Dell laptop charger replacement

[Wrench]

Well my laptop charger decided to let out the magic smoke, followed by the magic sparks, followed by the carpet fire.

Soooo I need a replacement. Looking on ebay I'm finding a ton around $20. How good are these. I realize you get what you pay for. Dell's is $140. Should I just go with dells?

 

[mwarps]

You should be able to find dell branded ones on ebay for under $30.

 

[Sean]

Well my laptop charger decided to let out the magic smoke, followed by the magic sparks, followed by the carpet fire.

Soooo I need a replacement. Looking on ebay I'm finding a ton around $20. How good are these. I realize you get what you pay for. Dell's is $140. Should I just go with dells?

I take it your are Out of Warranty on the notebook? The battery is one year, but the rest including the charger is covered by the regular warranty?

 

[Sovereign]

Trust me on this: buy genuine Dell but get it on eBay (I just did, check my thread about "Laptop eats AC adapters, what to buy?") My third-party adapter has decided it will no longer charge the battery after only a couple months of use. No, it wasn't a BIOS update (where Dell says "You're not using our stuff, no charge for you." Dunno if they do that but it certainly wasn't what caused my problem). This third-party adapter has enough electrical tape covering its fraying wires to strangle someone. It's that crappy.

 

[Wrench]

I take it your are Out of Warranty on the notebook? The battery is one year, but the rest including the charger is covered by the regular warranty?

Yeah warranty ended a long time ago. It's an old M170.

Trust me on this: buy genuine Dell but get it on eBay (I just did, check my thread about "Laptop eats AC adapters, what to buy?") My third-party adapter has decided it will no longer charge the battery after only a couple months of use. No, it wasn't a BIOS update (where Dell says "You're not using our stuff, no charge for you." Dunno if they do that but it certainly wasn't what caused my problem). This third-party adapter has enough electrical tape covering its fraying wires to strangle someone. It's that crappy.

Cool thanks for the heads up.

 

[playplayon]

I disagree about the 3rd Party Route. Obviously if there is tape covering wires, that is an absolute horror.
But I bought a 3rd party battery and power adapter from the same company and they are working just as good as the original ones I had. The name on both is Denaq. I have an Inspiron 9200 and I got the charger and the battery for less than $100. When I was using Google for shopping results, some of the prices were nuts. One had me at $240 something for everything.
So I think that there are definately bargains out there. Definately be careful though when you are shopping for a company you aren't familiar with.