I use a macbook m4 air along with a external monitor, and my monitor is kind of power hungry , I keep my laptop on charge almost all the time when im using it, and i noticed electric charge is building up on the body, is this any harmful to the device?
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: Static charge builds up on laptop body
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 26.0
What you are feeling is an electrical current resulting from your power adapter being connected to a faulty power outlet. Your Mac is not properly grounded and you're feeling that. Best solution is to have an electrician check the wiring in your residence. Short of that, you can use the Apple Power Adapter Extension Cable that replaces the two-prong 'duckhead' on your power adapter with a three-prong plug that includes a grounding pin.
What you are feeling is an electrical current resulting from your power adapter being connected to a faulty power outlet. Your Mac is not properly grounded and you're feeling that. Best solution is to have an electrician check the wiring in your residence. Short of that, you can use the Apple Power Adapter Extension Cable that replaces the two-prong 'duckhead' on your power adapter with a three-prong plug that includes a grounding pin.
+1 on Neuroanatomist's recommendation of the Apple Power Adapter extension cable. It has a grounding contact inside the cable's slider portion (or "duckhead") that contacts the metal attachment stud that sticks out of the charger:
Because of workstation layout, all my Mac laptops have needed the cable for reach. However, I never notice any tingling or other issues when using the cable. They once came with a Mac laptop but no more. I think we now have four of those cables. Cheap insurance.
However, that requires the location you use the computer to have a properly grounded building-wide system. Not every building is built to code, in spite of regulations in place.
Allan Jones wrote:
They once came with a Mac laptop but no more. I think we now have four of those cables. Cheap insurance.
I have about a dozen, give or take. I find them useful to fit several power adapters in a cable-hiding box under my desk, where the flexibility of being able to put the charger brick anywhere in the box lets me fit more of them in there. The box is well-ventilated, of course.
Static or electric charge on MacBook Air M4 body during use
