I don't know if this gadget works . . . .
But I wish I'd seen it before my wife's very expensive Toshiba Satellite Paperweight made the transition from laptop computer. I liked it better when it was a computer.
In all fairness, though, it can hold down a lot of paper.
What do all you computer geeks think? Is this thing worth $9.95 (to people who haven't already lunched their laptops?)
As an electrical engineer, I would be quite skeptical - it looks like at most a ferrite core that snaps over the wire.
ReplyDeleteIt might eliminate some high-frequency stuff, but I doubt it would be much use against a lightning strike nearby or a power surge like you mentioned.
You are better off with a real surge suppressor or UPS on the power to the laptop's charger. I've got a Tripp-Lite UPS running my shop computers, and I've never had a reboot or data loss from outside sources since I put it in - lots of brownouts and power failures, but the servers kept on humming. I'm out on a rural road about five miles from the nearest substation. Power flickers about twice a month, on average.
It's not supposed to stop a surge or anything like that--it just anchors the power cable so it's less likely to get physically yanked around, thus ruining the port for the power supply.
ReplyDeleteI have a perfectly good Toshiba Satellite S206 that still works great in every way except that it's impossible to charge it. The port for the power cable broke loose and apparently can't be repaired; it seems I'd have to buy an entire new motherboard to fix it.
Someone on Facebook suggested a docking station, but apparently there wasn't one made for use with the S206, at least by Toshiba. I can't find anything.
Mac laptops now have magnetic power cords that attach without any sort of penetration. I've personally saved the cost of several machines as the dog has run through the cord without jerking the computer off the table.
ReplyDeleteDon't know if there's a way to retrofit something like that onto your machine.