Does bad electrical grounding mess up a laptop?

Question

I recently purchased a Macbook Pro retina display. When I use the 2 pin charger, and I touch the surface of the laptop I can feel electricity passing - basically laptop is vibrating softly. When I charge it with 3 pin, it does not vibrate. I have been charging it with 2 pin for about 10 days when I was not aware of this issue, so would that have messed up my laptop by any chance? To me laptop works perfectly, but I was wondering some hardware internally got messed up.

Answer 1

Some people are much more sensitive to this than others I've noticed over the years.

You will be happy to note that all modern electronics are designed to cope with non-earthed mains connections as they are not standard in some countries. (To be totally accurate, it isn't that the mains isn't earthed but that the mains circuit doesn't have a separate earth).

It is not uncommon to be able to feel what you describe on non-earthed equipment such as lamps and clocks and it shouldn't be a problem.

Of course, manufacturers will tell you that you must only use their chargers. They have a point but as long as you are using reputable makes that have been tested for your country, you should be fine.

Answer 2

This is so commonly misunderstood that I shall attempt to provide a short précis, then link to a good explanation which is not overly-technical.

Common misconception - earthing/grounding

Most small household appliances are not, in fact, earthed at all - even if there is a valid earth pin on the mains plug.
They are what is known as 'double insulated' & carry this logo

The 'transformers' on this type of equipment are not the same as in high-power equipment & don't use a step-down coil transformer, linear supply. Instead they use a switch-mode supply.
All PSUs, whether linear or switch-mode leak a small amount of current due to capacitance. In double-insulated devices there is no true ground/earth so the design is optimised to try to prevent this leakage.
Unfortunately, switch-mode supplies run at very high frequencies, so the smaller capacitance in the smaller transformer ends up leaking just as much as the larger capacitance in a larger transformer running at 50 or at 60Hz for example.

The leakage current is usually less than 1mA and is often as low as 10uA, but even at such low current, it can still be present and still can cause problems.

So - the tingle or buzz that you feel is in fact you becoming the temporary ground/earth for this circuit.
It is usually safe, & any reputable manufacturer will ensure their PSUs are well within tolerance.

Cheap copies are cheap because they don't bother with most of the safety circuitry… you know, the stuff that makes the expensive one expensive in the first place ;-)

Have look at http://www.unitechelectronics.com/sparks.htm for a much more detailed explanation. Though it is aimed at hi-fi users & deals in 240v mains, the basic principles are identical.