Cerberus

I use this ( ). It is a nice all-in-one unit great for traveling. I carry a 2018 MBP, iPad Pro, iPhone, and also a HyperJuice 130W battery.

The Hyperdrive charger I'm referencing above does a great job charging everything, light in the kit, and reduces the number of bricks and cables necessary. 2 USB-C Ports and 1 USB-A. I have even purchased an extra one for my home desk despite all my traveling.

Fair warning, it does get a bit warm much like the usual Apple 87W bricks and others.

chx1975

1. A Dell dock is the only way to go above 100W because that's Dell proprietary laid on top of the USB C standard. The Dell TB16 indeed is very cheap used on ebay, especially without an AC brick and Dell standardized on the 180W so any Dell 180W brick will do, they are also cheap. Make sure to get a Dell one not an "oem" or whatever the Chinese sellers call their ware. Unlike most docks, this one has a fan though. Reports on fan noise are mixed. You could buy the WD15 instead, it's not Thunderbolt but for most use cases it's enough. With a little luck you can get it as low as 40 USD including the 180W Dell brick. TB3 is only required to run an 5K monitor or two 4K monitors or a 4K monitor + USB 3.0 at the same time. (Warning: do not buy the TB15, it has been recalled but most cases it was not collected back lots of that junk floating around.)
2. 100W chargers are rare but these days there are options. Either https://jgotech.com/collections/pd-c...uk-eu-au-plugs or https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...usb_c_12w.html are a good choice.

gfunkdave

As an update, the Aukey 7-in-1 (model CB-C68) and Ravpower 65W USB C adapter arrived and I just plugged everything in. When I turned on my computer it warned me that I had attached an undersized 55W USB-C adapter and for optimal performance should use a Dell 65W adapter.

kennycrudup

I wouldn't worry about it; that's Dell being Dell and as long as it continues to charge you'll be OK

gfunkdave

Yeah, it seems to be working fine. It warned me that it might need to draw on the battery to maintain performance and thus might not be able to keep the battery charged but so far doesn't seem like an issue.

The Aukey dock does get a little warm to the touch, and I hear it making kind of a scratching noise. Our Dell USB C docks at the office make the same noise...I think it must be the power electronics trying to keep up or something. This one seems to do it constantly, while the Dell ones just make the noise when the computer is "working harder" for lack of a better term.

kennycrudup

The "scratching noise" is the switching power supply. Back in the old days, there would be transformers (devices that "convert electricity to magnetism and back", I guess is an easy way to explain it) that had to be fairly large due to the low frequency of the power-line AC. So now what happens is we turn the high voltage coming out of the power lines into even higher-voltage DC, then convert that to high-frequency AC, the net effect that the much-higher frequencies allow for smaller transformers. What you're hearing is the feedback loop, where as the power supply tracks the instantaneous current being drawn, it adjusts the frequency (actually, "duty cycle", the ratio of "time off to time on" of a frequency cycle) and that can make the transformer "sing" as the derivative(?) of the changes can produce audible effects.

... or something like that

gfunkdave

Ah, neat thanks. THough I know what a transformer is

I unplugged the USB C adapter to check if it outputs DC or AC (DC apparently). When I plugged it back in Windows warned me I have an undersized charger attached and now my battery-with-plug icon has an exclamation point in a yellow triangle on it. But the battery doesn't seem to be discharging so I'm inclined to ignore it.

kennycrudup

DC, and of multiple voltages and current; that's the beauty of USB-C Power Delivery, and why I can use the same adaptor (provided the matrix of voltage and current match that of the device) to power both my phone and my tablet and my laptop.

StuckInYYZ

Has anyone plugged in a meter of any sort to see if the draw is actually 65w? Tempted to pick up one so I don't have to keep unplugging adapters everywhere.

Thanks.

kennycrudup

I have a meter, and the draw on my laptop is 65W if my battery is charging, I'm compiling something sustained that's using all 8 cores, and the screen is on. But most of time time it's hovering between 20v@500mA (~10W) and [email protected] (~30W).

StuckInYYZ

So then I wonder what Dell modifies to make it look like it's under-reporting... I wonder what would happen if you plug in an adapter capable of higher wattage.

kennycrudup

More than likely- and this is just a guess- that Dell either has its supplies also have a USB device component they check against, or they do a PD matrix query and see that it can't do [email protected] .

gfunkdave

The adapter is rated 20V at 3.5A...but since the computer reported I had only plugged in a 55W adapter I suspect it's because the USB hub takes about 10W to run. I'll try plugging the adapter straight into the computer some time.

DMSFCA

Check this one out:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/s...ce=lifecycle#/

I ordered it off IndieGoGo and I've been burned so many times by these pre-release things that I had low expectations. It arrived last week and the thing is fantastic. Can charge my Macbook Pro no problem at 65W and charge a phone at the same time too. It has a USB-C and a USB-A on it; it's really small and light.

Everyone at work who saw it ordered one too. Very cool and nicely done. I know I sound like a shill (I'm not, paid full price) but it's a great solution.

freecia

Form factor looks a lot like Akavo/Baseus 65W GaN. Baseus has 2 C, 1 A
https://www.chargerlab.com/baseus-65...ardown-review/
ZMI also released a 65W 2C, 1A desk charger which has a figure 8 plug. 5.5 oz without the power cord which isn't too bad. I like using a figure 8 cord and international plugs rather than a longer US brick + outlet adapter as those tend to fall out of loose sockets or doesn't fit with weird socket placement.
https://www.chargerlab.com/zmi-zpowe...ardown-review/