Sometimes laptops can use lower wattage chargers that are enough to keep the laptop on in low power mode without charging it. This is useful in situations such as borrowing a friend’s high-end phone charger when you need to present for a presentation, or using a USB-C dock that can’t provide the full 180W. Out of curiosity, Does the Framework Laptop 16 support this?
Yes that should work fine.
will the 60w FW13 charger be sufficient enough (7840HS, no dGPU) or would that be too low?
Do you mean damage or kill the Framework-13 power adapter? That shouldn’t happen since with USB PD the laptop knows that only 60W is available. And unless you really violate USB PD specs a device shouldn’t try to pull more than is negotiated with the power supply. Also, over 60W is only supposed to be allowed with e-marked cables that can handle over 3 amps. You’d really be violating safety all over the place if you ignore what’s been negotiated.
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I don’t think that’s how it works. USB PD (power delivery) is used to negotiate appropriate power levels between the charger and device. As long as the charger doesn’t advertise more than it can handle, the Framework laptop will only pull what the charger can safely provide.
This might mean that the battery has to continue to supply some amount of current to the laptop (instead of charging) if you are really loading it up, but it shouldn’t mean that the power supply would burn up.
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As someone who’s spent the last 3 weeks deep diving power consumption on my current laptop (Razer Blade 15), I’d personally be comfortable using a 60W charger. The 7840HS is rated at 45W for the Framework, but “regular” usage will be far below that. Total high-draw usage will be something above that. If you already have a 60W adapter and want to try to save some dollars, the 60W may be sufficient and you can always buy the 180W later if you have an issue. It shouldn’t hurt anything, worst that would happen is the battery doesn’t charge, or perhaps drains, while under a high load.
If I had to guess at the laptops power draws, I’d say it draws just under 60W during high load. Only time will tell for sure.
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