This stackexchange post made its way to various message boards a while back. At the time, my MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017) was parked nicely on my desk with several peripherals, already charging via the right side ports for cable convenience. I’ve since kept it in the back of my mind, for reasons only “Today” me can appreciate.

After spinning up Docker and parking myself on the couch for some merge conflict resolution, I noticed my device was charging but losing battery slowly over time. The only thing connected to my machine was the power cable - but via the left ports. Swapping to the right side took my battery from a dripping drain to rapidly recharging.

A minor inconvenience, wrapped in a reminder that these boxes wield electricity to do what we ask of them.