Key Takeaways
- USB-C chargers struggle with wattage, maxing out around 140 watts.
- Laptops requiring more than 100 watts may charge slowly or not at all.
- Heating & compatibility issues can arise with USB-C chargers, so careful selection is crucial.
USB-C is great for more than one reason. However, one area where it still hasn’t caught up to its full potential is charging. While your phone might be able to charge quickly on the 100W power brick you have lying around, your Windows laptop might not.
The idea of buying and carrying one charger for everything you own is great, but there are caveats to this. If you’re looking to buy a USB-C charger, here are five things you need to consider.
1 USB-C Doesn’t Provide Enough Wattage Yet
Theoretically, USB-C can provide up to 240 watts of power. However, you’d be hard-pressed to find a charger that goes over 140 watts. Those that do often drop the power to 100 watts or lower if there is more than one device plugged in. Even the most powerful charger on our best USB-C chargers of 2024 list tops out at 140 watts, while also burning a hole in your wallet.
100 watts is passable if you’re a MacBook owner, but Windows laptops require a bit more juice to keep them running, especially if you own a 14-inch gaming laptop or a high-performance machine that would otherwise require more power. If you look at your gaming laptop’s power brick, you’ll find that it needs at least 180 watts or even more, depending on your laptop’s configuration. That’s just not something USB-C power delivery can do at the moment.
This also allows manufacturers to play around with power ratings and misguide potential buyers. For example, you can pick up a SmallRig 240W USB-C charger on Amazon for around $100. While the listing claims the charger is 240 watts, if you take a deeper look, you’ll find that each Type-C port on the charger tops out at 140 watts.
There’s no word on when 240-watt USB-C chargers will come on the market, although the influx of 240-watt-rated cables suggests that it might not be that long. That said, unless you have a relatively low-powered machine or MacBook, you won’t find a USB-C charger that’ll run your laptop at full performance at the moment.
2 Your Laptop Will Charge Slower
The good thing about USB-C PD is that even if it doesn’t match your laptop’s required power adaptor rating, it might still charge your device, albeit slowly. Depending on how much power your laptop needs to charge, you might even have to put it to sleep before being able to charge it. And if your Windows laptop isn’t charging via USB-C in the first place, here are seven ways you can fix the problem.
As you can probably guess, that massively hampers useability. Suppose your laptop’s manufacturer limits power draw when it isn’t plugged into a compatible power adaptor that gives it all the power it needs. In that case, performance will be sluggish at best, and your laptop might not charge at all, depending on what you’re using it for. You might be able to get a charge on the go while watching Netflix, but don’t expect a lower-wattage USB-C charger to charge your machine when gaming or editing videos on the go.
Depending on what USB-C charger your laptop supports, this can still be useful. If you don’t mind chucking your laptop in the backpack and plugging it into a compatible USB-C power bank, you can easily charge it between uses. So don’t discount lower-wattage chargers just yet.
3 Heating Issues
Chargers overheating isn’t as big of an issue anymore as it was when USB-C chargers first started hitting the market, especially considering the Galium Nitrite chargers you can buy around the $100 range. However, if you decide to cheap out or get a defective model, the heating issue can be a problem.
Apart from the impact on charging speed, an overheating power brick can easily damage any cables around it. In extreme cases, this can lead to warping, damaging the charger and any connected devices. It’s not a very big issue, but you should watch for any heating issues your new USB-C charger might have.
4 USB-C Chargers Aren’t as Compatible as They Seem
USB-C seems like a simple concept on the outside. You plug in the cable, and the laptop should start charging, right? USB-C was hailed as the one connector that would replace all other USB connectors, but it’s a bit more complicated than that.
Different laptops require different power outputs to run off of AC power and charge their batteries. However, wattage is further divided into volts and amperes.
For example, a 100-watt charger generally has 20 volts and 5 amps (20V/5A) multiplied to get the final power output. Some manufacturers require their laptops to meet a certain voltage and amperage limit before they can charge, so that’s another metric for you to check.
If your 100-watt charger isn’t outputting 20 volts and 5 amps, it won’t charge a laptop that supports this specific power breakup despite supporting 100-watt charging. This isn’t usually a problem, but it can be at times. My HP Omen Transcend 14 requires a 100-watt charger outputting at least 20 volts to charge, so unless a USB-C charger meets those requirements, it won’t charge my laptop.
USB-C can be rather confusing, so don’t fall for marketing as you see it. It’s important to research what USB power delivery standards your laptop supports to ensure you buy a charger that’s compatible with your system.
5 Finding a Docking Station Is Difficult
If you’re looking for a one-cable solution to turn your laptop into a workstation, USB-C charging might not cut it. Just like it might be hard to find a USB-C charger that can fully power your system, it can be even more difficult to find a dock that can provide 140-watt or higher USB-C power delivery along with all the data, video, and audio signals you’ll need to send over a single cable.
You can still use a USB-C dock to make your life easier. It just won’t be the one-cable-does-all solution you’ll be looking for since you’ll have at least one more cable running into your machine. However, that’s still better than having to unplug everything and replug it back again every time you want to move away from your desk. We’ve got a list of the best USB-C docks and docking stations in 2024 to help you choose the right one.
USB-C chargers are a great way to ditch your clunky power brick and make your backpack lighter. However, you need to be careful when choosing a power brick to ensure you get the most out of it.
