power

[bigshotprof]

can anyone tell me if the power adapters of the Macbook and the Macbook pro are swapable. The stats look the same, but I would hate to fry my new computer.

[guytheninja]

My experience with swapping DC Power supplies is:

1. You must have the same Power-supply-to-device plug.
2. The DC output voltage of both adapters must be the same. (this is the important one)
3. And the power output of the new adapter must be greater than equal to the power output of the old adapter.

Most of these DC Power Supplies have the output DC voltage (volts) and output DC max current (amps) info on the adapter itself. If you want to know the max power output, just multiply the voltage times the current (P=VI).

Example: Netgear Switch

Input: 100-120 VAC 50/60Hz 0.3A
Output: +7.5V ----- 1.0A

So this guy is producing 7.5 Watts of max DC output power.

[guytheninja]

Oh, and:

4. Make sure the polarities are the same. (This symbol should be on the adapters somewhere).

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/AC_adaptor_polarity.png/800px-AC_adaptor_polarity.png
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AC_adaptor_polarity.png

[tokenuser]

My experience with swapping DC Power supplies is <snip>All good advice, except he specifically said Macbook to Macbook Pro ... both of which use a MagSafe plug to connect the power brick to the laptop (why dont all manufacturers adopt this as a standard ... it just makes so much sense), so polarity is not an issue.

The plugpacks come in 60W (Macbook) and 85W (Macbook Pro) flavours.

The 85W version will work with a Macbook without any problems (people report that the 85W actually runs cooler on a MB).
The 60W version will work with a Macbook Pro to power the computer, but does not have enough juice to adequately charge the MBPs battery.

[phatlip]

All good advice, except he specifically said Macbook to Macbook Pro ... both of which use a MagSafe plug to connect the power brick to the laptop (why dont all manufacturers adopt this as a standard ... it just makes so much sense), so polarity is not an issue.

The plugpacks come in 60W (Macbook) and 85W (Macbook Pro) flavours.

The 85W version will work with a Macbook without any problems (people report that the 85W actually runs cooler on a MB).
The 60W version will work with a Macbook Pro to power the computer, but does not have enough juice to adequately charge the MBPs battery.

What Token said. Either will work, but your going to want to stick with what Apple recommends. They're both the same price anyway.

[guytheninja]

All good advice, except he specifically said Macbook to Macbook Pro ... both of which use a MagSafe plug to connect the power brick to the laptop (why dont all manufacturers adopt this as a standard ... it just makes so much sense), so polarity is not an issue.

The plugpacks come in 60W (Macbook) and 85W (Macbook Pro) flavours.

The 85W version will work with a Macbook without any problems (people report that the 85W actually runs cooler on a MB).
The 60W version will work with a Macbook Pro to power the computer, but does not have enough juice to adequately charge the MBPs battery.

Thats good to know. I've never seen polarity to be an issue btw.