I forgot my macbook pro charger at a friends place and I won't have it for a week. I saw that there are 3rd party chargers being sold for half the price of official chargers. Can 3rd party chargers damage my macbook pro? After I get my normal charger back in a week I will be mostly using that one and keep the new one as an extra, so I won't be using it fulltime.
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1Don't do it. Believe me, you'll be a lot better off with spending a little more and buying an official Apple charger.– RedEagle2000Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 17:13
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Why are the answers seeming to contradict? Because the question is too broad. There are many makers of chargers, and you didn't identify which you are asking about. Some are complete crap, some are excellent, and most are somewhere between.seeming to– WGroleauCommented Dec 18, 2019 at 17:05
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I have used 3rd-party chargers for my MacBook Pro 2018 (USB-C, 61W) in the UK with no problems. However, in e.g. India and Thailand, they work intermittently or not at all. Where the electricity supply is stable, a 3rd-party charger may be fine, but in places where the supply suffers from "brownouts" (low voltage) or surges, my MacBook refused to charge. It will try to protect itself, but to be sure, only an official charger will have the necessary circuitry to regulate the voltage and protect against surges. A surge protector might work, but why economise when you spent so much on your Mac?– drkvogelCommented Jan 15, 2020 at 9:44
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lifehacker.com/…– drkvogelCommented Jan 15, 2020 at 9:46
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7 Answers
It's unlikely they will actually damage your MacBook Pro by delivering too much power to it. But there are many cautionary tales to be found on the internet of third party chargers overheating, and occasionally catching fire or exploding. Technically, using a non-Apple charger without Apple's written permission may also void your warranty if anything did go wrong.
Personally, I wouldn't risk it.
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Exactly, I absolutely HATE 3rd-party chargers! I hear all too often about someone who bought a charger for 3¢ on eBay and it burns their house down. Always, always, ALWAYS buy official chargers. Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 17:23
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I've seen some scary hot running third party adapters. Luckily many of them are easily discovered to be of shoddy construction, but some that look absolutely genuine are also dangerous. Caveat emptor.– bmike ♦Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 20:11
Even an Apple charger can damage a Mac. It's far, far more rare since Apple tends to have superior QA and more motivation to make sure the adapter fails safely and fails before the computer would than the average knock off manufacturer is motivated by safety or adding cost for a margin of safety.
That being said, there are many good chargers that will work just fine. The main risk is fire from a poorly constructed transformer as opposed to down stream damage to your Mac since the magsafe port delivers between 3 V and 25 V DC it's not a huge amount of power or danger to life or hardware.
I own a 2017 13″ MacBook Pro, which came with an original 61W USB-C power adapter from Apple. After losing the adapter two weeks ago, I bought a PD2.0 adapter for 60W output from a Taiwanese company Acer for half the price of the original, and it works just fine so far! It charges the laptop quick and smooth, no sudden jumps and overheating as reported by @Kharski. Moreover, it's slightly lighter than the original adapter.
One note though: when buying a PD 2.0 adapter, make sure it can supply all the required power at 20V from a single port. For example, in my case I was looking for a 60W USB-C adapter. Therefore it must say something like this on the package:
USB-C Output: 5V⎓3A, 9V⎓3A, 12V⎓3A, 15V⎓3A, 20V⎓3A/Max 60W
Note that it can supply 3 ampere current at 20 volts, which gives 60 watt power at that voltage.
Beware of the adapters which provide less current per port. For example:
USB-C Output: 5V⎓2A, 9V⎓2A, 12V⎓2A, 15V⎓2A, 20V⎓2A/Max 40W
Total Output: 60W (max)
– this is bad! Because the adapter cannot provide all the necessary power through a single port.
UPD. Two years later, both my MacBook and Acer power supply still work together. No issues!
UPD2: I visited a Genius Bar and they told me that my battery is bloated. But I'm not sure if this was related to the power supply, because they offered me to change the battery for free. Apparently, it's a known issue for my model of MBP.
answered Nov 22, 2019 at 10:47
I can't comment yet so would just like to write two remarks, I own a chinese charger alongside my Apply one and:
the fan goes crazy when the battery is not at a 100% (I.. do hope it's not due potential software contained in the charger itself, yes I know it sounds crazy but I've heard that for USB cables)
I searched this topic cause my battery (not connected currently) just went from 33% to 43% (in two jumps), which I never noticed before.
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1Wha is your laptop model and what is the charger model? Commented Nov 22, 2019 at 10:23
After having two separate Apple chargers short out, I've bought third-party replacements (45W and 85W); and both have been working fine for a year or so. This includes using them in other countries with different plugs.
Some third-party products will be of lower quality, certainly, but nearly all of them should conform to various electrical standards. We all hear horror stories, but this is probably 0.001% of all units.
Yes it may hurt your battery, you need to be very careful when using 3rd party products. The charger needs to be compatible with your battery, check the information on it (input/output values - how many V and A), if they are the same as your original one then you shouldn't worry much. Still this doesn't guarantee that it won't damage the battery or the mac.
Try Nekteck PD 65W charger, it worked pretty good for me and it's certified by USB-IF. https://www.amazon.com/Nekteck-Certified-Delivery-PixelBook-Nintendo/dp/B0721KG2Q7
