Lenovo's A/C adapter plug.

Lately I have been unplugging and plugging in my laptops power cord. I was wondering, how durable are Lenovos A/C adapter plugs? A friend once told me that power plugs are the most fragile part of a laptop.

Just curious. Thanks.

 

i don't think you should be worried about the adapter plug, you should worry about the female part of the plug in the laptop that holds the adapter plug.... the wear on Lenovo thinkpad occurs more in this component.

 

Yes to above, considering what lead_org says actually has to do with a part of the laptop . But maybe that is what you meant.

 

I find the female part inside the laptop is rather solid. The male part on the cable is indeed legendary junk, at least with the original lenovo 90W power bricks. With regular use (=moving the connected laptop around and regular plug/unplug) you can plan on buying a new one every two years even if you're relatively careful with it.

 

I've got a pretty fat connector and I'd say it's better than thin ones.

Just don't yank on it. If you are really scared get yourself a dock.

 

The practical common sense thing to do is to leave it plugged in and disconnect at the AC adaptor part (ie the brick). This is provided your NB is really a DT. Shaka bra.

 

i guess i should have mentioned that i was talking in relative term. The ac adapter plug itself doesn't have movable metal strips like many other laptop adapters, so it is harder to wear them out (usually the older laptop adapter would become loose when the metal strips in the plug becomes permanently bent)..... so most of the wearing out occurs at the female receiver end of the power port on the laptop itself.

 

I actually meant the female part of the A/C adapter plug.

I was actually considering a dock to go with my T400s but I never knew the laptop charged from the dock. In the mean time I can't avoid the constant unplugging and plugging in so I'll have to be careful I guess.

Thanks guys.

 

As a ThinkPad user who have been doing the plug and unplug on my (20V) ThinkPads every single day for many years, I have had no issues at all.

My recent experiences:

For about 2 years I have been plugging/unplugging my X61s (often several times a day due to meetings) and using it on the road and in the air at least 15 days every month. No problems. Same applied to my previous T60 - only for 1 year. Same thing with my X61 - 1 year. X200 and X200s about the same.

No issues with the adapter or the connector in the laptop.

I think you get my point

 

I read reviews to compare the 65W and the 90W (I bought 2 external battery chargers, each requires one to charge). At least on amazon.com there are loads of complaints that the 90W is junk and the connector fails prematurely, yet the 65W one is rated highly..

Is there any merit to those reviews? I wonder if it woudl matter if I use a 65W to a 90W for the external battery chargers, like if they charge faster? The T410 is coming with the 65W because it has integrated graphics.

 

Good question. My experiences are only with the 65W charger.

There have been a few recalls in the past (i.e. here: http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=SAFE-COMP and here http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-71460, but none that relates specifically to the 90W charger as far as I know.

I did notice how a 90W charger I had connected to an UltraBase made some high pitch noises which my 65W chargers did not. Don't know if that was a sign of it malfunction soon or within spec.

As for charging faster, I have not experienced this. I think it is solely a matter of how much "juice" your laptop needs and not a matter of higher W equaling faster charge.

 

the 65 watt and 90 watt adapter should not have any differences in quality, since they are made by the same manufacturers.

 

those recall are related to the IBM thinkpad power adapter and not the Lenovo thinkpad adapters.

the 90 watt power adapter does charge the battery significantly faster than the 65 watt, i have personally tested this.

 

Interesting. Examples? I have not timed it, but did not notice a faster charge on my X61(s) or X200. By significant, what are we talking about in minutes and which type of battery (number of cells)?

 

i will do a more detailed test on the weekend and post up the result (from memory with the 9 cell battery can charge upto 20% faster using the 90w compared to the 65w). For the pleasure of this test, i will use two T60 with the exact same spec and using the same battery manufacturer with similar charge cycles.

 

Yeah, but this is using JUST the charger, and wouldn't be powering my laptop...

I wonder if there could be some differences, like perhaps the gauge on the 90W plugs are more brittle because they are thicker??? Why else would there be so many complaints specific to only the 90W adapters?

 

It's a looong shot, but maybe they get hotter: usually you have the vent very close, and systems that come by default with 90W should have more fan activity and put out more heat in the vicinity.

Uh.. OT: why do you guys have network speed measurements in your profiles? That's just annoying. And.. well.. a bit geeky!?

 

For a surface mount component, I'd say heat's a long shot. In terms of manufacturers of their AC adapters, I've seen OEMs from Delta Lite-On and others. So wouldn't they differ?



Oh, should I put down my maximum router-based L2TP VPN throughput with encryption and compression enabled?

 

within the same manufacturer of AC adpater, the plug quality between the 65 w and 90 w is the same, as they roll off the same manufacturing process and fitted to the actual power brick.