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Trust Compact Notebook Power Adapter PW-2120
by bettyboop2002
I bought this adapter when my laptop charger broke last year. I wanted a charger that would work on various laptops as I thought I would soon need to replace my laptop and if I chose a laptop from a different manufacturer this would work, or I could pass it on to any friends or family who had charger trouble.
I chose this one ... as I am impatient and it was the only one available in the small electrical store in the village where I live. It cost me over £30 but I have since seen them online for around £20.
The charger comes in a large sealed plastic box which was hard to get into but is good as you know it hasn't been tampered with, used or any parts missing. It warns on the box not to use the adapter in a damp environment and if you need to clean it to do so with a dry cloth.
In the box is the adapter, which is quite large in size and is rectangle with a long cord. It is black with a shiny finish and has the name and model number of the adapter and a blue light which turns on when it is plugged in.
Also in the box is a fabric carry bag which is handy to store the tips in rather than keeping the packaging. There are 8 tips in the pack which are attached to the end of the cord and make the adapter suitable for use with the following brands:
- Acer
- Asus
- Compaq
- Dell
- Fujitsu
- HP
- IBM
- Lenovo
- Packard Bell
- Samsung
- Sony
- Toshiba
There is also a small key which you use to turn a dial on the charger around to the required power output for your laptop. You will be able to see which voltage you need on your existing charger or on the computer itself.
The adapter was very quick and easy to use, all I had to do was plug the power cord into the wall and adapter, use the key to select the voltage and select my tip. I then plugged it into my laptop and had power again!
I didn't notice it at first, only after a couple of weeks that the adapter is really quite loud. The noise comes from the fan which is inside the adapter to prevent it overheating. I normally use my laptop whilst watching television so I can't hear it too much but if I haven't got the television the noise is quite annoying and loud for such a small thing.
This is the only negative with this charger. There are probably cheaper models available but as this one works perfectly on my laptop and does as it's mean to I can't fault it. I think these adapters which come with multiple tips are a good option rather than replacing your existing charger as they will be able to work on a new laptop should you choose to upgrade and change manufacturers.
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Apple MagSafe Power Adapter
by bskel
I use the MagSafe Power Adapter in my Apple MacBook. They are great chargers, and the design, as with most Apple products, is pretty magnificent.
The cable connection is held in place by a magnet, making it safer if the wire is tugged and happens to come out of the laptop. At the main end of the adapter, there is a changeable ... end, so you can use the chargers in loads of different countries just by changing the adapter type.
The connector pins inside the charger have been designed so it can be inserted in either orientation. One problem here is, if the connector is facing one way, unfortunately it blocks some ports.
There is a small LED light on the connector, indicating the charge level in the laptop. If the light is green, the MacBook is charged. If the light is amber or red, the MacBook is charging.
Inside the connector end, there a 5 pins. 4 larger pins and 1 smaller pin, in the center. 2 pins inside the connector are grounded, preventing any dangerous situations for users. 2 pins in the connector carry the DC charge, and, the smaller pin, in the center controls the charge.
The MagSafe 60W charger comes in at around £60, which is quite expensive for what it is. You can get cheap, knock off versions of the MagSafe charger, but I doubt very much they work as well as the original Apple ones. Instead of wasting money on a cheaper version, that could possibly stop working after so long, I would go for the original Apple MagSafe charger.
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Apple MagSafe Power Adapter
by MsTricia
I bought my apple macbook (the old style white one that they don't make anymore!) last year January. For a hefty price of about £850 for this device, it came accompanied with a charger which is basically this item I am reviewing.
It is essentially a white charger, with a long wire that at one end plugs into sockets, then ... halfway down the wire is this white block looking device which can be separated in two. This block is essentially the adapter to carry across the energy to the other end which is this small head which clicks into the macbook.
The Magsafe Adapter has quite a long cable, perhaps ten feet or so, which is ideally long enough for me as I carried my macbook to university with me, and often sockets would be at the back of the class room or the side wall in the library so this allowed me to use my macbook at a long enough distance I didn't need to be squashed in the corner of a room. The small plug end has 5 little screws which fit into the holes in the macbook to transmit the energy. It has a small light on this which is orange when charging and then turns green when the macbook is charged to full capacity. This helps if my macbook is off I will still know if it has been charged fully by the indicator light on the adapter. Not only is the Magsafe safe to use, but it also has a great feature which lets you know the status of the charge.
I have only had my macbook for 20 months so I was very disappointed last week when all of a sudden it stopped working! It initially began only charging at a very slow rate, and then it would only charge in a certain position if I held the wire at a certain angle and didn't move (how annoying!) and then by the end of the week it wouldn't do a thing. With my love of reviewing I didn't know what to do with myself! It's not like I could just borrow an ordinary charger for the time being so I trotted off to the apple store in Covent Garden to check out the price of a new adapter.
Well to my horror and surprise this item costs £65 brand new. Nearly dying I looked on amazon for a cheaper one but wasn't convinced of them being a genuine apple product. The genius that I am I then realised at the time of purchasing my macbook I also purchased apple care, which extended my warranty on my macbook to 3 years, and as I only had it for a year and a half I was entitled to a new charger. Yippee! Honestly, there was no way I wanted to fork out 65 quid on a new charger! The gentleman at the genius bar said it was the adpater block in the middle that was no longer working so he simply replaced this for me and I was a happy bunny.
Overall this is a good product but I was disappointed at the longevity of it, especially considering the high price tag. I do not consider myself a heavy user of my macbook, I did more so last year at university but since graduating it is only used as a leisure tool (lots of online shopping yay!) so I really don't see how it gave up so early. I have an old no name laptop that I bought in 2008 and to be honest the charger has never failed on me, and although it moves slow it has been reliable and I've not had to replace a thing. Apple seem very sly in making products that basically cannot be charged with anything other than their branding of chargers so lot's of money in their deep pockets. I guess I can't really say whether I'd recommend this or not because if you have a macbook you don't really have a choice but to use this anyway!
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