The laptop charges very slowly
My laptop takes all day to charge or loses charge while plugged in. Why?
Written by The CommonFixes team · fact checked by CommonFixes review desk
Last updated
Short answer
A USB-C charger with too few watts, a phone charger, or a worn cable cannot supply what the laptop needs, so the battery only tops up with whatever is left over. The quickest thing to try first: match the wattage — Check the sticker on your original charger, for example 65W. Any replacement must be that number or higher. A 20W phone charger will never keep up. Most people are done in about 6 minutes.
Full walkthrough below: 4 steps for Windows and Mac, rated easy.
Sounds like this
- •Charging slowly notification
- •Battery drops during heavy use on mains
- •Charger is warm but percentage barely moves
Why it happens
A USB-C charger with too few watts, a phone charger, or a worn cable cannot supply what the laptop needs, so the battery only tops up with whatever is left over.
Work through these in order
0% done- 1
Match the wattage
Check the sticker on your original charger, for example 65W. Any replacement must be that number or higher. A 20W phone charger will never keep up.
- 2
Use the right port
Many laptops only accept charging on one or two USB-C ports, usually marked with a small battery or lightning symbol. Try each port.
- 3
Swap the cable
USB-C cables are not all equal. Use one rated for 100W or 5A. A thin charge-only cable from a phone is a common cause.
- 4
Check the port for lint
Turn the machine off and gently clear the port with a wooden toothpick. Compacted pocket lint stops the plug seating fully.
If none of that worked
If a known good charger and cable still charge slowly, check the battery health report by running powercfg /batteryreport in Command Prompt. A worn cell needs replacing.
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Who wrote this and how we checked it
The CommonFixes team
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We are a small group of people who spend our days repairing laptops and desktops for family, friends and small offices. Every guide here starts with a problem someone actually brought to us, and we only write down the steps that put the machine right.
- Everyday repairs
- Windows and Mac
- Plain language
CommonFixes review desk
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Before a guide goes live, a second person walks through it on a real machine and checks each instruction against the maker's own support pages. Anything we cannot confirm is removed rather than guessed at.
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This guide was last updated on 10 August 2026. If a step no longer matches what you see on screen, tell us on the contact page and we will test it again.
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