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Message
Car based laptop charger suggestions?
Posted on 2/27/26 at 11:04 am
Posted on 2/27/26 at 11:04 am
I have a Dell laptop with a usb-c input.
Anything i need to know before getting one?
Anything i need to know before getting one?
2
Posted on 2/27/26 at 12:30 pm to dstone12
quote:
I have a Dell laptop with a usb-c input.
Anything i need to know before getting one?
What is the max power draw of your laptop (it should say on the power brick on the original charging cable, or otherwise on the listing where it was purchaed)? What, if any, outlets/plugs exist in your car?
Posted on 2/27/26 at 1:00 pm to Joshjrn
Does 2.6 gh sound accurate? I think I rmemeber that.
Posted on 2/27/26 at 1:13 pm to dstone12
no, it'll be something like 65W or 100W. Which model from Dell is the laptop?
Posted on 2/27/26 at 1:23 pm to LemmyLives
Dell Latitude 5420 core i5 14 inch screen
Posted on 2/27/26 at 1:46 pm to dstone12
quote:
Does 2.6 gh sound accurate? I think I rmemeber that.
No, 2.6ghz is likely your processor clock speed. Should be listed in watts. I would expect a random work laptop to be around 65w or so, plus or minus.
Eta: Replied without seeing Lemmy’s reply
Eta2: And don’t forget the car port question. It’s honestly the more important of the two.
This post was edited on 2/27/26 at 1:47 pm
Posted on 2/27/26 at 10:53 pm to dstone12
You are going to need 30W minimum to get any kind of charge, and 65 to 90 for best performance.
This post was edited on 2/27/26 at 10:56 pm
Posted on 2/27/26 at 11:15 pm to SG_Geaux
Just get a 12v power inverter, if your vehicle doesn't come with one.
This post was edited on 2/27/26 at 11:18 pm
Posted on 2/28/26 at 8:06 am to dstone12
It needs 65W. As the last poster said, get a power inverter (it plugs into a cigarette lighter) and just make sure it's 65W (watts) or more. It'll have a plug like the wall inside your house for you to plug the laptop into.
Posted on 2/28/26 at 8:33 am to LemmyLives
so should i just get an inverter and use the home charger?
Posted on 2/28/26 at 12:52 pm to LemmyLives
I’ll add a caveat: if he isn’t doing anything super intensive, and his car has modern ports, I think he can absolutely get away with just USB. Just because the laptop can draw 65w max doesn’t mean that’s what it’s going to do if he’s just farting around on the internet or poking at a spreadsheet. Even a 15w charge would give him far more juice than he would reasonably need in a single day in a car. I keep an inverter in my center console and literally never use it.
Posted on 2/28/26 at 1:25 pm to LemmyLives
mind goingahead and suggesting an inverter? It's just going to go in the cigarette lighter.
Also, no gaming.....just work email and internet.
Also, no gaming.....just work email and internet.
This post was edited on 2/28/26 at 1:26 pm
Posted on 2/28/26 at 2:30 pm to Dallaswho
apologies, but how about a dell precision 3560......just email and CRM/internet.
Posted on 2/28/26 at 3:36 pm to dstone12
Not sure, precision are bigger hungrier. Might need 100w.
Posted on 2/28/26 at 4:15 pm to dstone12
quote:
dell precision 3560......just email and CRM/internet
Whoah, do yourself a favor and ask IT for a regular laptop instead of the Precision. A regular Latitude will weigh less and most certainly be thinner.
Posted on 3/1/26 at 11:08 am to LemmyLives
Got it.
But on the meantime,
What I am hearing is the most versatile tin g is to use a cigar lighter 200w inverter and use the regular adapter.
But on the meantime,
What I am hearing is the most versatile tin g is to use a cigar lighter 200w inverter and use the regular adapter.
Posted on 3/1/26 at 11:55 am to Joshjrn
quote:
Even a 15w charge would give him far more juice than he would reasonably need in a single day in a car. I keep an inverter in my center console and literally never use it.
I have a new Lenovo laptop and a new Toyota with dedicated USB-C charging ports and they certainly don't provide enough power, rated at 15W each. Most PD rated 12V adapter chargers max out at 30W, a small inverter can provide 200W easily. Personally, since I don't like driving with clutter of extra wires, I have a 140W M18 TopOff inverter or a Dewalt 220W 20V/60V inverter that can easily run my laptop. I also have the newer USB two-way adapter that works on Dewalt 20V or 60V batteries that can output 100W through the USB-C with the right cable, then turn around and charge the Dewalt battery at up to 65W.
Posted on 3/1/26 at 12:13 pm to Clames
quote:
I have a new Lenovo laptop and a new Toyota with dedicated USB-C charging ports and they certainly don't provide enough power, rated at 15W each. Most PD rated 12V adapter chargers max out at 30W, a small inverter can provide 200W easily. Personally, since I don't like driving with clutter of extra wires, I have a 140W M18 TopOff inverter or a Dewalt 220W 20V/60V inverter that can easily run my laptop. I also have the newer USB two-way adapter that works on Dewalt 20V or 60V batteries that can output 100W through the USB-C with the right cable, then turn around and charge the Dewalt battery at up to 65W.
I’m not saying that 15w = 65w. What I’m saying is that very few laptops, particularly business laptops, will draw much more than 15-20w during basic operation. But for the sake of easy math, let’s say we’re pulling a clean 30w. And let’s say your laptop normally gets 4 hours of battery life, which in 2026 is absolute dogshit. Plug it into a 15w charger and now you’ve got roughly 8 hours of continuous usage.
I’m sure there are people running process (and therefore power) intensive tasks while using their vehicle as a parked mobile office for 12 hours a day, every day. Those people might need inverters. The random “professional” checking email or typing into a spreadsheet for a little while each day doesn’t, because you don’t need a computer with a battery to have wired access to its theoretical max power draw at all times. It’s not a desktop. As long as the battery has charge, it will deliver whatever wattage the hardware asks for. The singular goal is keeping the battery charged for the length of time you need it to be charged, not to keep it at 100% the entire time.
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