Traveling abroad with a laptop.

Jensen

I made a thread about this awhile ago, and it vanished, and I lost the slip of paper that i wrote down the info that was given to me. I'm going to Cambridge, England this summer and I'm wondering what I'll need to buy so that my laptop can be plugged into the outlets there. I'm in the U.S. - thanks again!

tardcore

What type of laptop is it?

Bendery It Like Beckham

DHS Odium

Well, like two years ago I went to London and Edinburgh, I had an iBook with me with it's standard charger. I bought one of the packs at like Target for $25 that has all the adapters for every power outlet, and it worked just fine. It gets real hot though, and the package warns to only leave it plugged in as long as it needs to be.

All my stuff worked with the exception of the DS phat plug for some reason, I ended up just buying one there for like 5 pounds cause I was there for two weeks.

Dartboy

When using electronics abroad there are two things to keep in mind: the plug shape, and the voltage. For the plug, there are many different cheap adapters available, so just get one that includes the right plug. For the voltage, look on the power brick/bottom of laptop for the power consumption info. Most modern electronics can handle both 110 (US) and 240(UK) voltages and it will say so on the sticker, but check it to make sure.

One time when I traveled to New Zealand I brought a number of different gizmos with me, like my laptop, camera, gameboy, and a portable DVD player. Everything could use the 240 voltage fine, EXCEPT for the DVD player's AC adapter. The player itself could handle it, but for some reason the adapter itself was US only. Without realizing this I plugged it in and got a lovely light show complete with smoke. Fortunately it took the brunt of the shock and the player was ok.

bsjezz

Usually all you'll need extra is the part of the cable that goes from the transformer to the outlet, ie, one of these guys (I've called them kettle cords). You can probably get one with the correct pin configuration on the cheap as soon as you arrive wherever you're going. The figure-8 shaped one and the more triangular looking one at least are sold everywhere.

If you want to be extra careful check the transformer to make sure it takes 110-240 volts. If so then you're laughing - you won't have any problems at all.

Lewisham

You're moving the bad way... from 110V to 240V, which means that the worst that can happen for UK going to the US is stuff doesn't work. For you, it could start a fire.

It really depends on the laptop you have. I know certainly that Apple laptops are designed to go internationally, as are Dells. If you have an El Crappo one that has no external power brick, you need to look at the electronic specs on the plug/battery/underside of your laptop to see if it can handle 240V.

Jacoby

Since my fiancee and I may be going to China to teach for a year, I've been looking at power adaptors, but none of them seem to give you a ground socket. Both power blade sockets are there, but no ground, which I believe all computers need. Does anyone know of a power adaptor that has a ground socket that they would recommend?

Jensen

It's a Dell Inspiron 8500

Zxerol

Jacoby wrote: »

Since my fiancee and I may be going to China to teach for a year, I've been looking at power adaptors, but none of them seem to give you a ground socket. Both power blade sockets are there, but no ground, which I believe all computers need. Does anyone know of a power adaptor that has a ground socket that they would recommend?

If you're talking about laptops, you don't need a ground since they're usually two-prong (generally the case with AC->DC transformers). Ye olde desktop power guzzlers with built-in power supplies are a bit trickier, probably requiring a new power cable and switching the voltage selector on the PSU manually. In this case though, I don't know why you'd be lugging around a desktop across the Pacific anyway.

I bought a set of adapters and a transformer when I want to China last year. As it turns out, I didn't need them. At least for the places I stayed at, the outlets actually had US-style two-pronged plugs built-in, and my electronics worked dandy. At the hotels I stayed at, they even had special 110v outlets in the bathroom for hair dryers and shavers and such. YMMV, though.

Jazz

I'm gonna need a new power brick for my (somewhat antiquated) Dell Latitude C610 laptop when I go back over to England next time. The existing one unfortunately doesn't handle 110v-240v, and my mum actually managed to lose the £50 ($100) transformer I had over there. The thing was basically a solid metal brick with a 110v US-style socket and a 240v UK power cord, and put out enough juice (wattage-wise) to comfortably power an NTSC Xbox with plenty to spare, but it wasn't one of those 1600w hairdryer-type ones that blows up other, more sensitive electronics. It was awesome. Got it from Maplins.

Jacoby

Zxerol wrote: »

Jacoby wrote: »

Since my fiancee and I may be going to China to teach for a year, I've been looking at power adaptors, but none of them seem to give you a ground socket. Both power blade sockets are there, but no ground, which I believe all computers need. Does anyone know of a power adaptor that has a ground socket that they would recommend?

If you're talking about laptops, you don't need a ground since they're usually two-prong (generally the case with AC->DC transformers). Ye olde desktop power guzzlers with built-in power supplies are a bit trickier, probably requiring a new power cable and switching the voltage selector on the PSU manually. In this case though, I don't know why you'd be lugging around a desktop across the Pacific anyway.

I bought a set of adapters and a transformer when I want to China last year. As it turns out, I didn't need them. At least for the places I stayed at, the outlets actually had US-style two-pronged plugs built-in, and my electronics worked dandy. At the hotels I stayed at, they even had special 110v outlets in the bathroom for hair dryers and shavers and such. YMMV, though.

It is a laptop, and it actually does have the full 3 prongs. I don't know if the school's teacher housing would have the same thing as the places you stayed at, but since it's full of Canadians, it could be promising.

In any case, they would be giving/loaning (not sure which) us a Mac laptop, so it's not like I'd be without computer. It's just that you get attached to all the stuff you have on your laptop, you know?

Jazz

My laptop's brick is three-pronged as well.