Unlike the iPhone, Apple ships a USB-C power adapter with all its MacBooks: Air and Pro. Unless your laptop stays in the same place all of the time, having a spare or a specific travel MacBook charger is a useful addition. You can buy a second Apple charger or check out more versatile, cheaper and smaller MacBook chargers to suit your needs and budget.

It’s important to note that there are risks with buying a cheap charger and we don’t recommend you choose on price alone. That bargain MacBook charger might just fry your laptop or get dangerously hot. However, there are some great premium chargers from trusted brands that sell for less than Apple pricey chargers.

What to look for in a MacBook charger PD charging What you need is a Power Delivery (PD) charger that can connect to your MacBook via USB-C. PD chargers can support up to 240W of power, although the most common congregate around the standard laptop power requirements: 30W, 45W, 65W and 100W. All the USB-C chargers we have tested here are PD chargers.

All the chargers tested here can also fast-charge an iPhone. PD version 3.0 supports up to 100W.

PD 3.1 can charge at 140W, which is what you need to fast-charge a 16-inch MacBook Pro. Note that the Thunderbolt/USB-C ports are all rated at PD 3.

0—only the MagSafe port is PD 3.1 so you must use Apple’s USB-C to MagSafe 3 Cable, rather than a USB-C cable, to fast-charge the 140W 16-inch MacBook Pro. You can still power the laptop via USB-C or Thunderbolt cable but 1.