MacBook and MacBook Pro power adapters cross compatible?

Greetings~!
I have a MBP, and I just bought my girlfriend a MacBook for her B-Day.
I realize there is a wattage difference between the two power adapters. The MBP is 85watts and the MB is 60watts.
So... to me, I could use the 85watt power adapter to charge the MacBook... but not the other way around.
Has anyone experienced using any other power adapter with the MacBook?

I'm sorry I can't find the reference article for this but I remember reading that as long as the batteries are present you are fine either way, noting that the MBP hooked to a 60 W supply will take a little longer to charge than you are used to with the 85. However, I'm pretty sure it also said you could see problems in the unlikely scenario that you had the 60 W connected to a MBP with no battery present. In that case the MBP would be asking for up to 85 but only getting 60. I don't know enough about it to be able to say that would actually be a problem.

Similar Messages

Macbook and Macbook Pro Power Adapters

Is it safe to use a Macbook Pro power adapter in a Macbook and vice versa?
I have just noticed that the MBP's adapter is 85 watts and the MB's is 60 watts. I hadn't realised they were different.
My wife and I share each others adapters all the time (she has a Macbook). Will this be damaging either of the laptops?

Shouldn't cause any problems. The main issue will be that the 60w adapter won't provide enough juice to both charge the MBP battery and run it if there is much of a load so I'd avoid using the 60w on the MBP for anything other than charging the battery whilst not using the machine - sudden power shortage could be painful for the machine.
Best of luck.

Macbook Pro power adapters and signal voltage

Hi all
I'm looking for fairly technical details about how a Macbook interacts with it's power adapter.
My theory:
If wikipedia is anything to go by, when a Macbook power adapter is "on" but there is on load (no place to the send power, a.k.a the adapter is not connected to a device or the device isn't excepting power) the power adapter produces a single voltage of 6.86 volts (a fraction of the 16.5v or the 18.5v that is possible) that can inform a Macbook that a power adapter is available to draw from.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagSafe#Pinout
From further observations of my Macbook Pro the charge indicator LED on the magsafe connector, when the power adapter is connected and the signal voltage is established as available, the power management within the Macbook Pro "thinks" for a moment and decides how much power it should draw from the power adapter.
The issue:
I figure that my theory is well reasoned but will more proof before I considered any off it fact.
The most direct way to confirm my theory is to cut up a Macbook pro adapter and start testing. Yet getting and modifying a Macbook adapter to be a test subject costs time and money and asking the web for answers is cheaper on both accounts.
Questions:
Macbook adapters produced fixed voltages? Either signal voltage (6.86v ?) or operating voltage (18.5v or 16.5v depending on adapter model)? They don't produced a range of voltages?
Is the signal voltage really 6.86 volts? How many amps or milliamps of signal voltage is needed from the power adapter for the Macbook to consider the adapter as "good" to draw from?
Allen

Shouldn't cause any problems. The main issue will be that the 60w adapter won't provide enough juice to both charge the MBP battery and run it if there is much of a load so I'd avoid using the 60w on the MBP for anything other than charging the battery whilst not using the machine - sudden power shortage could be painful for the machine.
Best of luck.

MacBook Pro power adapters dying, keys frying, mysterious heat problem

I've got a very frustrating and mysterious major situation going on with my MBPro. I'm living in Peru in the jungle. I've got a basic electric hookup that's caused no problems for the few electrical devices I've got: small dorm-size fridge, a lightbulb, speaker system, iPhone, iPod, and, until recently a MacBook I had borrowed temporarily from a friend here. I recently visited the states and returned with my MacBook Pro which I need for work down here. Thusly my troubles began.
I noticed pretty quickly the power adapter got super hot, could easily fry an egg on it sometimes. One night I unplugged the Magsafe adapter from the MBP for safekeeping, slept, and in the a.m., the adapter (unplugged from the Mac but still plugged into the wall outlet) was terribly hot. Does this make any sense? It gets stranger & worse...
I used the Mac later that day and within a couple hours two of the keyboard keys stopped working for good (I was later able to remap these keys using a 3rd party program). The next day the Magsafe adapter stopped working. Certainly heat had something to do with it, despite the fact that MagSafes have built-in safeguards whereby they (should) shut down temporarily if overheated. But this sucker was dead.
A friend from the states visited me 3 weeks later and brought two more adapters ordered from Amazon.com, each a different generic brand that had good customer reviews.
The first, which looks just like a MagSafe, worked fine but died in a week. Again, it would get superhot not even plugged into the MBP (like the other one). I should note the MBP also was always hot to super hot. Also the large plastic square power hub of the adapter, even after it died, would get hot if plugged in, it just wouldn't power the Mac.
The other (3rd) adapter worked for awhile, and its rectangular power bar hub would only get a little hot. But the Mac would still get insanely hot, as did the very top of the adapter plug - the part with the teeth that go into the MBP. Within 2 weeks, the adapter wouldn't work unless I applied pressure on it against the Mac. Then it stopped working even with pressure applied.
Here's where it gets even stranger:
What I noticed was that the two outermost of the five teeth on the plug had been somehow pushed further in, such that they couldn't make contact with the MBP (I guess the pressure I was manually applying helped this for awhile until the teeth sank even much further in). How and why in the world did this happen?
Desperate, I brought the two adapters to an electrician, and had him combine the good teeth end piece from the previous generic Magsafe with the adapter whose teeth caved in. Viola, it worked...but just for three days. Amazingly the two outer teeth of the new hybrid plug ALSO retreated and couldn't make contact. Furthermore, I noticed some dried plastic juice gunk around them and concluded that the heat of the connection to the Mac was somehow mysteriously melting the glue around these teeth and also causing them to push further into the adapter more. I know: sounds almost impossible. But this is what happened, TWICE.
Obviously there is an overall problem here, one which concerns heat, among whatever else. It's hot here in the jungle. While my other appliances have had no problem, I've certainly noticed the fridge and speaker subwoofer system run hot. But the electricity reading is normal, and I have a current regulator stabilizing the electrical flow. And the previous MacBook (not Pro) had no problems. And yes the fans on the MBP work. And in general the electricity here works fine to run people's electronics, including some very large freezer units and plasma TVs.
I'm at a loss as to what to do and to how to identify the problem beyond "heat". If I don't get the MBP working normally I can, in effect, no longer be here as it's essential to my work. Therefore any help would be most awesome and greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Oglethorpe,
I do have a current regulator or "stabilazador" here. The LED changes often from green (normal) to yellow (low). I don't understand why it indicates these changes in voltage if it's its job to stabilize them anyway. But anyway I bought it on suggestion amidst this crisis but it hasn't helped none, and even it gets hot sometimes, even when nothings plugged into it.
These generic adapters I bought both had a plethora of rather detailed good reviews (and a few bad) that seemed beyond the ambitions of counterfeiters.
In any case, I'm pretty sure the adopters are not at issue within my problem here. I'm starting to really think the electrical hookup is at fault, but thanks much for your input.

MacBook Pro power adapters dying, keys frying, strange heat problem

I've got a very frustrating and mysterious major situation going on with my MBPro. I'm living in Peru in the jungle. I've got a basic electric hookup that's caused no problems for the few electrical devices I've got: small dorm-size fridge, a lightbulb, speaker system, iPhone, iPod, and, until recently a MacBook I had borrowed temporarily from a friend here. I recently visited the states and returned with my MacBook Pro which I need for work down here. Thusly my troubles began.
I noticed pretty quickly the power adapter got super hot, could easily fry an egg on it sometimes. One night I unplugged the Magsafe adapter from the MBP for safekeeping, slept, and in the a.m., the adapter (unplugged from the Mac but still plugged into the wall outlet) was terribly hot. Does this make any sense? It gets stranger & worse...
I used the Mac later that day and within a couple hours two of the keyboard keys stopped working for good (I was later able to remap these keys using a 3rd party program). The next day the Magsafe adapter stopped working. Certainly heat had something to do with it, despite the fact that MagSafes have built-in safeguards whereby they (should) shut down temporarily if overheated. But this sucker was dead.
A friend from the states visited me 3 weeks later and brought two more adapters ordered from Amazon.com, each a different generic brand that had good customer reviews.
The first, which looks just like a MagSafe, worked fine but died in a week. Again, it would get superhot not even plugged into the MBP (like the other one). I should note the MBP also was always hot to super hot. Also the large plastic square power hub of the adapter, even after it died, would get hot if plugged in, it just wouldn't power the Mac.
The other (3rd) adapter worked for awhile, and its rectangular power bar hub would only get a little hot. But the Mac would still get insanely hot, as did the very top of the adapter plug - the part with the teeth that go into the MBP. Within 2 weeks, the adapter wouldn't work unless I applied pressure on it against the Mac. Then it stopped working even with pressure applied.
Here's where it gets even stranger:
What I noticed was that the two outermost of the five teeth on the plug had been somehow pushed further in, such that they couldn't make contact with the MBP (I guess the pressure I was manually applying helped this for awhile until the teeth sank even much further in). How and why in the world did this happen?
Desperate, I brought the two adapters to an electrician, and had him combine the good teeth end piece from the previous generic Magsafe with the adapter whose teeth caved in. Viola, it worked...but just for three days. Amazingly the two outer teeth of the new hybrid plug ALSO retreated and couldn't make contact. Furthermore, I noticed some dried plastic juice gunk around them and concluded that the heat of the connection to the Mac was somehow mysteriously melting the glue around these teeth and also causing them to push further into the adapter more. I know: sounds almost impossible. But this is what happened, TWICE.
Obviously there is an overall problem here, one which concerns heat, among whatever else. It's hot here in the jungle. While my other appliances have had no problem, I've certainly noticed the fridge and speaker subwoofer system run hot. But the electricity reading is normal, and I have a current regulator stabilizing the electrical flow. And the previous MacBook (not Pro) had no problems. And yes the fans on the MBP work. And in general the electricity here works fine to run people's electronics, including some very large freezer units and plasma TVs.
I'm at a loss as to what to do and to how to identify the problem beyond "heat". If I don't get the MBP working normally I can, in effect, no longer be here as it's essential to my work. Therefore any help would be most awesome and greatly appreciated. Thanks.

1) Make sure you have the right adapter type for your model of MacBook. There are 45w, 60w, and 85w adapters. Pro's either take the 60 or 85 watt.
2) Most 3rd party adapters I have tried are junk, junk, junk. They quit working, have melted, have fried my macbook, and even caught on fire.
Now what it sounds like to me is maybe your are having an issue with a loose magsafe board. This was a big problem with the white macbooks( I realize that is not what yours is). The MagSafe board (part where your charger plugs into the computer) gets pushed in ever so slightly and if the connection between your adapter and the board is not precise it can cause issues of anything from overcharging and shutting off the adapter, overheating, damaging your Magsafe board, and making the adapter useless. The best way to tell if it is this is if you have to wiggle your adapter to get it to charge correctly. (Note I have never seen the happen with the T-shaped MagSafe 1.0 but I wouldn't doubt it, but I know it happens with the MagSafe 2.0 L shaped adapters.)

Macbook pro power adapters

Is it safe to use any of the 3rd party chargers instead of the $79 Apple model?? Some of these are 1/2 the price or less

Mmm.
I must say that I've never been fond of either cheap chargers or cheap batteries.
An underpowered or badly made battery charger/power adaptor can all too easily end up suffering a meltdown and causing a fire. If you feel compelled to get one make sure it has a substantial amount of "excess capacity" - say an 85W model if your MBP currently uses a 60W adaptor or a 100W model if your MBP currently uses an 85W one. The figures actually quoted for the very cheap ones are likely to be overstated.
Lithium batteries fall into the same boat. There are certainly some very good "third party" batteries out there for the early MBPs from companies like Newer technology (and in some cases they are probably better than the original, as well as being a little cheaper), but I'd be very cautious about the el super cheapo lithium batteries that you can buy over the net. Badly made lithium batteries, like badly made chargers, can all too readily become an incendiary nightmare.
If cost is a real problem, then I'd be looking at something like the refurbished models sold by OWC as a safer bet. Poikkeus's suggestion of looking for genuine chargers on eBay is worth pursuing too, as long as you can be sure they are genuine.
Cheers
Rod

I plugged in my macbook pro power adapter and heard a loud bang. I checked the charger by opening it and found out the charger blew the whole mother board up. So i buy another charger, as i live in Egypt, that blew up the same way, please help.

I plugged in my macbook pro power adapter and heard a loud bang. I checked the charger by opening it and found out the charger blew the whole mother board up. So i buy another charger, as i live in Egypt, that blew up the same way, please help.

You'll certainly need a new logic board.
If I were you, I would take the machine into your local Apple Store or an AASP and have them evaluate the problems and give you an estimate for repair. If you're out of warranty, be prepared to pay a very high price to get your computer repaired.
Good luck,
Clinton

Macbook Pro power supply and grounding.

Hey Apple people. I noticed something disconcerting with the power supply on my MacBook Pro 13" (non-retina)
I have a stainless steel metal table in my kitchen. It is the same type of stainless steel table you find in restaurants.
I have my 13" MacBook Pro in a Speck See-thru case.
The MacBook Pro in it's case is sitting on a Rain Design "M Stand".
The Rain Design "M Stand" is sitting on the stainless steel table.
I am wearing a short sleeve shirt.
I am sitting on a fabric covered chair at the table.
The battery was getting low so I got out my power supply, which is the power brick with the two prong plug adapter.
I plugged this into a power strip and the other end into the computer.
While touching the case of the computer with one hand and leaning on the stainless steel table with my other bare arm. I felt a vibration through the fingers that were in contact with the MacBook Pro. I knew what was going on, and I got really concerned.
I tried an experiment.
I got out the extension cord that came with the MacBook Pro power supply and I changed out the two prong plug on the power supply for the extension cord. The extension cord has a grounding post.
When I plugged the power supply back into the power strip and connected the power supply to the MacBook Pro. I no longer felt a vibrating sensation when I was in contact with the stainless steel table and the computer.
I have other MacBook Pro power supplies and I always use the grounded extension cable with them, because it is located at my regular workstation area. This stainless steel table is located in my kitchen, and I was eating dinner and watching YouTube videos.
Just thought you would like to all know that when you don't use the grounded cable on your MacBook Pro. you become the ground.
Never using this power supply anywhere again without the grounded cable.
Thank you for your time.
Matthew Sievert

It depends on what you are doing. Yes, the power supply can get hot. This is normal.

Using Macbook Pro Power Adapter on a Macbook

I have a Macbook Pro and someone else in my family has a Macbook. Recently they misplaced their power adapter and started borrowing mine to use until theirs was found. I was uneasy about it, but it seemed to work okay. I know that the adapters are slightly different but will it hurt the Macbook to use a Macbook Pro power supply?

It's fine. The MB will only draw the power it needs. FYI, the MBP adapter is 85 W, the MB's is 60 W.
Hope this helps...

A macbook pro g4 would be compatible for the boot camp

a macbook pro g4 would be compatible for the boot camp

I think it depends on the OSX version. Leopard (10.5) has the first bootcamp software and is compatible with a G4 most of the time. The problem is that you cannot install windows on a G4. You would probably have to bootcamp linux or something like that. A non- intel mac will not allow you to install windows via bootcamp. Only a VM solution compatible with the G4 could allow you to run XP as a virtual machine. It would be far slower than a bootcamp install.

Can you use a Macbook Pro power connector on a Mac Air?

Can you use a Macbook Pro power supply on a Mac Air?

Here's where Apple says it's ok too.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2346

Does the macbook pro power supply draw power if the computer isn't plugged in

does the macbook pro power supply draw power if the computer isn't plugged in?

Same thng for your entire house: called "vampire loads" ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standby_power

My macbook pro power adaptor getting heated

Hi
My macbook pro power adaptor getting heated & ultimately melting the coil which leads to power off.
Is there any solution for that.

我刚刚尝试了一下，我的电源适配器也好热！但是不至于融化的温度，可以尝试换一个吧。
I just have a try, I find my power adapter is very hot! But it is not the melting temperature.U can try to change another.

Macbook pro power adapter very hot- stopped working

a few days ago I noticed my macbook pro power adapter was running very hot. Yesterday it stopped charging.   I switched the power cord 1/2 with 2nd one I had… it works but the adapter is running very hot. do I need new adapter/power cord since my original cord is no longer working.
suggestions please.
JGCub

   Reset SMC.     http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964
   Choose the method for:
   "Resetting SMC on portables with a battery you should not remove on your own".
If this does not help, contact Apple.
Genius Bar reservation
http://www.apple.com/retail/geniusbar/

MacBook Pro Power Management Issues and "Broken" Bootcamp

This is not a question but rather a solution I have discovered to a problem I have experienced many times now.
My Core 2 Duo 15" MacBook Pro (non-LED version) has exhibited several issues with the systems power management hardware.
Firstly: Occasionally the system will refuse to turn on. This has happened to me twice, it usually happens when I am running on just batteries. The very first time it happened I was in a meeting and had important data I had to get from the laptop, I was silently panicking. After swearing at my new 2.5 grand pride and joy, I happened to read an old support article relating to older PowerBooks which exhibited the same problems. Apple recommended taking the battery out and then holding the power button for several seconds and then reinserting the battery. This apparently resets the power management hardware feature -- and it worked, and has worked three times since.
Secondly: I have had a persistent problem when running Bootcamp. Sometimes the machine doesn’t go to sleep properly and although it everything looks right it continues to run (and perhaps, like me, you’ve backed it away in your bag and hence didnt notice it burning up. What has happened to me several times is that it literally "breaks" Windows XP. When you wake the computer or turn it back on (if the battery drained) then youll find Windows running PAINFULLY slow. If you press CTRL-ALT-DELETE (to bring up the task manager) I would see that the CPU is working very hard (at nearly full utilization) and it is so occupied that it won’t respond to anything I do at all. No matter what I did (I attempted a system restore, which was a two hour task with the computer running in its "broken" state) nothing would bring windows back to life. The first two times this occurred I was devastated because the only thing left for me to try was to remove the windows partition and install it fresh (thus losing all my files and settings -- although for the record you can still access the windows partitions files through Mac OS X). This ruined a near full day for me each time the computer did this (having a lot of settings and tweaks and installed programs to reapply). The third time this happened I did the "trick" listed above and reset the MacBook Pro's power management hardware. this has solved the problem ever since (two additional times now). I post this in case someone experiencing the same issue searches the forum.
I dont know the technical explanation but obviously there is an issue within this series of MacBook Pro's power management. Perhaps it relates to the "artificial" BIOS the system presents to windows through Apple's EFI system (Windows requires legacy BIOS to operate and all Intel Macs alternatively use EFI, so an extra "trick" had to be added by Apple for Windows to be compatible).

The computer. If two different batteries behave the same way it gives credence to possible issues with the power manager. You can try resetting it with:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303319
And verifying the firmware is up to date:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303880
And running the hardware test:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303081
If nothing seems to help, call AppleCare again, and tell them the battery replacement did not solve the problem and that you tried the above and tell them the results you got.

MacBook and MacBook Pro power adapters cross compatible?

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