I always see laptops come with larger bricks that have separate mains cable which plugs into the brick. Even if the adapter has some low power rating.

Example for comparison:

On the right is a standard laptop adapter.
Same price, same connector, same protocol, same power rating, far different size.

Why is that so?

Actually, the GaN adapter on the left also advertises itself as being meant for laptops, but by default, almost all laptops will come with something like the one on the right.

Or is it simply cheaper to manufacture while being sold for the same price?

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    18 days ago

    No USB power plug operates at 5 V when providing 65 Watts. That would be 13 Amps. Both power plugs most likey use 15 or 20 volts internally. 19 volts is not allowed over USB.

    Edit: Here is a short summary of the USB-PD spec from Wikipedia