10. Antec NP-100 Notebook Power Adapter

by Tony Celeste

The name Antec may well bring to mind the power supply units used to supply DC electricity to desktop computers. But Antec has a different type of “power supply” in mind here: a universal replacement for the DC power adapter used by your notebook computer.

Why a universal DC power adapter? The main reason is price. I found the Antec NP-100 Notebook Power Adapter for under $60 at stores.tomshardware.com, whereas you could easily end up paying twice that much for some notebook power adapters. The Antec Power Adapter also has the advantage of working on a huge selection of notebooks, including many from leading manufacturers such as Acer, Alienware, Asus, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, IBM, HP, NEC, Sharp and Toshiba.

The Antec Power Adapter provides seven interchangeable connectors to help ensure compatibility with just about every notebook on the market. There are also six voltage settings: 15V, 16V, 18V, 19V, 21V, and 24V. Note that this is not the typical universal power adaptor that you can buy at Radio Shack and department stores. The connectors are specifically designed for notebooks, and the power supply puts out the high voltages needed by today’s power hungry multi-core computers.

The remaining electrical specs are listed below:

_*AC Input: 100 240V (Japan Europe): 2A _*DC output: 100 watts _*Over Voltage Protection (OVP) ¬_*Short Current Protection (SCP) _*Over Current Protection (OCP) _*Over Temperature Protection (OTP) _*Efficiency: Up to 84% at full load

You may want to keep an Antec Power Adapter in your notebook’s carrying case, and another in your home or office, since it is both economical and convenient. To see if your notebooks are supported by the Antec Power Adapter, check out the Compatibility List