Dedicated chargers vs. a universal charger with tips: I literally weigh them in.
Over the years, I’ve carried innumerable gadgets and the like, though I’m not the type that packs a dSLR, laptop, gaming device AND music player. In fact, I’ve traveled with only a camera and a few extra memory cards, and no more— in fact, I prefer traveling that way. But inevitably, you must take a phone to communicate with others, or an entertainment device, whether it’s a music or video player. And those items usually require portable battery power. Most of those devices have dedicated power bricks, and are rarely interchangeable. Over a few years, a few competitors have tried to make a universal charger to charge all your devices, including laptops. Unfortunately for Mac users, there is only one vendor who makes a cable for the Mac portables and universal chargers; though he does provide a DIY guide to modify your own for a few dollars. The bottom line is, what is the least amount of gadgets you can carry and still be functional on the road?
I’ll discuss the Kensington adapter here, though I do have experiences with the iGo and Solio chargers.
For my travel, I’ve gotten things down to a Leica M8 and a few lenses, a MacBook Air… and well, that’s it. Sometimes I just travel with my M8 and a few spare batteries and cards, and I’m perfectly happy. But for over a week, I drag along a laptop. I hated carrying my 15″ MacBook Pro, and the 13″ MacBook was still a burden. The MacBook Air (and a backup hard drive) is a perfect travel companion. I like the iPhone for its handy applications, but for international cellular voice, an unlocked GSM Blackberry is very handy. SIM cards are easily purchased in countries, and simply recharged. Pay-as-you go Blackberry service (BIS) is apparently even available in the UK.
How do you charge all these items?
There are basically two options: carry dedicated chargers or use a universal charging device. There is a distinct advantage to carrying all the myriad chargers: if one fails, you can still charge your other devices. You can charge one or most of your items at the same time. The advantage of having a universal charger is that you can somewhat simplify what you carry, but that can be negated by the unique approach to universal charging: the myriad tips. This all assumes of course, that your chargers can handle international voltages and power cycles.
First, you have to find the tips available for your small devices. Kensington has a limited selection of tips available, but iGo carries a larger selection, including one that charges the iPhone 3G. Kensington does offer a standard USB female tip, in which case you can plug in a USB cable to charge your device, if there is a corresponding cable available (for instance, Sony PSP mini USB –> USB, and is also the same as a Blackberry cable). So, what is the advantage then? Certainly it must be weight reduction? Unfortunately, the answer is no.
I weighed each of the setups to see what I would get in terms of weight savings. I removed some of the shared items (Leica battery charger, country power tip converters from Lewis and Clark (though the APC—and known by other names as well— universal plug adapter is decent), iPod cable, and AA charger for a mouse, if necessary), to see what the net weight of each setup would be. I was quite surprised to find out the dedicated charging options was quite a good weight-savings bargain!
This is the dedicated charging set. Shown: Monster Cable 3-outlet extender, Blackberry charger, iPhone charger, MacBook Air charger.
Shown here is the Kensington Travel charger set. Included are items not all necessary for travel.
You may think, well, why bother? Indeed, it seems like a lot more stuff, but the key advantage of the universal charger is such that you can carry a few less pieces, if you simplify the setup. Above is the whole she-bang, and not necessary for travel; you don’t need to bring all of this. You could easily eliminate the extra Y-adapters (I’ll discuss these in a bit), and the car/plane adapter. Aha! the plane/car adapter that actually charges your laptop as well. There’s the distinct advantage: with Apple’s in-flight cable, you can only power your laptop, and no more. The windup cable is an added expense, as Kensington supplies a long, bound cable, about a meter long.
What’s with the Y-adapters?
With a single cable, you can charge one device; with the Y-adapter you can charge a laptop, and: a small device (like phone or iPod), or battery charger (provided you know what the right tip is, and that your battery charger has a DC input). You can also daisy-chain Y-adapters to your heart’s content to provide laptop power and as many devices as Y-adapters you have. You don’t need the Y-adapters, if you can mentally manage charging device juggling times during your travel down-time. Being a modular system provides lots of flexibility, but at the expense of lots of parts, and as we’ll see some additional weight and time-suck.
The flexibility of the universal charger.
Following are the results of the weigh-in for these two setups (they were weighed with a fairly accurate postal scale):
- Kensington (full): 1lb. 4oz.
- Kensington (no auto/air, ): 1lb. 2oz.
- Kensington (no auto/air, no y-adapters, tips only): 1lb. 1oz.
- Kensington (no auto/air, 1 y-adapter): 1lb.
- Dedicated chargers : 1lb.
The Kensington was, after all, a refurb on sale for about $20; along with the other tips and cables, the cost creeps to around $80; a second MacBook Air adapter and travel plug costs about as much. 
As you can see, the weight savings aren’t quite there, but not grossly heavier either. The advantage is that you have a great deal of charging options for devices and inputs. But ultimately, you have a single line of not-so-easily-replaceable failure— that is, everything from the power cable through the power brick to the extension cable, and tips. And in systems reliability design, this is generally a Bad Idea™. Ultimately, this information was intended to allow people to make their own decisions in regards to answer whether or not they need a single, or dedicated charger, and the distinct advantages and disadvantages they both come with.
Tags: charging, laptop, power, technology, travel