The inclusion of GaN technology in Framework's new 180W adapter is a game-changer. GaN's superior power efficiency and ability to sustain higher voltages translate to smaller, more efficient charging . Great to see tech reducing waste and improving performance!
We don't know how efficient this is. Single number given in the article doesn't mean anything. SMPS come with an efficiency curve over the whole range of provided power. It can be 70% efficient at 20W or 85% at 180W and 93% only at 70W. Complete information was not provided by the article.
And USB-C supplies can also switch voltages, so the efficiency will also depend on the voltage (both input and ouput, as this can probably be used in both 110V and 230V grids)...
Exactly, the mentioned components used are not impressive if at all. Guess what, almost all named brand laptop power supply has an Onsemi chip, the only difference is big manufacturers like Delta or Flextronics use customized Onsemi chips made for them.
What made it even more interesting is mentioning Weltrend in a marketing material, almost 50% of projects I used to work on include a cost down part to switch from TI chips to Weltrend or similar. Whoever wrote this material doesn’t understand what they really implies.
I happen to have a 180W adapter that came with my 2020 laptop.
Crude measurements with a ruler indicate that Framework's unit is approximately 23% smaller by volume.
I don't know how far this field moved forward over the past three years, but I see this as a win - mine is especially annoying to handle due to its length - ~150mm.
Would love to know something about the weight, because that thing is a brick, which for this reason I don't normally take along with me on trips and opt for the 60W USB-C charger instead.
I've gotten sucked into videos of making low-power low-noise rack mount servers for home offices lately and that's come up a couple times. Yeah you have a PSU that's 90% efficient under load, and stays above 80% over a reasonable range of power levels, but some of them are pretty bad when you get down to 40 watts.
Slimq makes a wide range of GAN chargers all the way up to 330W. There are review of their 240W charger on YouTube that provides fair critiques in their design and Slimq also responds thoughtfully. I'm looking to get a 330W charger for my Legion 5i Pro 2022 that came with a huge 1KG power brick (300W).
