You’ve lost the charger, or you’re sick of carrying Apple’s brick, and now you’re staring at two numbers: 65W and 100W. The 100W one costs roughly twice as much. Does your MacBook actually use it?
For most people the honest answer is no. Here’s how to work out which side of that line you fall on, without buying more charger than you’ll ever draw.
What wattage actually means here
USB Power Delivery (PD) is a negotiation. Your laptop tells the charger what voltage and current it wants, the charger says yes or no, and they settle on the highest profile they both support. A 100W charger plugged into a MacBook Air doesn’t push 100W into it — the Air asks for about 30–35W and that’s what it gets.
So a higher-wattage charger is never “too powerful”. It’s just potentially wasted money and a slightly larger object in your bag. The number that matters is the highest wattage your laptop will ever ask for, not the biggest number on the box.
One important detail: under USB PD 3.0, 100W (20V at 5A) is the ceiling. Anything above that — Apple’s 140W adapter for the 16-inch MacBook Pro, for instance — requires the newer PD 3.1 Extended Power Range standard. A 100W charger cannot fast-charge a 16-inch Pro no matter how good it is. That’s a standards limit, not a brand limit.
What each MacBook actually wants
Apple publishes the adapter it ships with each machine and the adapter needed for fast charging. That’s the most reliable guide you’ll get.
| MacBook model | Adapter Apple typically includes | Is 65W enough? | Is 100W worth it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| MacBook Air 13-inch (M-series) | 30W, or 35W dual-port | Yes — comfortably more than it asks for | No. You’d never see the extra headroom |
| MacBook Air 15-inch | 35W dual-port | Yes, including Apple’s fast-charge behaviour | No |
| MacBook Pro 14-inch (base chip) | 70W | Yes for normal work; slightly slower than the 70W brick | Only if you want the quickest possible top-up |
| MacBook Pro 14-inch (Pro/Max chip) | 96W | Charges fine, but slower under heavy load | Yes — this is the sweet spot for 100W |
| MacBook Pro 16-inch | 140W | Will charge, slowly, and may not gain charge while rendering | Better than 65W, but you want Apple’s 140W for fast charging |
| iPad Pro / iPhone / Android phone | 20–45W depending on model | Yes, easily | No |
The short version
- Any MacBook Air: 65W is more than enough. Buying 100W is buying nothing.
- 14-inch MacBook Pro, ordinary work: 65W is fine. It will charge while you’re in Chrome, Slack and Excel.
- 14-inch Pro or Max chip doing sustained heavy work (video export, Xcode builds, plugged into two monitors): 100W is a real upgrade, because the machine can draw enough that a 65W supply is only just keeping up.
- 16-inch MacBook Pro: if fast charging matters, buy Apple’s 140W. We don’t sell one, and pretending 100W is equivalent would be nonsense.
When you should not buy a new charger at all
Genuinely: if your existing adapter charges the machine overnight and you’re not annoyed by it, there’s no upgrade here. Wattage doesn’t affect battery health, and a bigger charger won’t make your laptop run better.
The good reasons to buy a second one are practical, not technical — a charger that lives permanently in your bag, one for the office desk so you stop unplugging things, or replacing a fraying cable before it fails on a work trip.
The cable matters more than people expect
This is where most “my new charger is slow” complaints come from. Any USB-C cable can carry 60W (3A). To go above that — which is exactly what 65W and 100W chargers are for — the cable needs an e-marker chip rated for 5A.
Plenty of cheap cables in the drawer are charge-only USB 2.0 leads with no 5A rating. Plug one into a 100W charger and you’ll get 60W, quietly, with no error message. Our USB-C to USB-C cable (2m) is rated for 100W/5A charging and 10Gbps data, which covers both the charging headroom and using it as a real data cable.
Quick cable sanity check
- Charging slower than expected? Swap the cable before you blame the charger.
- A 5A-rated cable is required for anything above 60W — it is not optional.
- Length is fine. A 2m 5A cable is not “slower” than a 1m one in any way you’ll notice.
Australian specifics worth knowing
Australian mains is 230V at 50Hz, with the Type I plug. A few things follow from that:
Check the plug, not just the wattage. Imported chargers from overseas marketplaces often arrive with a US or EU plug and a travel adapter, which is a poor long-term arrangement for a device that sits in a wall socket all day.
Look for the RCM mark. Mains-powered chargers sold in Australia are regulated, and the Regulatory Compliance Mark is the visible sign a supplier has done that work. Our 100W GaN USB-C charger is RCM certified for AU/NZ, has the Australian Type I plug, and takes 100–240V input, so it also works overseas with a plug adapter.
Buying locally changes the timeline. A charger ordered from an overseas marketplace typically takes about three weeks. That’s fine if you’re planning ahead, and useless if your only charger died this morning.
What 65W and 100W look like in practice
| 65W GaN | 100W GaN | |
|---|---|---|
| Eplugit price (AUD) | $45 | $100 |
| Best suited to | MacBook Air, 14″ Pro, iPad, phones | 14″ Pro (Pro/Max), heavy sustained workloads |
| PD profile ceiling | 65W | 20V/5A, PD 3.0 with PPS |
| Cable needed | 5A-rated for full speed | 5A-rated, non-negotiable |
| Handles a 16″ MacBook Pro? | Charges slowly | Charges, but not at Apple’s fast-charge rate |
Both of ours are GaN designs, which mostly means they’re physically smaller and run cooler than an equivalent older silicon charger — see our 65W USB-C GaN charger if that’s the size you’ve landed on.
A note on PPS
The 100W model supports PPS (Programmable Power Supply), which lets a device request voltage in fine increments rather than fixed steps. Recent Samsung Galaxy phones use it for their fastest charging mode. MacBooks don’t need it, so treat it as a bonus if you’ve got a Samsung in the house, not a reason to spend more on its own.
FAQs
Will a 100W charger damage my MacBook Air?
No. The laptop requests what it needs and the charger supplies only that. A higher-rated charger is safe; it’s just unnecessary for an Air.
Can I use a 65W charger on a 16-inch MacBook Pro?
Yes, it will charge — slowly. Under a heavy workload the machine may draw more than 65W, so the battery can stay flat or slowly decline while you work. It’s fine as a backup, not as your main charger.
Why is my laptop charging at 60W from a 100W charger?
Almost always the cable. USB-C cables without a 5A e-marker are capped at 60W regardless of what the charger can supply. Try a 5A-rated cable.
Does a bigger charger wear out my battery faster?
No. Charging speed is controlled by the laptop’s own charging circuitry and macOS battery management, not by the size of the adapter.
Do I need a separate charger for travelling overseas?
If the charger accepts 100–240V input — as our 100W model does — you only need a plug adapter, not a voltage converter.
If you decide you need one
Work out the highest wattage your laptop will ever ask for, add a 5A-rated cable, and stop there. If that lands you on 65W, buy 65W. Everything we stock ships from Australia in 2–5 business days with a local warranty and a proper tax invoice, so if you get it wrong the 30-day money-back guarantee is a short conversation rather than an international return.
