Has anyone ever used one of these for their notebook? Like This Are they any good? I have about 4 days of riding in a car coming up and would like to get some work done while not driving.
Make sure it is capable of handling the wattage of your laptop. I had one that worked with my old Toshiba that did just fine, got a new laptop and when the big East Coast Power Failure happened a couple of years ago I found that the power converter could not handle the laptop, wouldn’t even try.
Also watch out some require you to remove them from the cigarete lighter prior to starting or shutting down the vehicle (could get a nasty spike).
A good rule is to use them only for charging the laptop battery. If your going to be traveling outside of only your car, buy the portable units. Match your model number "exactly" when buying one. There's no such thing as universal without taking a chance. They're pricey ($60) but travel well and come with airline adapters. If it's only your car, get a power inverter installed and use it, they are a much safer source of power. Tiger Direct in Raleigh has some 350W units very cheap and they will do the job. Most laps are 90w or less constant and 130w peak so the 350 is a safe buy. The 175W unit may be tasked to it's limit if you do start the lap while plugged in. I try to tell my customers to just buy a second battery, for just a few more bucks. That should give you 5 solid hours of use and your not dangling by a cord all the time.
