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Michael Evans3
Level 1 (56 points)
Notebooks

Q: Using MacBook Pro power unit for MacBook

I have a MacBook Pro with three PSUs--dotted around my various locations so I don't have to carry one. I'm about to buy an additional MacBook and realise that the PSUs have different wattages and are listed as incompatible. However, I can understand that the MacBook PSU is not beefy enough for the Pro, but can someone confirm that it is actually unsafe to use the higher-wattage Pro PSU to power the MacBook? If it is, I'll end up with six PSUs!

MacBook Pro 17 MacMini512 PowerBook 15, Mac OS X (10.4.7), Palm 750 phone with Win Mobile 5

Posted on Mar 12, 2007 5:41 AM

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Michael Evans3

Q: Using MacBook Pro power unit for MacBook

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  • by normnod,Helpful

    normnod normnod Mar 12, 2007 9:15 AM in response to Michael Evans3
    Level 4 (2,870 points)
    Mar 12, 2007 9:15 AM in response to Michael Evans3
    I'll answer this carefully because I'm not taking the blame but theorectically the answer is as follows;

    Because the computer attached to the PSU dictates the level of power required and not the other way round then it will be perfectly safe to use a higher wattage PSU than the supplied one.

    With the following provisos - that the pins are wired the same and the voltage (rather than the wattage) is the same

    At your own risk I'm afraid!

  • by edclange,

    edclange edclange Mar 12, 2007 6:03 PM in response to Michael Evans3
    Level 3 (921 points)
    Mar 12, 2007 6:03 PM in response to Michael Evans3
    I've watched guys at the Genius bar plug the larger MacBook Pro power supply into my MacBook.

    If anything, it might charge the battery a bit faster, but otherwise shouldn't make a difference. The "incompatible" part is that the smaller power supply wouldn't provide enough power to the hungrier machine.

  • by Michael Evans3,

    Michael Evans3 Michael Evans3 Mar 13, 2007 2:28 AM in response to edclange
    Level 1 (56 points)
    Notebooks
    Mar 13, 2007 2:28 AM in response to edclange
    Thanks for the helpful comments. It's interesting that Apple employees plug the 85w PSU into the MacBook. Logic tells me it should be ok but I don't suppose anyone (especially not Apple) would give a definite go ahead.