When you have an urgent work assignment or school homework due soon and your laptop doesn't turn on, it can be a major source of stress, especially if it's your only computer and you don't back up your files. Fortunately, the most common cause of this is a broken charger and they are easy to replace.
Most laptops nowadays still use their own proprietary chargers, meaning you have to use one from the same brand. However, if you have several laptops made by the same manufacturer, chances are, their chargers will be compatible with each other.
Business (like HP Probook and Elitebook) and consumer-grade (HP Pavilion and Envy) laptops usually have different types of chargers. Some laptop makers (looking at you Lenovo!) have five or even more different types of chargers, with some very obscure models in the mix.
In addition to the connector size and type, the voltage of the charger must be the same. The wattage can be larger and in some cases, smaller, but with no guarantees that the charger will actually work. A 90W charger will always charge a laptop that requires 65W, but the reverse may not be true.
You may be able to charge your laptop with an undersized adapter, but it will take ages, and most likely charging will only work when the laptop is off or not being used for gaming or other power-intensive tasks. It's very rare that an undersized charger would damage the laptop. More commonly, it will just not charge at all.
Some laptops display a warning when you use a smaller charger. Dell is a common example, with many laptops complaining at boot up that the attached charger isn't powerful enough.
Many modern laptops use USB Type C for charging, and it's quickly becoming the industry standard, which means you can use pretty much any charger of the same or higher wattage to charge your laptop. Compact and light laptops that don't require a lot of power (like Apple Macbook Air) can even be charged using your car's 12V port.
Laptop manufacturers recommend using original chargers. We've seen very few laptops that don't work with decent aftermarket or 3rd party chargers, such as those sold at Noel Leeming or JayCar. However, those are usually more expensive than original chargers.
You might also be tempted to get a charger online. Indeed, sites like TradeMe and Ebay have plenty for sale, sometimes as low as $15. However, these are all knock-offs and while they may work for a while, they are poorly designed, smell like chemicals, and will probably not last a long time.
We stock laptop chargers for all major brands, including Acer, Asus, Apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Toshiba, Microsoft, and many others in our shop. If you are looking for a new laptop charger, come talk to us and don't forget to bring your laptop!
