This year’s MacBook Pro comes with a new gallium nitride (GaN) charger that can do blazing fast charging speeds up to 140W and is even USB-C Power Delivery 3.1 compliant. While it’s already included with the new 16-inch MacBook Pro that starts at RM10,799, it can also be purchased separately for RM399 along with the Type-C to MagSafe 3 charging cable for RM189.
Apple confirmed to The Verge that this is the company’s first power brick that uses GaN technology. GaN is a material that makes far better semiconductors than traditional silicon, allowing companies to design faster chargers at relatively smaller sizes.
PD 3.1 is a relatively new standard announced back in May that exceeds the previous cap of 100W and can go up to 240W using USB Type-C. The adoption means that the new Apple charger can charge other devices and it also means that 16-inch MBP owners can use third-party compatible chargers to fast charge.
Unfortunately, 14-inch MBP owners will only receive a 67W charger for the base M1 Pro 8-core variant and 96W for the other variants. Apple says that any of the Thunderbolt 4 ports can be used for fast charging on the 14-inch, but the bigger MBP can only fast charge using MagSafe 3 and the 140W adapter. This is due to the fact that the Thunderbolt 4 predates PD 3.1 and has a lower power cap.
If you think this new charging brick is a bit overpriced, it might help to put it into perspective knowing that Apple did a surprise drop for a RM99 polishing cloth. The tech giant doesn’t exactly specify the material, saying that it’s made out of “soft, non-abrasive material” and can be used to clean nano-texture glass — like the one that can be found on the Pro Display XDR — safely.
(Source: The Verge)
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