Laptop power in UC

Planning a trip in UC (LHR- IAD hopefully June) and was wondering about using my laptop during the flight. (HP HDX series). Obviously battery won't last for the flight time.

From as far as I can see VAA no longer supply laptop leads in UC but the website is non specific about replacements. My question is what should I buy (I see that from a quick search of Currys online there are at least a couple of alternatives) ? Or should I pre order the one from duty free to be delivered in flight? (There's little price difference but I've also experienced non-delivery of pre-ordered items on a Virgin flight before).

Any help would be gratefully received! Thanks, MH.

[Neil]

Hi Mandy,

The Virgin Site is a Kensington one, which I know a few V-Flyers have, as do we. As long as you get something that does the job then it doesn't really matter where you get it from I guess, the benefit of ordered the VS one is the miles, if that is important to you, if not you might be able to get one a bit cheaper on the internet/high street.

Neil

VS couldn't give me 100% confirmation they'd have it onboard when I enquired, nor would they post out (mail order style)..

So went to BA shop online, as price was same..delivered to home address 2 days later..and BA miles ?

As long as you buy an power cable with an Empower adaptor, you will be able to use it onboard.

Thanks all ...

Currys have a Kensington with an empower adaptor for £55 (same price coincidentally as the one through Virgin...). Can also buy it via the shop with Virgin tie up and get airmiles as well!

Going to be on my own for this trip so need to have something to occupy myself with - whichever cabin I use - I always end up just putting the skymap on.

Do you know what wattage your laptop needs to operate?

For my Dell I used to use a Kensington 120W adapter but my laptop used to draw enough power to cut out the power port temporarily - these days I use an iGo power adapter that outputs 70W and doesn't charge the battery on the way. This is fine for me.

If I remember correctly EmPower is limited to 75W... so if you plug it in and the power cuts out it may be your laptop trying to draw too much power. Before I stopped using the Kensington I had some success removing the battery so that you are just powering the laptop itself and not charging the battery - this draws less power so you are within the limits.

One other issue is that on the last few flights I have taken in PE/Upper, I have had to ask the FSM for the power to be switched on, so don't assume it isn't working unless you've had someone reset the power to your seat...

[Decker]

The Empower will have a green light if it is switched on. I set my laptop to low power mode (screen brightness down etc) or it draws too much power and the socket, as you said, powers off.

One other issue is that on the last few flights I have taken in PE/Upper, I have had to ask the FSM for the power to be switched on, so don't assume it isn't working unless you've had someone reset the power to your seat...

This is something one has to do frequently.

On the power question - your laptop will draw lots of power on start-up and then lower its needs, often starting up on battery only will curb this spike in demand and stop any cut outs from the onboard supply.

Thanks for the tips, guys!

Umm not sure how much my laptop draws ... how does one find that out ?

Once I know my dates for certain (reward availability for June has disappeared...), I'll sort something out.

MH.