Comments on: You Can Use A MacBook Pro Power Adapter With a MacBook

By: Estêvão Soares

Estêvão Soares — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 03:27:04 +0000

Same as Rasmus Keldorff for me…

I was using my girlfriend 60W battery on my MBP… My battery started to charge only 96% and lasts (at best) 1 hour… after that 30min… 20min and now Its no longer working…

So, please, pay attention here.

DO NOT EVER CHARGE YOUR MACBOOK PRO WITH A 60W CHARGER

By: Markus

Markus — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:13:40 +0000

“Hopefully this will post get picked up by the search engines and the information will be helpful to others with the same question.”

just what it did. Thank you!

By: Rasmus Keldorff

Rasmus Keldorff — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:51:21 +0000

Just wanted to chime in to say I have similar experiences. I have an MBP at work, wife has an MB. I’ve been charging the MBP at home using her MB charger for around a year. We hadn’t noticed any ill effects as such, frankly we were not even aware that there could be a problem; However, in retrospect I can now affirm that doing this does **degrade** the battery life of the MBP significantly; my battery now lasts less than an hour. Also, we have recently noticed that the adapter and thin Magsafe lead run **very** hot to the touch, and have started to worry. I will be looking at buying an extra MBP charger for home use, and thinking about buying a new battery. I wish this information was more widespread so I wouldn’t have ruined the battery…

By: hadi

hadi — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 07:43:09 +0000

Useful info! got exactly the info that i need in this article of yours when i googled it! Thank you! still relevant til today! just got a new 13in macbook pro and want to use my old magsafe (85watt – from the first generation macbook pro!) adapter at the office, now that i know it is safe, i’m very happy not having to lug my adapter around with me from home to office

By: Stef

Stef — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 18:05:25 +0000

lol, I just came back from a trip with my new 15 inch macbook pro, and left the charger behind. I decided to make absolutely sure that my old 60 watt macbook charger would work fine (only concerned because I love the new 8 hour battery soooo much!), when I realised that I had mixed up my chargers, and that the charger that I left on said trip is actually the 60 watt, and has been charging my computer for a month! I think that my lack of issues (or really any noticable difference at all), serves to prove that mixing and matching chargers is fine, at least for a month!!

By: Marcus

Marcus — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:37:17 +0000

Hey thanks for this.

I’m about to change from a 15″ to a 13″ MBP, and I have an extra 85W adapter. The 13″ ships with a 60W adapter. I didn’t want to have to buy a whole new 60W adapter just because I’m switching to a smaller MBP, you know?

By: j2mac

j2mac — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:21:38 +0000

Thanks a bunch!

By: Alex

Alex — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 04:28:26 +0000

Yes you can, that is the whole point of this post. It is confirmed by the device specs as noted in the post.

By: John Moore

John Moore — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 01:53:42 +0000

You can’t use pro chargers with normal macbooks, pro chargers are between 75 and 85 watts, normal macbooks run bettween 45 and 60 watts!

By: Nudz

Nudz — Thu, 14 May 2009 00:34:35 +0000

Cheers guys you’ve collectively answered my questions!

By: simon

simon — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 01:25:22 +0000

I have a mbp, and have been taking it to work where I use a mb, and using the 60W charger between them. Since then I’ve noticed a CRAZY drop in my mbp battery life, and it’s now about 30% of max, and I haven’t been using the 60W charger for about a month. I’m going to try cycling my battery to see if it helps, but I’m afraid I’ll end up shelling out the $200 Canadian for the new battery

By: Ricky

Ricky — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:38:41 +0000

It did get picked up by a search engine! Thanks for the Info

By: Anne Jackson

Anne Jackson — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:10:52 +0000

Thanks for this. I had a new MPB adapter I had for my MPB, but recently traded it in and got a new MB. I left my 60 at work and have an 85 at home and so far so good.

By: PowerPC

PowerPC — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:13:20 +0000

The easiest answer is this.

This is an age-old question that has been confirmed and down in the record books. People had the same issues/questions for the PowerBook G4s. 45W adapter or 65W adapter?

The Titanium PowerBook G4 and the 12-inch PowerBook G4 (as well as iBook G4s) all used 45W adapters. The 15-inch and 17-inch PowerBooks used 65W adapters.

At the Apple Store, they stopped carrying the 45W adapter and replaced it with the 65W adapter which was compatible with all PowerBook G4s, whether they used the 65W or 45W adapter in the first place.

The ones rated for 45W, such as the 12-inch PowerBook, would only use as much as it needed from the 65W-rated supply. On the contrary, using a 45W adapter with a high-end machine, such as the 15-inch and 17-inch models (although it worked) was not recommended as it could possibly damage your machine. (Still, people used it anyway).

One example was the battery. Using a 45W adapter to charge a 15-inch PowerBook’s battery took much longer than when connected to the 65W one. Also, since it was rated lower but needed higher specs, it would put strain on the machine as it needed to work harder to get the juice it needed.

As for the MacBook and MacBook Pro equation, the same falls true. The only thing I can’t confirm is whether it will damage a MacBook Pro to use a 60W (or even the 45W made for the MacBook Air). I’ve read on the Apple Discussions forums that a 60W can run a MacBook Pro, but it will not charge the battery. Has to run plugged in all the time.

So if you had a 60W adapter at work, and your 85W as your carry all then you might be fine. Only thing? Both adapters cost the same price, so it really doesn’t matter. Best to get the one designed for your machine. (Unless of course, you were trying to save money and found a 60W adapter cheaper–say, on eBay or Craigslist–than a new 85W one).

By: Nefertiti

Nefertiti — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 02:38:41 +0000

I have a MBP and my husband has a MB. We got our cords mixed up a couple of weeks ago and had not noticed the difference in size or wattage until my MBP started having problems. It was really slow and never fully charged. Also no green or orange light when my MBP was plugged in. His machine was working fine. I discovered I was using the 60 Watt cord and now I find that my MBP will not fully charge. We’ve switched back but that doesn’t help. No matter how long it’s plugged in with it’s 85 W cord I can’t get more than a 96% charge. I think the 60 W cord wasn’t giving me sufficient power. I had used it for about two weeks before I figured out what was wrong.
Any suggestions?