

I appreciate the point you’re making. However, even at a glance you can quite easily see there’s a sudden jump well beyond inflation. On top of that, they also include a graph that does adjust for inflation. They look very similar. In fact, the only noteworthy difference is that the price (adjusted for inflation) has remained flat until this year, where it suddenly spiked.




I wouldn’t worry about the battery. Any potential harm comes in before it gets to the battery, and there’s likely a DC-DC converter before that anyway.
The first thing to validate is the listed specs. If your laptop expects 12v (usually listed on a sticker on the device), don’t connect a 19v brick. Same for center-positive/center-negative. USB-C bypasses all of that, since it negotiates a matching spec before charging.
The second thing is how well it adheres to the specs it lists. This isn’t something that you can really test yourself. It would require a lot of specialized equipment and skills, since the answer can change in different circumstances. It might work fine for a while, but eventually deliver rich, chunky volts. This will (likely) fry the motherboard, and maybe more than that. USB-C does NOT bypass this. Some of the worst chargers on the market are USB-C.
The only realistic way to avoid the second is to get a quality charger from a trustworthy source. Many will only recommend OEM, but you also have to be careful about counterfeits on eBay or scAmazon. You can use aftermarket, but only if it’s a trustworthy brand like Anker.