Targus Universal AC Home/Office 70W Power Notebook Adapter
Item Purchased: Targus Universal AC Home/Office 70W Power Notebook Adapter
Location Purchased: Best Buy / 1000 W. North Ave. / Chicago, IL
Price: $83.99 + tax
Purchased on: 09/12/07
Review: This is my third AC adapter for my laptop so either I’m doing something wrong, or they don’t make electronics like they used to. Considering the fact that I usually only plug one end of my adapter into the back of my laptop and the other end of the adapter into an electrical outlet in my apartment wall, I’m betting on the latter option.
Though $83.99 is a bit more than I was looking to spend on a specialized extension cord, I paid the price begrudgingly in hopes that this thing would last longer than a mere 9 months. My old BriteOn adapter served its purpose, but began heating up more than originally expressed in my review and soon became touchy, requiring a feat of balance and angling to get it to send a surge of electricity through the cord to my laptop. You’d think it was a garden hose that had been run over by a lawn mower.
My new Targus adapter has a few advantages over my older, now dead and re-rated adapter. First of all, the wattage output to my laptop is only 70w instead of the 90w from my BriteOn adapter that would occasionally cause my computer to overheat and shut down. Targus also includes a carrying pouch for the adapter, which will come in handy if I ever manage to pay off my debt and can afford to travel again. Inside the pouch is a smaller ziplock bag full of 8 little power adapter tips that the end of the six foot DC output cord plugs into and, subsequently plug into over 6,300 different laptop models. It took me a second to find the tip that worked in my Gateway, and when I did finally plug it in, the power adapter didn’t work until I took the AC input cord out of the wall and plugged it in again. There hasn’t been any more sign of this glitch, but it does make me a bit hesitant about my purchase. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
I suppose the last thing to mention is that there is a useless blue light on the block of the adapter that serves to… well… I’m not sure what it serves to do. I suppose it is to notify you that the power in your wall is working, but I would think this information would be easy enough to ascertain through other methods. It must have something to do with sleek futuristic design… A quality in home electronics (especially power cords) that I have no interest in at all.
Rating: 3.5 / 5
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