The crackling seems to occur when wiggling the plug for the laptop charger only. Should I still open it up and remove from stab connections and hook onto the screws? It seems like most of the house uses the stab connections for the outlets. You can strip the threads and then the screw will never get tight enough.There seems to be no noticeable crackling when pressing the other half of the receptacle with the light on.

While screw connections need to be tight, do not use tremendous brute force with your screwdriver.

The purpose of this test is to better check for loose connections behind the receptacle unit. A faulty adapter could provide your laptop with too much or too little electricity, resulting in short circuits and improper charging. Try again with the light or whatever item plugged into the other half of the receptacle. A ticking or clicking noise emanating from your charging adapter indicates a problem with the cord, which could spell trouble for your laptop. Press the other half of the receptacle using your thumb while checking for crackling. (Don't use something that makes noise, such as a fan.) Plug in something that uses a reasonable amount of power but not switched on yet, a 100 watt incandescent bulb light is suitable.

Laptop charger making noise