Knowing the handful of parts that comprise the power supply for your laptop can lead to saving hard earned money and heartache down the road. There is nothing worse than loosing valuable data or hundreds of dollars worth of computer due to not knowing about a few simple details about how the power system in your computer operate.
First off, a surge protector or power strip is a vital element to your laptop power supply. Don't be caught with a fried computer because you where too lazy or cheap to buy a $10 strip. In the event of a power surge, these things are life savers! Unfortunatly, many people need to learn the hard way before they start using these things. One point about surge protectors, don't think that they are good enough to use should the building you are in ever get struck by lightning while your computer is plugged into the socket. It is a risky gamble to use your computer during a thunder storm no matter how expensive a surge protector you are using. On that same note, if you have a regular desktop computer and you happen to know that there is a risk of a thunderstorm, it is always a good idea to unplug it. Better to be safe than sorry!
After the wall socket and surge protector, the next component inline is the AC adapter. That's the rectangular box that is in the middle of your laptop's power cord. It turns alternating current into the direct current your laptop needs to function. The reason why the power is changed like this is so that the right kind of current is used to recharge your laptop's battery.
After the power runs into your laptop via the power cord, power goes to the power board. The power board is like the conductor inside of your laptop. It directs traffic between the power cord, your laptop's internal battery and the mother board. It is usually mounted on the mother board so often times if there is trouble with your power board, you will need to purchase a new mother board.
The final piece to all of this is something that is usually ignored when people think about the power system in their laptop. The cooling fan is absolutely vital. It serves to make sure that things don't overheat and cause a short. The processor is usually the biggest culprit when it comes to overheating, and the video card (if you have one) is second. If you ever upgrade your processor or get a video card put into your laptop, check to make sure your fan is going to be strong enough to deal with the added heat that is going to be produced. This is usualy a concearn for people who buy computers for gaming purposes, Even still, if you ever upgrade, double check!
This is a basic layout of laptop power supplies. Knowing the basic's is good enough for your average home user. Should problems with your laptop's power ever come into play, you should be able to take this information and be able to roughly diagnose the problem. This isn't to say this is enough information for you to actually make laptop power supply repairs, but you should know enough to help prevent some of the more common problems and also be able to make sure that when you do need to order new parts, that you aren't being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous salesman.
Source : goarticles by Paulette Simms
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