In recent year I went through quite few MacBook chargers. Some of them died randomly, some of them had their cables being shreded because of age and frequent usage.

First characteristic of original (OEM) MacBook Magsafe 2 charger is timing when green light on plug comes on when plugged in. In original MacBook charger, it comes on after a second or two. For fakes, usually green light comes on immediately after plugging it in.

Additionally You can judge a charger based on it’s weight. Good charger will weigh more, because materials used for power supply are expensive, the more of them are being used, the heavier charger is.

I started collecting statistics how much does charger weigh, and You can compare it in table below.

OEM 2020 OEM 2015 V. Good Fake “Replacement” GreenCell
293g 262g 270g 212g 202g

So when next time Your charger dies, and You need to buy a new one. You know how to spot a fake one.

That's it for this post, thanks for reading!