Notebooks have an unnecessarily hard life. People tote them just about everywhere, but most of them are no more rugged than a child’s plastic toy. In spite of batteries (or perhaps because of), people tether their portable computers to their power adapters all of the time, which have a tendancy to get tugged, pulled and bent, eventually resulting in a broken power brick.
Buying a replacement power adapter for your notebook is practically an inevitability, so why not purchase one a “universal” adapter that can be used with your other (or future) notebook computers? What features should you look for when shopping for one of these items, anyway? Cooler Master has a line of Universal Notebook Power Adapters that should fit most consumers, and today we are looking at their NA90 Universal Notebook Power Adapter.
Here’s the marketing fluff:
NA series universal notebook power adapters are a great back-up for your notebook adapter, which are energy star 5.0 certified, as an endorsement for eco-friendly design. Included are nine different tips, you will have no problem powering on and/or charging your notebook (check our website for complete listings). With up to 90% efficiency and a robust design, the NA 65 and NA 90 are suited for any business traveler.
Features
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Specifications
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The compact box has several pieces to this kit. Inside the box is:
- The main power brick (with DC power lead attached)
- Base of tips (used for mounting unused power adapter tips)
- 9x color-coded power adapter tips
- Two-pronged AC power cord
- A small folded user manual
- A small black storage bag
Using this replacement power adapter is straightforward. The hardest part is selecting the proper tip for your particular notebook. Once you fit the proper one, all you have to do is plug the right-angle tip into the adapter’s lead cord. The tips are keyed to that you cannot accidentally reverse the polarity, and require a little bit of force to slip on. Once you plug in the two-prong AC cord then the unit’s blue power LED turns on. Then just power on your notebook computer as usual. We tried an assortment of laptops from Compaq, Acer and Asus, and all worked fine and charged their batteries.
We used a Kill-A-Watt meter to determine power usage, which of course varies depending on your laptop’s usage. When plugged in (but the computer turned off), the unit drew 0 watts, meaning that the brick is not using up unnecessary electricity. Bootup for most computers varied between 14 and 45 watts, depending on the computer, but average use was about 30 watts at idle, and around 50 watts with full load. Laptops with GPUs increased this load by about 10 watts, so the most we could manage to stress this power brick was 60 watts, which is well under the unit’s rated capacity. We were unable to measure the power output, so we cannot verify the efficiency ratings of this power supply. Most of the electricity lost in conversion is transferred into heat, and since this brick never got above 80 degrees we can safely assume that Cooler Master’s claims are well-founded.
The only caveats were when using Dell laptops, which CoolerMaster has documented well. This power adapter will work with Dell laptops, but will not charge their batteries. Dell detects a “non-standard” power brick before POST and notifies you that performance may be reduced. All you have to do is press F1 to continue, or press F3 to disable the warning message.
So is it worth it? We tell you on the next page…
For a detailed list of compatible notebooks, click here. |
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The Cooler Master NA90 Universal Notebook Power Adapter worked great on most of the laptops tried. The only exception were Dell laptops, which appear to have a non-standard power interface. The power brick is small, especially compared with OEM power adapters that come with your computer. Even though it is small, the main unit doesn’t get hot, or even warm enough to cause any concern. This replacement power brick has tip adapters to power up just about any notebook or netbook (or even some low-power desktop computers), and because of this can be a great investment if you have multiple laptops, or are planning on purchasing a new notebook.
There aren’t many faults with this device for those that don’t have non-standard notebooks. If you have a Dell laptop, or a laptop that has unusual power requirements then you may have to stick with your clunky OEM power adapter. Our only major gripe with this unit was the lack of integrated cable management, like CoolerMaster’s NA95 has. This power brick is also inexpensive at around $40, which is far cheaper than replacement OEM adapters, and a better value than “generic” universal adapters.
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