[Gllug] Multi-voltage power adaptors

[general_email at technicalbloke.com]

On 07/02/11 10:58, dominicwalden at tesco.net wrote:
> Hi, 
>
> I recently purchased a Toshiba Satellite 4080XCDT (for £15 bought as shown) without a power adaptor. It didn't power up when someone tested it for me, but I'd need to get my own adaptor in order to diagnose what the problem is.
>
> So, I have two options. One is to buy a single voltage power adaptor suited for this laptop (for about £20), or buy a multi-voltage adaptor (I was thinking Maplins unless there are better places, for about £25-30). My question is whether there would be advantage to getting a multi-voltage. It would mean that if the Sat didn't work I could always use it for other laptops (thus I don't waste £20). But, would the single voltage be better 'performance-wise' (I dunno if that would be the right way to put it, I know very little about laptops im afraid), would there be a risk with the multi-voltage of being of it lower quality or behaving weirdly (power surges, not sticking to its designated voltage, etc.)?
>
> Hope you all followed that, any help would be appreciated, as you can see I know f-all about laptops (or electricity)!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Dom
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Hi Dominic,

It's a PII, don't go spending £30 on it!

Bear in mind if you take it anywhere for repair it will cost you
significantly more than the machine is worth. Also bear in mind stock
kernels no longer support the PII and PIIs are very limited in terms of
how much memory you can fit in them. If you're still determined to try
and patch it up you can get far cheaper PSU's for it than the ones on
sale at maplin...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/15V-3A-AC-POWER-TOSHIBA-Satellite-4080-CDT-4090ZDVD-/270447278703?pt=UK_Computing_LaptopAccessories_PowerSupplies&hash=item3ef7e9fa6f

In that case you're only wasting £7.50 if it's irreparable, on a machine
of this vintage I'd say PSU quality is irrelevant!

If you have £30 to spend you can buy a working PIII laptop from ebay,
PIIs are even less...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Compaq-Armada-M700-Barebones-Laptop-Pentium-III-P3-/260706188177?pt=UK_Computing_LaptopMotherboards_CPUs_CA&hash=item3cb34cbb91

Roger.

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