Hello all. First post for ThinkScopes, but a very crucial one.
I’ve been a technician / IT guy / nerd for 30 odd years, and what has always boggled my mind is how people treat their laptop adapters. How many of you realize that without one, your computer is nothing but a very expensive bookstand, or a coffee table, at best?
I’ve replaced so many adapters throughout my career with a dollar value on these replacements in the tens, even hundreds of thousands of dollars. That is a whole lot of money wasted on pure negligence and lack of knowledge.
I have but two advise to give, which will ensure a safe, problem free operation of your laptop adapter for the duration of the machine it came with, and even as a backup adapter later on for your upgrade if you choose to be loyal to your brand.
First and foremost. Do NOT wrap the cables around your adapter. It might look good when you’ve wrapped it up all tidy, but all adapters are pretty solid and heavy, and when your cables end up being crushed between it and a hard place, the vast majority of them will eventually be damaged. Replacing a cable on a laptop adapter, even splicing together a cable, using professional methods, is hard, expensive and it might save it from the eBin, but this all can be avoided by simply taking care of it.
This is by far the most durable, space saving and compact solution I’ve found for these devices to this date, but other solutions to this exist, and please feel free to chime in on your adapter care.
The second thing you need to take care of, albeit, easily replaceable and inexpensive, is the velcro strap provided with all Lenovo (and most other brands adapters), taking into account the rubber straps provided by Dell, f.e. on the adapters that are designed for wrapping your cables around them. The most common adapter I’ve ever had to replace by the by. Most people either loosen the velcro strap up and leave it hanging to collect hairs and dust and debris, scuffing them and crushing in a short time so they become unusable.
These straps are essential for keeping the adapter+cables safe, secure, for saving space in your laptop bag whilst on the move, and of course for the perpetual desktop placed laptop, save you from yet another mess of a cable beneath the desk.
When not using these straps, simply roll them up, slide them up against the adapter so they won’t tangle with anything, and they’ll be ready to serve the next time you pack up your adapter.
And for you Mac users, a MagSafe adapter costs more than a 170W adapter for the W- series ThinkPad workstation. A simple care costs nothing. A new adapter costs an arm and a leg, and without one your machine is dead.
Happy ThinkPadding!
Atli Jarl Martin #LenovoIN