MacBook – use a Early 2011 MacBook Pro 13“ charger with the Late 2013 MacBook Pro 13” with the MagSafe Adapter

Most switching power supplies are most efficient when operating at 50% capacity. And they're definitely pretty inefficient at less than 20% capacity.

Since the MacBook draws less power than a MacBook Pro, I would suspect that an 85w power supply would work just fine, but the larger power supply for the MBP probably would draw more power from the wall socket than is necessary when connected to a MB because it is operating in a suboptimal capacity range.

Here's an example: Take for example the 45w power supply for the MacBook Air. Sure you could hook up the 85w power supply, but since the MBA might only draw 20 watts, the power supply is operating at less than 25% capacity. At this capacity, the power supply may only be 60% efficient (an educated guess), that means the power supply has to draw 33 watts of AC power just to supply the laptop with 20 watts of DC power.

Long story, short: It's a power conversion efficiency thing. I'd say buy the one that is designed for your laptop so that you save energy.

Since the Temperature is a major factor in Battery life degradation, slower charging is preferred.

However, if you are charging while consuming /(using your computer) the charger might not provide enough to actually charge the battery and it will get depleted.

In that case using the lower power charging is only recommended when computer is off.

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