First of all, I think you should give up on the notion of finding one of these power cords at a normal store like you’d drive past on your way to work. Trust me, unless it’s something like Fry’s Electronics (great store in the western U.S.), you’re probably not going to find one there. That means Best Buy and any of those other stores are out. Stick with online sources and I promise that you’ll do just great.
So, what are the best online sources for laptop power cords? The usual suspects prevail in this case. First of all, you could check our online store just below this post (:)), or you could visit a store such as Tiger Direct or New Egg. Amazon is also a great source, and offers a great selection at prices that may very well be lower than Tiger as well. Check them out.
What should you realistically be looking for once you find a place to buy your new power cord? Well, in my personal opinion you shouldn’t go for the usual manufacturer’s cord. That includes HP, Toshiba, Dell, etc. While those companies produce good products, there’s probably a reason that the cord shorted out before the useful life of the laptop was done. Most of these are outsourced to other companies that put them together cheaply. Most of the power cords were made in China or somewhere else where quantity is much better than quality. But, I digress. That being said, I definitely recommend picking up a universal laptop power cord instead of the one from the manufacturer. In that way you can use it on any kind of laptop, not just on the kind you have right now. If you have an HP now and want to swap to a Dell or Mac, it’ll work just the same. Something to look into.
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]]>First thing’s first: Is your HP laptop power cord unique to your specific laptop model? Strangely enough certain manufacturers actually differentiate between models when it comes to your laptop power supply and other electrical equipment. Sometimes this is due to the fact that the company wants to make money when it breaks (hey, they’re not all good guys!), but sometimes it can be simply due to the type of hardware running in the machine itself. Certain motherboards may require specific voltage and amperage in order to function properly. The same is true for the RAM; if the power being given to the system is not correct, you’ll have all sorts of errors and other fun things that you’d rather not want to deal with!
That’s why your HP laptop power cord replacement must be exactly and positively matched to your computer. If you have an HP Pavilion, you need to even flip the thing over and check the model number before you make any purchases. Not doing so will possibly mean an annoying return request and will require you to simply wait longer for your laptop to start working again. Another thing you should look for in a power cord is length. Is your replacement the same length, shorter, or longer than the original one that came from the factory? You might want to do some research into this before you buy as well; you don’t want to find that your new cord is too short and won’t let you sit in your normal working space. That’s extraordinarily annoying.
The last thing we should talk about is where to get one of these replacement cords. While I normally can recommend a number of sites that will let you order them, you might be best served by going to the HP website itself and seeing if you can’t buy one straight from them. It’s true that your power cord may cost a bit more than if you were to find it elsewhere, but at least you know that you’re getting the correct one, right?
That’s what matters here. Good luck!
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