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Universal Laptop Power Adapters For The Air, Road, And Wall

Universal Laptop Power Adapters For The Air, Road, And Wall
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Are you tired of your notebook running out of power away from a wall wart? We're looking at three universal adapters able to get your battery charged again, whether you're on the road, in the air, or sitting down next to an AC plug.

If you consider yourself to be a road warrior, you need a way to keep your notebook running when you're away from a wall socket. And that's regardless of whether your primary battery has the chops to keep you operational all day long. Put simply, most folks can't count on a day's worth of up-time. So, it's important to have a solution in place for putting a bit of pep back into your mobile platform during your afternoon siesta.

What do you need in order to keep your notebook fully functional? If you're in a car or on a plane, you need a cigarette lighter receptacle or an EmPower plug, along with a compatible power adapter. Most system vendors (like Dell and Lenovo) offer travel adapters, but they can get pretty expensive. Worse, they aren’t always compatible with multiple generations of products.

For example, when IBM moved from 16 V to 19 V, timed to coincide with Intel's Pentium-M to Core 2 Duo transition, the company adopted a different plug size. That meant the older AC/DC combo adapter (P/N: 73P4502) wouldn't work with the newer hardware. Owners of more recent Lenovo notebooks can use the current AC/DC combo adapter will find that it's backward compatible through the use of a different plug tip.

Traveling Headaches

If you travel overseas, you probably use plug adapters as well, since AC sockets differ from one region to the next. Currently, most system vendors arm their mobile offerings with 110-240 V power adapters, which means that they're universally compatible, so long as you have the right wall connector. A notebook sold in the U.S. might include the same power brick as one in Europe, but they two systems will come with different power cords.

If you're traveling abroad with a power adapter that isn't 110-240 V-capable, there's a good chance you need a voltage converter or an entirely new brick, depending on where you're going. Travel adapter kits for cars and trains cost up to $100 (about £50). So, if you aren't interested in making that investment, a power inverter is your only other course of action. Planes are another matter entirely.

There is no universal power plug standard used within the travel industry. Even in a single airline's fleet, the same model of plan might use different plugs depending on its configuration. For example, there are four different 737 configurations flown by Alaskan Airlines; one uses cigarette lighter receptacles and one employs the EmPower connector.

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  • 0 Hide
    Gonemad , 5 September 2011 21:03
    Running a full-fledged gaming rig straight of a car lighter IS impossible. Even if you use pliers to suck straight from the batteries it would be hard to make it work, and you would be voiding a few warranties. Assume you have a DC-DC converter and the pliers. We know that motherboards like very much a stable 12V DC source, and they suck at a 60A or 70A pace in worst case scenarios. 60 Amps. 60 X 12 V = 720W. When the alternator runs it generates 90A at 14 or 15 VDC. There isn't much left to run the car (spark plugs) itself. You need the converter because the motherboards don't like the extra 3V, and there waaay more hazards within the circuits of a running car, that the batteries don't care, as long it is all DC. I heard somewhere that within the chassis of the car up to 1000A (yes, thousand amps) ripple can occur at high frequency. Remember that spark plugs go all the way to tens of thousand of volts (or amps? anyway it is very dangerous) to operate, and that sort of voltages and resulting currents can leak back in the chassis. They don't affect you and me, because the steel and aluminum are good conductors, and being 14V helps a lot not getting occupants harmed. That's one of the reasons cars don't run with 110V circuits. Go ahead and touch the 12V (er..) terminals of your car batteries at the same time with your bare hands. If you have a slight cut in your pinky you might feel a little tingly, but that's it.

    People say cars run at 12V, but they don't. They run at 14V or even 15V. I dare you to measure your car's battery voltage while it is running and find exactly 12V, by the way.

    But hey, 720W is the most ludicrous 3x or 4x SLI gaming rig with chunky gaming cards with everything on top and then some, running furmark without throttling.

    Long story short, you don't want to mess around with car circuits, and be glad that 8A fuse is in the lighter.

    Fell free to refute any claims, but please correct me. As I said before, hearsay about the high currents running in the chassi...
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    Anonymous , 7 September 2011 14:47
    Good enough article but since I'm reading it on 'tomshardware.co.UK' (and indeed because the whole article is about travel) you should at least mention in the testing section that 120V is a US voltage and that in other countries it may/will be different.