Fixing the PC power adapter cluster-muck
It's the small things in life.
So it is that when your car battery dies, you can jump-start the engine using generic cables sold by any of the thousands of retail locations that stock the item. And fairly soon, charging up most cell phones will be just as easy: seven wireless operators and handset makers just agreed at the GSMA 2009 conference to standardize chargers.
The Micro-USB connector used on this Motorola cell phone charger will soon be the standard for all chargers.
(Credit: Motorola)Terrific. But when it comes to laptop PC power adapters, you'd be well advised to heed the tag line from a well-known American Express commercial: Don't leave home without it.
Because if you do, you're likely screwed.
The fact is that every PC maker has its own secret sauce to define how its laptop computer charger interacts with the battery. If you're stuck and someone is kind enough to lend you a charger designed for another make and model, the plugs usually won't fit and what's more, sometimes they use different voltage. Even if you manage to locate a substitute charger, where the ratings match and the unit plugs into your notebook, there's always the chance it may void your warranty.
What about keeping a universal power adapter that connects to your car's cigarette lighter? Not really. A lot of us take the subway and besides, that avoids the question still facing the PC industry: why not take the lead from the cell phone companies and coalesce around a single standard? It can't be that hard.
It's also a major convenience. One reason why corporations standardize is to eliminate these kinds of potential headaches. One of the reasons I loved my old IBM ThinkPad is that I could charge up using any of the line's adapters. (Check out this dated but still interesting read by a Lenovo product manager explaining the context for the switchover to a different AC adapter barrel plug. The new power connector no longer physically fits in the power jack on an older generation ThinkPad.)
Before making its announcement in Barcelona earlier this week, the GSM Association likely had to twist a few arms. Group decisions are never easy. But getting the signatories to the declaration to standardize will prove to be a boon for consumers. Seventeen mobile operators along with the big names--LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson--all agreed to use the Micro-USB technology as the common universal charging interface (Apple so far has not signed on).
I'm sure there was money to be made when a customer had to replace the lost accessory, But the trade association was doing its membership a huge favor by convincing the operators and handset makers to do what was in their enlightened self interest all along. (It's a good first step. Now, how about a universal charger for all handheld electronics?)
Unfortunately, there's no real analogue to the GSMA in the PC business. With no candidate likely to fill that void, the absence of a standard suggests that the status quo will continue to be the order of the day. No computer maker has much interest sticking out its neck out. Simply put, nobody wants to take responsibility if a customer needs to use a third-party charger and things go kapooie.
So before heading out on the road with your laptop PC, tie a string around your finger. You're still on your own.
Charles Cooper has covered technology and business for more than 25 years. Before joining CNET News, he worked at the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet. E-mail Charlie. 
Being able to borrow a PC battery cable (when needed) from one of my friends would make my mobile life so much easier for me.
In the world of cell phones I can't imagine that the voltages differ so much that one adapter wouldn't be able to handle the vast majority of notebooks with a single power adapter. Most power adapters are capable of varying voltage within a range, but they generally don't vary to the degree that laptops do.
The MagSafe connector is interesting, but other laptop makes seemed to also be able to make connectors that were not damage prone.
Laptop power supplies do try to put as much mechanism in the brick, to keep weight and heat out of the laptop. I'd think with modern technology, it would be easy to make a smart adapter that could negotiate with the laptop to set operation parameters. Video monitors have done that for ages.
If we are going for smart chargers, I'd like to see them standardized across devices. If I travel, do I really need to bring essentially duplicate chargers for my laptop, my digital camera, and my cell phone. Mini-USB is a good start, but delivers insufficent power (max of about 2.5 watts) for things like laptop batteries (which are often in the 50 watt/hour range).. Making laptop charging power flexible might be a solution too, so you could fully charge the laptop from a miniusb charger in 20 hours (sufficent for occasional use on a trip), or from a bigger charger in 1 hour (charge and run from the charger), or even anywhere in between (the device and charger negotiate).
What you could need is a smart charging connector standard, that included power negotiation. Then any charger would work on any device, although capabilities (charge only/run from the charger) and charging speed might vary.
I will agree that we need far more standardization whereas the tips are concerned, but I don't ever see a day where there is just ONE power adapter for EVERY laptop. Even the vendors selling "Universal" power adapters have more than one model because they couldn't create a single adapter that could handle all the different variations in power requirements. That being said most laptops have either a 45W, 70W, or 90W. There used to be a lot of 110W adapters back in the Pentium 4 days, but most of those laptops have long gone out to pasture either because they overheated or they have long since killed their batteries so that the batteries have no longer hold a charge.
Since I have seen adapter that can support both 45W and 70W I think we could have as little as just 2 adapters(a 45/70W adapter and 90W adapter for the high end models) for the overwhelming percentage(95-99%) of laptops. While that wouldn't be nirvana that would still be better than a different tip for almost every vendor and sometimes even different tips with the same vendor.
While I think that a standardization of cell phones is a realistic idea I think that the concept that we are going to have one charger for all laptops is just slightly idealistic.
- by NoVista February 19, 2009 4:22 PM PST
- The same problem exists with digital cameras and the ubiqutous PC peripherals. Argh!!!
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(10 Comments)Not only in voltages but in physical size. Years ago, I suggested to a company here in the land of oz that they could do us a favour by making power boards with wider spacing to accodomate the various monsters. Sigh, the reply was "we make power boards". Well, a dozen years passed and now, a number of companies have realised the problem. Finally.
One small step for a man. But really, four or five plugpacks and a power brick or two makes such an unsightly mess under the desk ...