Why laptop chargers so bulkier than phone charger while providing less wattage?
Btw both are type C. And of latest laptop and phone.
So why such differences?
Are laptops makers being lazy to design smaller chargers? Or there are things I am missing
PC
21 Comments
I assume that there are more volts in the laptop block. After all, in Typ It seems like it can output up to 19 V. After all, there is a chip there and it increases and decreases the voltage. This is just my guess, we need to wait for the answer from the masters.
It’s mostly a cost thing , a lot of the smaller chargers use Gallium nitride instead of silicon which is more expensive
LOL my 320W charger weights the same as my laptop.. it’s disgusting XD
Old vs new technology. Newer GAN chargers are much more powerful for their size, as they’re more efficient.
Here’s an article that explains better than I could https://gizmodo.com.au/2024/07/what-is-gan-charging/
One costs like $1 to make, the other perhaps $5.
I mean I don’t know exact costs but that’s basically what it comes down to, plus the Dell charger is basically like a decade or two old for design and there just isn’t a huge need to change for budget laptops.
Technologies also go forward, stuff become more effecient et Gallium is used i a lot of charger now
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If it isn’t broken, you don’t fix it. The charger designed for laptops works as expected, gets thrown in and out of bags, on the floor, against walls and it still works. Phone chargers don’t get treated so harshly, unless you want them to stop working or malfunction and overcharge your phone, frying it. Plus, it’s probably a cost cutting measure on the part of the laptop makers.
Depends on the brand but the longer cable with slimmer plug is better for office or table use. Tskes less space up in the socket, so that you can use neighbouring sockets as well. But my huawei laptop charger looks like the one on your right
My 180W laptop charger is smaller than my 3X60W phone charger, so that’s not a universal trend.
A 240 watt car charger
Gallium Nitride transistors.
Other than the smaller phone chager probably using a newer more expensive design, the laptop is not strickly a charger. It can directly sustain the power output for longer times and handle higher transient load spikes simultainiously.
pretty sure they trying to zap phone batteries at this point so people end up buying a replacement each year. It’s crazy.
The one on the right is more expensive to make.
Best guess is that the added cost of manufacturing and R&D to be able to cool a smaller block is worth it in phones, where people will really notice and be more inconvenienced by a block as big and heavy as a laptop charger when carrying it, while for a laptop it’s way more accepted to have heavier bricks in the middle of the wire.
It also leaves more room for components able to reliably provide the higher voltages, and withstand the transient power spikes happening when having a GPU at max load if it has one.
Capacitor size. Also, Dell probably cares more about heat dissipation.
Guys do you know what is Volt, the phone charger is responsible to provide 5v or 5 volts, the laptop charger needs to provide 19v 19 volts is almost 4 times of phone one.
Initially I thought it was to do with the phone charger being higher wattage but lower current, this can be achieved if it runs at a higher voltage. After some googling this is not the case. Best figuring, the phone charger outputs a maximum of 6A, while the laptop charger a little over 3.
Given that, my next best guess is a combination of cost and quality/safety.
Generally, making electronics smaller is more expensive.
The other way it can be done for less expense is to compromise on quality and safety, remove some protection circuits, reduce the size of the gap between the AC side and DC side, etc etc.
For a laptop charger, people will generally accept its a fairly bulky item. When a laptop is taken anywhere, its usually done in a bag, therefore a bulky charger and go in the bag with it and not be an issue. When in use/on charge the laptop is usually on a desk, hence the charger isn’t really an issue again.
Phones are quite different. People generally won’t accept bulky phone chargers, because it’s impractical. A phone I’d not bulky, so when travelling with a phone you may reasonably not be taking a bag, or at least not one big enough to take a bulky laptop size charger.
Further, many people continue using their phones while charging, and a phone is held in the hand, rather than sat on a desk, again a bulky charger would be a pain.
To that effect, I suggest the reason is laptop manufacturers accept bulkier chargers in the interest of cost saving, since it won’t adversely effect the end user, while phone manufacturers accept that they have to make theirs much smaller to avoid being a nuisance, hence spend the extra money to do so. (Or cut back on certain safety aspects)
That’s my best guess anyway.
I wish there was a decent 180W GaN charger for my stupid acer laptop
55watt
Cost