<p>I look around my office and I&#8217;ve got about a dozen different laptop power adapters &#8211; for current and dead machines. Even so I&#8217;ve spend the last few days trying to find a power brick to charge one perfectly good machine but neither the dedicated adapters or the three &#8220;universal&#8221; chargers I have support this particular connection.</p> <p><div class='p_embed p_image_embed'><img alt="Image001" height="199" src="/images/2011/10/image0011.jpg?w=300" width="300" /></div></p> <p></p> <p>I really like the Apple &#8220;mag safe&#8221; connector but sadly they won&#8217;t license that to anyone (or they probably would but it&#8217;s not economically feasible). The concept of a universal adapter is a good one but, having gone through the experience of Targus deciding to redesign their tips and stop making tips for new devices for their old chargers, I&#8217;m now rather cynical about how much of a solution they actually provide.</p> <p></p> <p>So I&#8217;ve wasted time and energy trying to track down a simple, yet crucial, accessory &#8211; without which I have a very nice, very shiny paperweight. Oh, and a growing loathing for yet another electronics manufacturer who doesn&#8217;t even maintain an up-to-date list of what models their own adapters work with online (and even after a couple of days the problem appears to have stumped their support team)</p> <p></p> <p>5 years ago I had a similar rant about <a href="http://blog.offbeatmammal.com/post/2006/12/28/Standard-connectors-on-cellphones-Part-II.aspx"> cellphone chargers</a> and it looks like things are finally settling down there with even Apple selling a micro-USB to iPhone dongle (maybe the iPhone5 will have micro USB only&#8230; we can dream!) &#8211; laptop, netbook, slate/tablet&#8217;s still have a long way to go :(</p>