L702X 130w AC Adapter vs. 125v Power Cord: Both Needed?

I have tried various combinations of searches on this and nothing but ads show up. Dell Outlet Home has some L702X models with a 130w AC power adapter *and* a 125v Power Cord, but many/most units with only the 125v Power Cord. Is the 130w AC power adapter necessary to run all L702X units, so that items with only a 125v Power Cord are in effect *missing* an AC adapter that is necessary to run the laptop (meaning I would have to find a way to buy the AC adapter separately at additional cost)? Or, alternatively, is the 125v Power Cord sufficient for all purposes to run an L702X from a regular wall socket (USA)? Thank you for your help.

 

125V????

There are two power supplies for the l702x, one is 130W, one is 150W. The 150W is only needed if you have the 555m GPU. BOTH have the 115/120V wall plug.

I really don't understand the question...

 

Madmatte,
Thank you for your response. After a long, trying session with Dell Chat, it turns out that the "130w AC Adapter" is the "brick" with a 3-prong line that plugs into the laptop, while the "125v Power Cord" is the line that plugs into the wall socket, at one end, and into the "brick" at the other end. Both pieces are required to run the laptop from a wall socket. Dell Outlet Home sells many or most XPS 17 units with only the "125v Power Cord" included -- meaning that the buyer will have to separately purchase -- at $100-$120 if from Dell -- the "brick" 130w AC Adapter. Nowhere is it stated that the two separate parts are both required. It's a nice little "gotcha" if you haven't read and understood the fine print.

 

Thanks you very much for your response. The 125v cord plugs into the wall socket and, at the other end, into the AC adapter, which in turn plugs into the laptop: two separate parts, both necessary. I was unclear on the terminology. On a GPU question: If one does not game, and does not do high-end video work, but does want to use a separate, external 24" monitor often (database/Visual Studio stuff), do you think the 550m has sufficient horsepower to run both the laptop's 1080p 3D display (which is a 120 refresh rate) as well as a large external monitor? Or would the 555m be more effective? Thanks in advance.

 

Well 125V is still wrong. House line voltage is 110-115 nominal, maybe 120. Yes it can hit 125V and be within spec, but I have NEVER seen anything listed as a 125V device. Not saying you are lying, just that Dell is probably being an idiot again and not checking their typing.

I have not heard of outlet computers only coming with half of the power brick. If you buy a new brick off of Dell, both ends come with it...there's no way they sell a computer without the necessary cables to plug it into the wall. You are being fed crap from the Dell sales person is my guess. Maybe someone will pipe in here on whether or not outlet computers come with the full brick, but I am 99.9% sure they do.

As for your monitor question, for nothing graphics-intensive (basically no gaming really), you are probably fine with the 550m. The 555m from Dell however has a wider memory interface (192 bit or something like that versus 128) and overclocks really nicely too if you care about that. It is definitely a stronger card than the 550m, but if you aren't gaming or anything crazy like that, probably not needed. I got it because I wanted the strongest Optimus card I could get as I wanted to be able to game reasonably on the road and also I do a fair bit of CAD work and a decent GPU never hurts there.

Bottom line, I think you are probably fine with the 550m since you are just doing application work. Neither GPU really has the horsepower needed to game in 3D Stereoscopic mode anyway, which is why every other laptop manufacturer requires the GTX 560m or higher cards for 3D.

 

Thank you again for your quick and helpful response. Dealing with Dell Chat is difficult, and I appreciate your comments and perspective. I have passed on a couple really tasty Dell Outlet Home XPS 17 units, because the configuration description does not include the AC adapter (the "brick") -- two current, random examples (one item specifically including a 130W adapter, one not including it) are shown below. It would be helpful to know (if true) that all Dell Outlet Home XPS 17 units come *with* the AC adapter even if it is not listed. However, my suspicion is that the configuration descriptions have to be taken literally and at face value: if something is not listed, it is not included. The two examples follow:
Certified Refurbished
•Elemental Silver Aluminum
•17.3in FHD WLED AG (1920x1080)
•9 Cell Primary Battery
•Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1000
•Keyboard
•125V Power Cord
•64BIT Operating System
•Microsoft Office Starter


Certified Refurbished
•Elemental Silver Aluminum
•17.3 inch HD+ (900p) WLED Display
•6 Cell Primary Battery
•Intel Centrino Wireless-N 1030
•Internal Backlit Keyboard - English
•125V Power Cord
•130W A/C Adapter, 3P
•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit Operating System DVD
•Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 32-Bit Operating System DVD

 

Well I would say both have the whole thing and Dell is just failing to list it all. I cannot believe they would sell a system without a way to plug it in. Even if the previous owner (most Outlet machines are returned machines) didn't return the whole thing, Dell should be putting the proper cabling in place. Anyone whose gotten an Outlet machine want to pipe in here?

And I now have to shoot someone at Dell for the 125V bit. Just so wrong...I'm sure they mean 115V, but to say it more than once speaks to their incompetence.

No kidding. I've never done the online chat, but their phone people are almost all complete idiots that can only manage to read from a script. I've called them up, told them exactly what I've done to diagnose, and except for ONE time (the only semi-intelligent tech I ever had on the phone, as soon as he heard the problem-HDMI port outputting a green hazy messed up image to several screens-and that I'd tried driver updates and a proper 1.4 cable and all that, he said that I'd done all I could and he'd send out a new mobo. I sent the system back though because they suddenly had the FHD screen), they all immediately started having me do exactly what I had just said I already tried...

And despite all of Dell's fails, I ordered from them, not once but twice (return/reorder). The systems are solid, just hope you never have to deal with their people on the phone because most are half-trained at best. Now, this is true of pretty much all PC manufacturers mind you. Dell is actually one of the better in terms of dealing with in-warranty issues.

 

Don't worry about it.

Running one of those cables downunder with an adapter with ~220-240v going through it. Of course there's frequency and amperage..blahblah.

Shhh.

It works fine.

It might be rated for 125V, doesn't mean it has to exist in reality.

 

Well the adapter is indeed rated for 115 or 230V, 50 or 60 Hz, no switching needed, its all internal as many devices are now. But I'm just having trouble with how Dell lists the power cable...125V is non-standard. The cable can take 230-240V no sweat, just not the point.