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    The problem with this entire answer is that it's wrong; if the laptop is only drawing X amps the. Then even if the charger supports X+1 it will only output X
    – Ramhound
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 1:43
  • You're using the same reasoning that misconception is based on. The problem is not nominal or rated amps, it's the amps the laptop can draw during a fault. Imagine your average holiday lights with a fuse. The idea is if you fray the wires and they short, the fuse will blow before the wires will start to melt. But if you replace the fuse with one that allows more current, the lights will still work, they'll still only draw as much current as they did, but now when the wires are shorted the fuse won't blow before the wires start to melt and become a real fire hazard.
    – Selali Adobor
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 1:57
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    You might be getting caught up in semantics. Of course a device will only use as many amps as it's drawing. But that sentence doesn't mean anything, it's like saying that a human being only breathes as much air as a human being breathes as opposed to somehow breathing all the air there is in the world. The problem is that narrow reasoning is over-extended into the misconception I stated in the question. Maybe you should explain exactly what about my explanatory comment you disagree with since it presents the same problem with a simpler example...
    – Selali Adobor
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 2:14
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    You're starting to get it. This answer is addressing this single question, it's addressing the people who Google to see if they can use charger X with laptop (or device) Y and find this answer on page 1. In this case there is a small difference in amperage, but a person searching isn't going to compare these same numbers (that's I didn't mention the amperage the of the hypothetical higher amperage charger in my example). The gist of the answers was a charger of a higher amperage never does anything no matter how much higher it is. This one says there is a risk in some situations.
    – Selali Adobor
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 17:55
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    You might say it's pedantic to go over that slight risk with hypothetical very worst cases that are rare, but absolutes like "..**no risk**.." made it reasonable to give people an equally strong counterpoint. I'd now expect the end result of someone who searched for this and read all the answer to become "I'll use the somewhat similar charger I have one hand for a day, and buy the right one ASAP" instead of "I'll buy the somewhat similar charger and apparently there is no risk ever"
    – Selali Adobor
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 18:01