenz

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Apr 26, 2011
344
90
The new MacBook Pro 16 M1 Pro/Max comes with a USB-C 140W Charger who uses PD 3.1 for rapid charging at 28V/5A. If I use an old 87W Apple Charger who will charge at PD 20V/4.3A, instead of 28V/5A, meaning slow charge, would that benefit the battery life long term?
 

Krevnik

macrumors 601
Sep 8, 2003
4,101
1,312
There are limits to how quickly you want to charge batteries, but historically, chargers provided with consumer electronics don’t get all that close to those limits.

1C was a good rule of thumb, and many LiPo batteries still recommend keeping charge rates at or below that, but it does depend on how the battery itself is spec’d, as 1C isn’t a hard rule with Lithium batteries. Without Apple giving us details, we don’t know the limits of the battery Apple uses.

However, while a 140W charger can technically exceed 1C on the 16” MBP, Apple’s statement is “50% in 30 minutes” for fast charge. This corresponds with a charge rate of 1C. What this means is that Apple’s using the charger to let you charge as close to 1C as possible, while also having a little headroom in the charger for the laptop itself. I wouldn’t be worried.
 

JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,544
26,168
I’d download temperature monitoring software to check the battery and compare the two adapters. Use the power adapter that results in the lowest battery pack temperature during charging.
 
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