Hacker News Reader

Comment by gnaddel | Hacker News Reader

I have become extremely weary of buying Microsoft hardware products. I was (and am) very happy with my Surface Pro 2. Recently, my power supply broke after two years of use, perfectly fine in my book, it happens. However, Microsoft has stopped selling replacement parts after less than three years. I did not find any vendor in Germany that could still deliver. I got lucky and found _one_ seller in the UK. There are some third party copies of the adapter, but due to the proprietary connector they are rare and reviews are abysmal.

View on HN

For all the complaints about Apple dropping magsafe, I'm happy to finally have industry standard charging. Brick is easily replacable. Cable is easily replacable. Should work with any new computer, or even to cell phones and tablets (with a C to Lightning cable if you're an iPhone person).

Apple made a similar switch from one proprietary charging connector (magsafe 1) to another proprietary connector (magsafe 2) and it's a compatibility hassle between computers. For Surfaces it's an even bigger mess, because like you said, MS doesn't make them anymore. A coworker of mine had the same situation with a Surface Pro 1. Computer still works fine, but the power cord died, and good luck getting a replacement quickly. If you do find a 3rd party version, good luck with not burning your house down.

Unfortunately, form factor (USB-C) is standardizing but internal wire connections/characteristic aren't, so we are going to an irrecognizable mess of cables looking the same way but some working, some not working and some bonus ones frying our machines.

>> I'm happy to finally have industry standard charging.

Real question to people in the know - is this truly the case?

I get that the port is industry standard, but are there electrical protections put in place?

If I use a 100W non-Apple charger on a MacBook Pro that uses a 63W charger will it damage the battery? Will a USB-C phone charger (with presumably very low wattage) work as well (albeit slower)?

While I really like that TB/USB3 ports are standard, it is incredibly confusing to laypeople with respect to understanding all the nuances.

Apple's official note says "You should not connect any power supply that exceeds 100W, as it might damage your Mac." [1]

This is the maximum wattage allowed under the USB Power Delivery spec [2], so any USB-C power supply should work. Maximum voltage/current is negotiated between the supply, cable, and computer, which should select the highest amount supported by all parts of the system.

If you're using a cheap 3rd-party charger that doesn't follow the spec and decides it's going to tell the computer "I support 100W, let's do that!" and then jacks up the voltage beyond the USB power delivery limits, then yeah, expect to have problems.

The problem that I actually imagine happening is people getting a 20W rated cable with their cell phone, trying to power their computer through it, and wondering why the battery continues to drain.

[1] https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207256

[2] http://www.usb.org/developers/powerdelivery/

Magsafe is also easily replaced with a BreakSafe power cable from Griffin: https://griffintechnology.com/us/breaksafe-magnetic-usb-c-po...

I'm transitioning all of my hardware over to charging on USB-C and it's great. Both my laptop (HP Chromebook 13") and phone (Nexus 6p) charge via USB-C, and I just went on my first trip in which I only had to bring a single, small charger. It's super convenient, and because it's becoming the de facto standard, I never have to worry about replacement chargers.

It'd be hard for me to buy anything that uses a proprietary charger ever again. This includes iPhones and Surface Books. And I've already committed to not buying anything that uses older versions of USB either -- it's all C for me.

Chargers on modern laptops don't seem to last as long. The cables are definitely "slimmer" and more prone to fraying/breaking.

My SP2 charger cable frayed near the power brick and I ended up just ripping the whole thing apart, cutting the cable & resoldering it. The enclosure was replaced with an off-the-shelf one. Looks ugly, but I didn't want to pay 100NZD for a third-party replacement.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com