[ale] OT: Good source of laptop power adapters?

[Jeff Lightner]

Be careful.  The newer Dells have electronics in the power supply to
allow the charging to occur.  If the battery doesn't recognize your
adapter (e.g. it didn't come from Dell) it won't charge.  However, you
can run the laptop from the power provided by such 3rd party adapters -
just can't charge.

I found this out when my old Thinkpad died and I tried to use my
universal adapter for the new Dell Latitude D630.   

-----Original Message-----
From: ale-bounces at ale.org [mailto:ale-bounces at ale.org] On Behalf Of
Michael B. Trausch
Sent: Saturday, February 07, 2009 3:03 PM
To: ale at ale.org
Subject: Re: [ale] OT: Good source of laptop power adapters?

On Fri, 06 Feb 2009 18:49:42 -0500
Brian Pitts <brian at polibyte.com> wrote:

> I'm looking for a cheap and reputable source for laptop power
> adapters. I'd like to find somewhere that's cheaper than Dell but
> won't sell me an adapter that's going to catch fire or fail in a
> month.
> 
> My specific need is for one that outputs 19.5V, 3.34A and fits an
> Inspiron 1420. Everything from Dell costs > $65. A friend who went the
> "order the cheapest no-name adapter you can find" route experienced
> consistent failures, hence my nervousness.

I would not go for cheap---they're usually single-purpose.

When I had my Toshiba, the power cord that came with it took a crap,
and the replacement on the site was $80 or so.  I went to NewEgg and
found a quite versatile Targus adapter for $30 or $40 more, and it
connected to nearly everything I owned, so I used that.  It came with
20 or so different adapters, and changed the voltage/amperage on its
own for different devices.

So... I'd recommend spending a few extra $$ on a Targus adapter if you
can.  They're well worth it.

	--- Mike

-- 
My sigfile ran away and is on hiatus.
http://www.trausch.us/
 
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