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I've heard about laptops such as the new Chromebooks that are charged via a wall charger that connects to a USB-C port. I'm quite happy that this will supposedly standardize laptop chargers but I'm a little unclear about how this works.

Existing USB ports provide a 5 volt source, but the laptop chargers provide up to 20 volts. is there some kind of higher voltage line or are the USB-C powered laptops running on a lower voltage?

All this information I've seen gives a fairly vague idea of providing more power, providing up to 100 watts rather than 10 watts. Even so, my laptop is not the most powerful machine and the charger still outputs fairly near 100 watts, I can imagine more chargers for power laptops providing much more than 100 watts. Could a general purpose USB-C charger really power all these machines?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ The highest power I've seen a laptop charger for is 90W. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
    Commented Mar 12, 2015 at 23:08
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ @ignacio by the way, Dell make a 210 W power supply! \$\endgroup\$
    – tomnexus
    Commented Mar 12, 2015 at 23:22
  • \$\begingroup\$ @tomnexus. WHAT. THE. ****. "... nearly the size of a cereal box." \$\endgroup\$
    – Ignacio Vazquez-Abrams
    Commented Mar 12, 2015 at 23:26
  • \$\begingroup\$ @tomnexus That thing must double as a seat warmer. \$\endgroup\$
    – markt
    Commented Mar 12, 2015 at 23:40
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ @markt The other way around: buttocks double as a heat sink. \$\endgroup\$
    – Nick Alexeev
    Commented Mar 13, 2015 at 0:35

2 Answers 2

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USB-C will use the Power Delivery specification, a first connexion is done at 5V, then "negotiate" whether it can use a higher profile to charge. There are 5 profiles available :

  • Profile 1 : 5V@2A
  • Profile 2 : 5V@2A or [email protected]
  • Profile 3 : 5V@2A or 12V@3A
  • Profile 4 : 5V@2A or 12V@3A or 20V@3A
  • Profile 5 : 5V@2A or 12V@5A or 20V@5A

There are 4 connection point for the power (2 on each side - see pinout below), as far I know, they are all equal and may be connected by a single cable (I think it will be at the cable manufacturer discretion). These additional connection allow to go for higher current without having massive voltage drop at the connection. Coupled with higher voltage, that gives a lot higher charging power.
USB C Pinout

All in all, I guess that the laptops will as well charge with 5V (on USB A charger), just far slower. And based on what I saw from Apple for their new Macbook, the charger is 29W, so most likely a Profile 3 (a bit under spec), it seems then to be only 12V.

It seems that additional profiles have been added by some manufacturers, for instance, Qualcomm Quick Charge 2.0 seems to be an implementation of the Power Delivery but using 9V too. This technology though does not use the Power Delivery specification as it uses the D+/D- lines of the USB 2.0 port to negotiate the voltage.

Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 brings it one step further and now allow to "negotiate" any voltage from 3.7V to 20V by increment of 200mV. No data found so far about the current at each voltage.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ edited to add some more info \$\endgroup\$
    – Memes
    Commented Nov 3, 2015 at 10:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ some more edits \$\endgroup\$
    – Memes
    Commented Jan 19, 2016 at 7:07
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    \$\begingroup\$ This was quite correct at the time that it was written (USB PD v1.x), however in USB-PD v2.0 & v3.0 'Power Profiles' have been deprecated and replaced with 'Power Rules'. \$\endgroup\$
    – Anthony May
    Commented Apr 25, 2017 at 7:26
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    \$\begingroup\$ I doubt most laptops will charge off a 5V charger. To do that would add significant complexity to the power management circuit for little gain. \$\endgroup\$
    – Peter Green
    Commented Jun 9, 2017 at 13:17
  • \$\begingroup\$ Anyone care to provide a more up-to-date answer? Or link to a question that does? For example, the Nintendo Switch power supply provides 2.6A at 15V, which isn't one of the profiles in this answer. \$\endgroup\$
    – M_M
    Commented Feb 10, 2021 at 17:04
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USB Type C allows for power negotiation, up to 5A at 20V, giving you your 100 watts.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ So you can set the voltages as well as the current? Is this is specific intervals or is there a just a couple of modes? \$\endgroup\$
    – anon
    Commented Mar 13, 2015 at 0:32
  • \$\begingroup\$ The spec is public if you want to check, but the wikipedia page implies a fixed set of modes. \$\endgroup\$
    – pjc50
    Commented Mar 13, 2015 at 0:33