Comment on Why are laptop adapters so much larger than phone adapters of same power rating?
henfredemars@infosec.pub 2 weeks ago
I think it’s mainly marketing. Your phone is smaller, so it feels like it should have a smaller adapter to be more convenient. It takes less convincing for a large adapter when you’re already carrying around a laptop in a bag.
Part of it is also history. It used to be that you needed much higher power dissipation so your adapter needs to be physically larger for a laptop to shed that heat, but nowadays laptops are more efficient and phones draw more power than they used to. Still, the idea that a phone charger should be smaller still feels right to the consumer, and much effort has been expended to ensure that they are small.
EleventhHour@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
People carry around laptops in bags. People carry around their phones in their pockets. This is another reason why mobile chargers are often smaller. They need to be, because it’s more likely that you’ll be carrying a phone charger in your pocket than in a laptop bag.
Also, making a powerful adapter smaller costs more money. It’s a way to lower the overall price of a laptop.