220 electricity with converter?

Landsharkdg

Registered
Wondering if anyone has run their macbook off 220 electricity using a converter switching current to 110. I've heard you can potentially fry your computer's motor doing this.

Anyone know if this is true? I'm moving to Norway and I'd hate to fry my macbook!!!
 
No
Don't add any voltage converter.
Your supplied magsafe adapter will take care of whatever voltage you care to plug in to. All you need is a simple plug adapter to change the physical plug into whatever local plug is used. The magsafe adapter that you already have will switch automatically to whatever voltage is present.
 
All Apple laptops and portable gadgets (and Mac Mini and Mac Mini Server too) run 110-240 V. All those are made portable, as people travel - and it's not worth the hassle to save $ 2 (or whatever the small difference might be for having a less wide range of voltage) in the manufacturing, if it would bring extra hassle and cost to the users - plus a lot of pain and unhappiness in the millions of cases one would just plug in the device without thinking.

So skip the voltage converter. All you need is a plain adapter - I would recommend of the "world adapter" type, such as this. Look for one in a store that sells travel gadgets, or at airports etc. You may have to pay $ 10-20 for one adapter, but one is all you need (for one device) anywhere in the world. I've had to live with the pain of three kinds of plugs for many years: UK plugs in the house, or UK plugs expected. Most electronic gadgets with US plugs as they were and are not bought in UK. Some devices with Euro plugs, and then the joys of the three kinds of plugs used in all those 3 different places. No more of those one conversion only, and where you need 10 plugs to cover yourself. Just one, and it will last for years.
When traveling, I pack two of those in my luggage if I go somewhere where I need one. That way I can use one and my other half can use one.

And in doubt for any model of Apple product whether it will run in some other voltage: check the website. The supported voltage is always listed in the tech specs.

The voltage is one of the things why it doesn't really matter whether you buy your Apple laptop, iPad, or iPod in New York, Stockholm, London, Kuala Lumpur or Beijing. It will work anywhere. If you are for a long time somewhere where the plugs are different, you can usually just get the power cable (that attaches to the adapter) and replace that to eliminate the adapter.
 
Even the desktops are built this way. You simply need the right cable. NEVER use a converter with a Mac.
 
Not all of the desktops. At least some of the iMac G5 had just the US voltage - I haven't really looked at all the desktops before or since those specific models but those I remember especially from some documentation.
Curiously enough, current Mac Pro lists "Line voltage: 100-120V AC or 200-240V AC (wide-range power supply input voltage)".
 
AFAIK, there _are_ no countries with something like 130-190V. :) So that could explain this message.
 
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