Going to Europe and need a ?

My family will be going to the Netherlands for about a month to visit family and we're bringing our two laptops to entertain us during the awkward moments of family reunions. For some reason I can't think of the word for the device that I'll need to buy in order for us to plug our laptops into Dutch wall outlets (transformer??), but anyways, we're looking to buy two of these "mystery" things. My computer is a Inspiron 1420 and the other one we haven't bought yet (it'll be an ultraportable, so I'm guessing it'll use less power than my 1420).

So, as far as my questions go.
1) What the heck is this device called again?!

2) What should I be looking for in terms of voltage or watts or whatever necessary to be able to plug our laptops into Dutch outlets? I don't want to fry any circuits or anything.

Any other comments from people who have done this before would be greatly appreciated.

 

you won't need a transformer since all the notebook power adaptors support voltages from 110 to 240 volts. Just buy a socket adapter for european outlets, will cost you 5 bucks. Just read what it says on the back of the brick to make sure

 

Your adapter can take diffrent voltages all you need is an adapter from the US plug to the Foreign plug. My dad has a foreign laptop and it has an american adapter on the end of the charger and it works just fine. The adapter basically just fits the 2 pins into a diffrent 2 pins it dosent change voltage or anything

 

One of these "5 bucks" ones,


or...


That should work with most common plugs in most countries which might proof to be more useful in the future.

As mentioned your notebook's AC charger should be able to switch between voltages.

 

Oh wow, I didn't realize it would be that simple. Thanks for the quick responses.

 

most AC->DC adapters (like phone charges) work for 110->240V because they are mostly made in China/EU and is mostly engineered to fit all of the world's energy supply so that exports to different countries can use the same chip, just need to have a different electrical plug/head (cheap to just design one circuit chip)

the only adapter that i've run across that isn't international voltage is some obscure electronic dictionary's charger(the dictionary takes 4xAAA batteries anyways, so..)

 

Hi again. I have one more quick question. My sister wants to bring her Ipod with her, but we're debating whether or not its power adapter can work the same way as a laptop's power adapter does. I checked on the back and it says Input: 100-240V ~ 50-60Hz (exactly the same as my laptop's power brick). So can I conclude that her Ipod will be able to charge there (with a socket adapter of course).

 

Perfectly fine as long as you have a socket adapter~

 

You only need a socket adapter.

 

everytime when i read this post i always have "you need an escort there" in mind

sorry