Oversized AC adapter

[cadillacmike68]

Soooo, you think the W530 AC adapter is big?

The Original "mini dock", the one that fits T20, 30, 40 series and some G/R/X Z series of the same number range, that bad boy takes a unique 4 prong tip AC adapter that is 120W. The adapter also fits G40/41 machines, but I never had a G series. I bought a couple mini docks and noticed that they had a different power inlet, so I hunted down a few on fleabay. Those 120W adapters are about the same size as the mammoth W530 adapter!

[TPFanatic]

I have a few of those. I knew them from G-series before knowing the docks used them first (those oldies are really before my time). They are massive!

[kfzhu1229]

The Original "mini dock", the one that fits T20, 30, 40 series and some G/R/X Z series of the same number range, that bad boy takes a unique 4 prong tip AC adapter that is 120W. The adapter also fits G40/41 machines, but I never had a G series. I bought a couple mini docks and noticed that they had a different power inlet, so I hunted down a few on fleabay.

I have a port replicator II and it also uses the same charger. Fortunately the local eBay seller that I've purchased from has the charger on sale as well so I grabbed them both at the same time, though I am pretty sure i've overpaid for such products.
I really don't like the port replicator II because of how cheap the mechanism feels compared to the dock I and dock II.

[dr_st]

The Port Replicator II and the Mini-Dock (2878) are very similar. Externally they look almost exactly the same. The differences are that the Mini-Dock has a 4-port USB hub and the key lock. I guess the extra hub is what caused them to bump the power supply requirements from 72W to 120W, which forced the huge brick.

[cadillacmike68]

The Port Replicator II, and I'm looking at mine now, takes the same, AC adapter as the ThinkPad T20 / 30 / 40 series etc. It doesn't take the giant 4 pin one.

P/N 94P6743 / FRU P/N 13R0292

The only visible difference between it and the Port Replicator II is the 4 vs 1 USB ports and the power connector.

The PR II has the sliding back to accommodate the T40 series, has a short base the the bottom of the ThinkPad and has headphone / mic jacks, all of which the original Port Replicator lacks. The both have power buttons but neither has a key lock The original Mini dock does have a key lock.

[Screamer]

Soooo, you think the W530 AC adapter is big?

Nope. I've seen way too many AC adapters that were bigger than the W530's 170 W AC adapter, especially the ones that were paired with 2-way SLI Clevo machines. I'm talking about AC adapters with a power output of 330 W and above.

a unique 4 prong tip

That's a Singatron 2MJ-3432-007, I think.

[kfzhu1229]

Then I think I have the mini-dock. Oops. Mine has 4 USB ports and plenitude of IO ports. I guess the reason why they require the big chargers is the T4x chargers are simply too wimpy compared to the 90W chargers on my Dell systems (and as a result the 9 cell batteries on T4x charges extremely slowly)

[cadillacmike68]

If you have then key lock and 4 USBs it's the Mini dock. Otherwise they are identical including overall size.