Buying another laptop charger

[handscombmp]

I want a new charger for my laptop which i can leave plugged in (wont be on all the time) behind my desk so i can put the laptop on the desk and just plug it straight in instead of untangling cables etc.

When there seems to be lots about on ebay (like this one) but i'm a bit worried about buying one off there for fear of fire risk from cheap chinese ones.

Where would be best to buy from.

Laptop is a packard bell nj65 by the way.

[DDY]

Personally I wouldn't worry as much about it causing a fire as much as it could damage your computer, or simply stop working as many cheap-o chargers I've been through have done.

When buying items that have an increased likelihood of developing a fault on eBay, I tend to go for sellers who offer refunds as opposed to replacements, that way if the charger turns out to be faulty you can get your money back and not make the same mistake.

[Behemoth]

Just buy an official one for your laptop from ebay. I know its hard to tell whats oficial and whats not but the HP ones that I got for my laptop were fine

[Funkstar]

How about a mulit use adapter from the likes of Maplin? as long as it supplies the correct voltage (usually 19v these days) and has the same or higher current/power rating (Amps/watts) then you are good to go.

[lazer]

Clones UK which use Amazon are a great company. Bought a Dell one from them recently and it cost me £20 and was a genuine Dell replacement!! Great company to deal with too.

Wouldn't touch the Maplin one, expensive and rubbish.

[peterb]

The battery charging ccts are usually internal to the laptop and derived from the overall DC input - so you need to look at the rating of the original PSU (voltage and power) and get something with the same voltage (plus or minus 10% should be an acceptable tolerance) Most are around 17V.

The other thing is the connector. Most are some form of two pin coaxial connector (cenre recessed socket with an outer cylindrical core) but others have multiple pin plugs. If it is the latter, the PSU may have remote voltage sensing (for voltage stabilisation) in which case go for the original equipment. If it is the standard connecytor, there are generic PSU's about. Someone mentioned Maplin, but Scan also sell one (made by FSP who are also quite a large OEM supplier).

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/90W-F...U-87-Eff-Green

[Funkstar]

maplin used to sell that exact same FSP supply, perhaps they still do. I think it's that one I use as a spare for one of my laptops. It has the advantage of having a normal 2-pin 'figure of eight' mains power connector rather than the weird three pin "laptop" mains lead that the original ASUS PSU has.

[da_ging]

any on ebay that state "replacement adapter" will be chinese cack so avoid those

just search for ' 19v genuine ' and that should bring up some decent ones, just make sure you get one that fits your laptop which i believe has a standard 2.5mm inner and 5.5mm outer tip

[GT-R]

any on ebay that state "replacement adapter" will be chinese cack so avoid those

just search for ' 19v genuine ' and that should bring up some decent ones, just make sure you get one that fits your laptop which i believe has a standard 2.5mm inner and 5.5mm outer tip

Got myself a cheap Chinese one recently, it does the job but must admit its for an older laptop which isn't worth much, i wouldn't risk it with a newish machine.