Help me choose a power supply for a Gateway laptop

The really cheap generics are often really cheaply built and won't even do what they're specced to do.
http://www.electricstuff.co.uk/acadapter.html

As for the end breaking off, I haven't had that problem with my Kensington despite having owned it for nearly 6 years. You can use heat shrink to hold it on, which still lets you change the tip by cutting the heat shrink off.

Not a single laptop charger is sold by newegg - all are sold by third party sellers on newegg... what is that about?

c627627 said:

Not a single laptop charger is sold by newegg - all are sold by third party sellers on newegg... what is that about?

Click to expand...

If that bothers you then just buy it from a different site...

I am not particular to newegg, there is no irrational devotion to a site, I ask that from a point of view of how it fits in with the conversation in this thread.

If the topic was a desktop power supply or a video card or a similar computer part, it would be strange if they didn't carry it or that there would be limited knowledge on what sets them apart... or any kind of difficulty in figuring out what's in the market, who has a good reputation, what's the best deal on it, etc.

Can you imagine someone saying "oh just buy any desktop power supply or any motherboard or any video card and just find out the hard way if it's good...."
Can you imagine hearing "well I've had a $5 power supply in my desktop for x time and nothing happened... therefore..." etc. etc.

I do agree that it's a little ridiculous that laptop chargers aren't reviewed and tested like other PC components, and there is so little known about choosing a good one, but I understand why too. Laptops are low power devices. Even at full load, most don't break 50w power draw. Also, the charger itself doesn't have to do anything but supply 19v, all voltages used by the computer are split by the computer. That means the charger doesn't need to be as complicated, thus less expensive.

You're over thinking this man. Grab a charger, it will work so long as it has enough power for the computer and the plug fits.

Even if the question was asked by someone being prudent and checking with ocforums before making any purchase, which is a smart thing to do even for non-computer parts, it wouldn't be overthinking it...

But this thread is about a defective model with apparent history of problems... so the question about what a reliable model is stands.

Does this mean that a laptop using a 65W charger can use a 90W charger?

Yes, it's the same idea as when buying a PSU for a desktop computer. Ratings are a maximum, so it won't hurt anything getting one with a higher rating than what you need. You just may end up spending more for it, although I don't think that's the case with laptop chargers. They all seem to be around the same price, at least for the 65-90w ones.