Question regarding power supply adapters between hp and Dell

[Mark Wayne]

Hi folks,

My Dell laptop just bit the dust and I bought an HP laptop, but was wondering if I could use the power supply's from my Dell's on my new HP. The reason for the Dell dying as far as I can tell was not due to any fault with the adapters so I figured they could still be used, provided the specs would be compatible, which is what I'm asking about. Here they are:

(this is what they read)

my 1st Dell adapter:
input ac 100-240 - 1.5A (1.5A)
output dc 19.5v 3.4a (3,34a)

my 2nd Dell adapter:
input ac 100-240 - 50-60hz 2.0a
output 19.5v - 4.62a
max output power 90 watts

HP: input ac 100-240 - 1.7a (1.7a)
output 18.5v (18.5v) 3.5a (3.5a)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Mark

[Mitch Drumm]

I'm no laptop guru, but I would guess so.

The Dell adapter puts out 90 watts. The other Dell puts out 65 watts.

The HP unit puts out about 65 also.

I have swapped adapters on stuff like portable radios with no issues.


I assume laptops are subject to some set of standards, just like desktops.

[Mark Wayne]

Thanks mitch. I'm totally ignorant on this and wanted to make as sure as I could about this. How did you come to the 65 watts on the hp adapter?

[Mitch Drumm]

Watts equals amps times volts.

3.5 x 18.5 equals about 65.

You can do the same multiplication on the other two.

I'm not saying wattage is all you need to worry about. One could be of poor quality and the other good, but the power output is about the same.

[John Cipriano]

It's the output voltage that matters. In this case they are different, but only about 5%. I'm not sure what effect that would have long term but if you have a computer with a brand new battery I might just baby it for a while.

Edit: also, make sure that the polarity is the same. Look for one of these guys:


That one is center negative. Interestingly, the first google image search result is from the steel boards