Black & Decker 100 Watt USB and AC Power Inverter

Thats awsome…you worked at Radio Shak and still don’t know what you are talking about!!!

It really depends on the laptop.

Look at the label on the power brick (if it has one, or the labels on the bottom of the laptop). If it doesn’t state watts, look for the INPUT volts and amps and multiply the numbers (use the lower numbers). My laptop brick says it uses 100V and 1.5A, which means it’ll use 150 watts. This is a very rough guestimate.

HOWEVER, that is usually the MAX power (usually inrush, aka the rush of power when you turn it on). I know for a fact a 90W inverter powers my laptop fine. If you want to know what your laptop REALLY uses, get a Kill-A-Watt. I have one and found my laptop really pulls around 50 watt under heavy usage (screen on full bright, 100% CPU, and charging the battery, 20W under normal usage).

FWIW, my laptop is a 4 year old Dell Latitude D600. As stated elsewhere, newer laptops might actually need more power.

[QUOTE=kylelmccoy, post:17, topic:178254]
I’ve been to radio shack. How can you EVER claim that helps? You guys are as clueless as John McCain without a speechwriter.

lol, so true. My friend once went into a radio shack & asked for a fire wire cable. The guy working there told him he needed to talk to a plumber or maybe an electrician, because they didn’t sell cables that you could run fire through. I swear this is a true story. Radio Shack fails in their hiring standards.

Actually, you need to check the specs of the laptop itself. Your adapter has 120 max, but the laptop will only draw as much power as it needs, not the full 120, so you would still be ok. The adapter you have will only provide 120 watts under 2 conditions: 120 watts are needed by the device, and 120 watts are avaialble.

they have these at target. they go for $20.00. So this is a good deal even with 5 bucks shipping.

makes me wish i didnt buy 3 power inverters during the wootoff.

To answer the laptop question, I have two answers.

First of all, most current laptops use 20volts, and 4.5amps (20 volts * 4.5 watts/volt = 90 watts). Thinkpads (I work at Lenovo) use 4.5 amps with higher models (most T, some R, and the new W), and smaller models (like the x Series) use 3.25 amps. These numbers can be found on your AC adapter

This is a recent change - most laptops before the last couple of years used 70-72 watts (16 volts, 4.5 amps).

HOWEVER, I strongly suggest that you get a DC (or combo AC/DC) adapter made by your computer’s OEM. After the Targus AC adapter I had at home caught fire, I haven’t used anything that didn’t say IBM or Lenovo on my machine. Most of the ones I see on eBay are knockoffs.

Anyway, for devices that can handle power fluctuations this sounds like a great idea! If you need to charge camcorder batteries or as you mentioned the odd Sansa, this is a great idea! and for $13 incl S&H, not bad. In for 2.

Problem solved:
http://appliances.pricegrabber.com/blenders/p/1284/form_keyword=party%20blender/st=query_link/]

Radio Shack: You’ve got questions, we’ve got stupid looks…

my 300 watt inverter struggles to power my dell with a 17 inch monitor but this may be good for smaller laptops. it could also just be my car though because its only a 90 watt power supply hmmmm

got mine today

Still in shipping, one state away :frowning:

So that’s like another 2 weeks right?

I got this so I could plug in my IBM/Lenovo ThinkPad T60p on American Airlines. It has a 90w power brick.

I tried it on a couple of flights last week. It soiled the bed.

First, you’d notice an electrical-burning type smell. The unit would get pretty hot. Then, it would just cut in and out every 5 seconds (with the light going from green to red and back).

Sucks, pretty badly.

I haven’t tried it on any lighter load.

Yeah. Mine won’t even power an ipod.

It’s garbage.