a ThinkPad AC Adapter Question

recently, I bought an used AC Adapter for my aunt's ThinkPad 570E. In addition, I bought myself a T61 for college works.

I always see 90W , 65W , or 40W etc on these AC adapters.

Can anyone please explain to me the difference between them?
Are they gonna make any differences?
let's say
T61 with 65W vs. T61 with 90W

If they make no difference, will the adapter with a bigger number W be heavier?

 

Not necessarily heavier. You might get a little faster battery charge on a higher W adapter. I plan on using my 120w adapter at home and leaving my 90W adapter packed in the bag while on the move.

 

dude the lighter the W better...65 W is probably the best...yes, it may take longer to charge, but In the long run it'll prolong your battery's max capacity life. An example: It's the same as the li-on digital camera batteries...you can get a 15 min
charger and or an all-nighter that takes around 6-7 hours to charge, 15 min rechargeable batt's will work for about a month and then you'll need to replace them since they won't charge to their max capacity i.e around 50% of what they used too... while the 6-7 hour batt's will charge to their max cap for 6-7 months or even longer.

my advice stick with 65W better in the long run!

 

I'm not an electrician and I'm not going to pretend to know everything about this subject. I'm just going to guess that you don't know either because I think your logic is a little faulty.

You are comparing battery chargers to ac/dc adapters. The charging capability of the laptops battery is built-in to the laptop NOT the ac adapter. If a 120W or 90W adapter charges faster than a 60W this is only because the 60W isn't providing as much power as the internal charging capabilities will allow. Remember I said it " might" charge a "little faster". The advantage of having a higher watt rated adapter is that the adapter is capable of providing the power the laptop might need on demand.

As laptops these days throttle up and down the CPU and graphics. Not to mention display settings that may increase/decrease power draw and high RPM HDDs. A higher rated adapter will provided the needed power that a lesser rated adapter might not be capable of providing. If you have a choice opt for a higher rated adapter. If you don't have a choice I wouldn't be too concerned unless you have dedicated graphics and are a heavy load user.

 

I have both the 90W and the 65W. I prefer the 65W because it's lighter and smaller.

 

sweeeeeet!

there ya go! All hail the Sp00n!

 

Can anyone please explain to me the difference between them?

Those are the different wattage ratings of the adapters. The wattage rating is another way of saying how much power the adapter will safely output. The higher the wattage rating the greater the power demand the adapter will handle. Using a larger adapter does not necessarily mean that you'll automatically use more power. It just means that if your machine demands more power that the adapter will be able to keep up with that demand. It seems most manufacturers make a couple of adapters (say 65W, 90W, 120W). Ultraportables get the smaller adapter, mainstream/powerhouse models get the mid-sized capacity adapter, and docking stations / monster machines get the Sherman tank sized adapter.

Are they gonna make any differences?

Yes, with some exceptions. Most of the time a 40W adapter will work just find with all but the most power hungry machine as long as you are just doing simple office work. Notebooks are wonderful machines when it comes to energy conservation. Unless you are putting it under a good load it won't use much power. Loads don't just come from the CPU, hard drive, display, etc. You also have to look at other items such as charging a depleted battery, or external devices that use power such as a portable hard drive or docking station. Once you start adding more loads to the notebook you're going to place a greater demand on the adapter. That's why manufacturers’ always build a safety factor into the adapters they provide. If your machine shipped with a xW adapter you should be able to throw everything at the machine and at the worst the adapter will get hot to the touch. If your machine shipped with a 90W adapter and you're using a 65W you should be OK in most cases. Your machine may take longer to charge the battery (some manufacturers disable battery charging) or run at a reduced speed.

If they make no difference, will the adapter with a bigger number W be heavier?

Generally speaking as you go up in wattage the adapter will get larger / heavier. That is directly related to the power handling capabilities of the components that go in the construction of the adapter. There are several different ways to construct adapters so you can't necessarily judge wattage by size / weight alone. Take a look at the link below. Apple recently released a revised adapter for their Macbook Pro notebooks. The smaller adapter is the new rev and is has the same wattage rating at the old unit.

http://www.engadget.com/2007/07/20/apples-macbookpro-85w-magsafe-adapter-finally-shrunk/

 

just wanted to add that the 65 watt adapter gets burning hot. not really very important, but there was a thread recently where a gentleman on this forum stated he left it under a stack of clothes and he smelled burnt plastic.

 

Here is a pic of my T60 adapter vs. my TZ90 adapter. You thought the T60 adapter was small.

 

Yes! All hail duffyanneal

Yep that's a 65W adapter SCREAMING to try to provide the power that the laptop is demanding.

 

That's one of the many things that sucks about Sony. The Vaios that ship to Japan always have nice slim and light adapters. By the time the models reach North America the adapters are huge. That is one way Sony saves money due to the ever so depressing dollar/yen exchange rate.

Panteedropper that looks like a S series adapter. Just to show you how Sony pulled one over on you take a look at what ships with the Japanese homeland S models.

 

You can actually buy that adapter (you'll need the 19V model) in the States now. It goes for around $90.

I like Sony products. They do some things really well but then fall flat on their face in others. They can't make any single product well. It's like when they are dolling out the projects nine guys in a ten person team are gung-ho and spend many nights without sleep to make the perfect machine. While the last guy is the town moron and waits until the last day to come up with a smokin' pile-o-crap design. That sums it up nicely.

 

Couldnt agree with you more. My S460 has some pretty spectacular build quality, the keyboard is excellent considering the fact that its a 95% size and all the panels are tight considering, even though its had its fair share of pretty nasty spills. My charging circuit jumped overboard though, and I can only use the sucker plugged in.