More Useful Than We Originally Thought

One of the nicest things about the Dell Latitude line of laptops is that many of their parts are interchangeable. From the optical drives to the AC adapter, most parts can be used from one Latitude line to another. For example the Dell Latitude D630 can also use parts from a Latitude X1, not to mention it's sibling, the Latitude D600. This is one of the biggest reasons why the Latitude lines are more popular in corporate settings than their consumer-oriented Insipron line.

The Dell 90W AC Adapter for the Latitude line is just one of those accessories that the Latitude shares. 90 watts of power is more than enough power to charge and power up even the most powerfully configured Latitude, since they usually do not include power hungry game-oriented 3D video accelerators. And if you work for an IT department that standardize on Dell Latitudes for their portable computing needs, then having a few extra AC adapters can be a godsend.

Sometimes we have people who send in their laptops and forget to send their AC Adapter with it. Others who visit our site from another region may forget to pack one when they were at their respective office. We do lend them out here and there, but we also have a few to use to troubleshoot problems.

Dell does seem to put a bit of thought into the design of the Latitude AC Adapter. It is by no means as beautiful or as thoughtful as an AC adapter from Apple's iMac laptops, but it is different in it's own way. For example, the AC adapter isn't exactly shaped like a brick. It has a slight hour-glass shape to it. It makes the adapter seem slimmer than it really is. The size of the AC adapter wasn't anything spectacular. It's neither bigger or smaller than most laptop power brick's design. It also have a built-in rubber strap that allows you to wrap the cords around the brick itself and then secure it with the strap. The strap secures much like a belt, with holes on the belt itself and a notch that holds it in place. And of course, it has the not-so obligatory green LED that shows that it is working.

According to the specifications, it puts out 19v at 4.74 Amps. That translate to about 90W. The cylindrical plug is a standard plug that is also used in HP and Compaq laptops. I've personally used it to power up HP laptops thanks to the fact that they also are spec'd to use 19vDC, and their original AC adapters are also rated at 90w. This makes the Dell Latitude 90W AC adapter even more versatile. While the Dell's brick wasn't meant to be a universal power supply, it can be used as one in a pinch for HP and Compaq laptops. I've noticed that it may fit a few Sony Vaios as well as my Compal laptop (also known as Sager).

The Dell AC adapter does tend to get very warm when under load (almost uncomfortable to hold). I was able to load one at near maximum capacity using a Sony Vaio that had a Core 2 Duo with a 8600 GT video chipset running 3DMark (a 3D game benchmarking program). I verified with a Kill-a-Watt meter that it was indeed eating 89W of power under load. The power supply did not overheat or die. None of our Dell laptops were able to max out the power supply, with one configured with an Intel T7200 (only an integrated graphics from Intel as it is a business laptop) as our most power hungry in the bunch. The Kill-a-Watt meter only measured 50W of power consumption. This also means the Dell AC adapter was just warm to the touch, and still relatively comfortable to hold.

All in all, the Dell 90W AC Adapter for the Latitude is more useful than we originally thought. Oh, and it's fair to say that it's always nice to have an extra AC adapter lying around regardless of make or brand of laptop.