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I've done this with laptop power bricks. I'm laying on my couch right now, with my laptop plugged into a brick perched permanently at the end thereof. There ar

I've done this with laptop power bricks. I'm laying on my couch right now, with my laptop plugged into a brick perched permanently at the end thereof. There are two more at the table (sometimes work and personal laptop are up at the same time), and one on my nightstand, and one in the kitchen for when I'm using a recipe from online or just youtubing while cooking. All my old Thinkpad bricks with the gray round plug have little converter cables on 'em, so they work with the modern yellow rectangular socket now. I got a new brick with the work lappy, a new one with the personal, and I think there's one knockoff cheapie in the mix somewhere.

mfkp 6y ago
I do this same thing, except now with USB-C chargers it's even better. Charge my laptop or my phone. There's some great charger bricks that go on sale for ~$10, so I have a lot of those.
- ce4 6y ago
  You can also convert usb-c charger into specific laptop chargers with the appropriate barrel/rectangle adapter (search for usb-c pd trigger + laptop model on aliexpress). Caveat: the laptop doesnt know the max wattage of the charger, it's your job to make sure it gets 60W or 90W from the USB PD adapter
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  Historically USB chargers have consumed power when connected to the wall socket, even when not connected to a phone. Some phones have even displayed an alert "Disconnect power supply from wall to save energy" when you unplugged the USB cable from the phone. Do modern USB-C chargers suffer from the same drawback and so shouldn’t be left plugged in all the time?
  - mfkp 6y ago
    I'll have to plug in a power meter to check, but I'd assume the ghost power draw is negligible.
    - high_priest 6y ago
      It ends beings negligible, when you start to have 10 devices sipping 0.5-1W each.
      - mfkp 6y ago
        Doing some quick math in my head, even at 1w draw each, if they're constantly drawing that 24/7, it would end up costing about 80 cents per month (at $0.11/kWh). The cost of purchasing the chargers easily outweighs that. But I probably only have 5 around the house, so I have no problem spending 40 cents per month.
  - hobby-coder-guy 6y ago
    I’ve witnessed people care about this in the winter - with baseboard electric heaters on in the same room.
- JadeNB 6y ago
  > There's some great charger bricks that go on sale for ~$10, so I have a lot of those. Is it against HN norms to put a specific recommendation here? I'd love to know some reliable chargers in that range.
  - mfkp 6y ago
    60w charger: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08786SHXV/ https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08786SHXV/ 90w charger: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B083ZBXXN5/ https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B083ZBXXN5/
    - JadeNB 6y ago
      Thanks! I'm glad to see the recommendation for Nekteck; they looked kind of generic knock-off-y to me, but I went for https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0712252ZQ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0712252ZQ a while ago, and have been very happy with it as essentially my sole charger.
      - mfkp 6y ago
        No problem. Nekteck always gets good reviews from The Wirecutter, and they did some decent testing on the chargers: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-usb-c-macbook-and-laptop-chargers/ https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-usb-c-macboo...
generalizations 6y ago
Yep, bought a bunch on ebay for ~ $7 each and keep them around the house.
neilv 6y ago
An aesthetic benefit to placing the ThinkPad bricks strategically around the home is that you can mount them in a way that's more tidy when you're using it, than dragging a brick around. (Though there can be an aesthetic downside to having a cable around when you're not using it.) My favorite means of mounting a brick is to use a large pair of Velcro. For undersides on some IKEA tables, I once had to augment the Velcro pad adhesive with Gorilla Glue. Sometimes I use zip ties instead of Velcro. When buying extra bricks, in addition to the presumed-good one that came with the laptop, I advise going to some effort and guesswork to try to get genuine, non-counterfeit ones. I've seen some corner-cutting in circuitry in other power adapters and chargers, and that seems like a fire hazard. For people who don't like the idea of bricks plugged into the AC when not in use, Leviton and others make little switches that plug into the AC outlet.

mfkp 6y ago

I do this same thing, except now with USB-C chargers it's even better. Charge my laptop or my phone. There's some great charger bricks that go on sale for ~$10, so I have a lot of those.

ce4 6y ago
You can also convert usb-c charger into specific laptop chargers with the appropriate barrel/rectangle adapter (search for usb-c pd trigger + laptop model on aliexpress). Caveat: the laptop doesnt know the max wattage of the charger, it's your job to make sure it gets 60W or 90W from the USB PD adapter
Mediterraneo10 6y ago
Historically USB chargers have consumed power when connected to the wall socket, even when not connected to a phone. Some phones have even displayed an alert "Disconnect power supply from wall to save energy" when you unplugged the USB cable from the phone. Do modern USB-C chargers suffer from the same drawback and so shouldn’t be left plugged in all the time?
- mfkp 6y ago
  I'll have to plug in a power meter to check, but I'd assume the ghost power draw is negligible.
  - high_priest 6y ago
    It ends beings negligible, when you start to have 10 devices sipping 0.5-1W each.
    - mfkp 6y ago
      Doing some quick math in my head, even at 1w draw each, if they're constantly drawing that 24/7, it would end up costing about 80 cents per month (at $0.11/kWh). The cost of purchasing the chargers easily outweighs that. But I probably only have 5 around the house, so I have no problem spending 40 cents per month.
- hobby-coder-guy 6y ago
  I’ve witnessed people care about this in the winter - with baseboard electric heaters on in the same room.
JadeNB 6y ago
> There's some great charger bricks that go on sale for ~$10, so I have a lot of those. Is it against HN norms to put a specific recommendation here? I'd love to know some reliable chargers in that range.
- mfkp 6y ago
  60w charger: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08786SHXV/ https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08786SHXV/ 90w charger: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B083ZBXXN5/ https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B083ZBXXN5/
  - JadeNB 6y ago
    Thanks! I'm glad to see the recommendation for Nekteck; they looked kind of generic knock-off-y to me, but I went for https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0712252ZQ https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0712252ZQ a while ago, and have been very happy with it as essentially my sole charger.
    - mfkp 6y ago
      No problem. Nekteck always gets good reviews from The Wirecutter, and they did some decent testing on the chargers: https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-usb-c-macbook-and-laptop-chargers/ https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-usb-c-macboo...

generalizations 6y ago

Yep, bought a bunch on ebay for ~ $7 each and keep them around the house.

neilv 6y ago

An aesthetic benefit to placing the ThinkPad bricks strategically around the home is that you can mount them in a way that's more tidy when you're using it, than dragging a brick around. (Though there can be an aesthetic downside to having a cable around when you're not using it.) My favorite means of mounting a brick is to use a large pair of Velcro. For undersides on some IKEA tables, I once had to augment the Velcro pad adhesive with Gorilla Glue. Sometimes I use zip ties instead of Velcro. When buying extra bricks, in addition to the presumed-good one that came with the laptop, I advise going to some effort and guesswork to try to get genuine, non-counterfeit ones. I've seen some corner-cutting in circuitry in other power adapters and chargers, and that seems like a fire hazard. For people who don't like the idea of bricks plugged into the AC when not in use, Leviton and others make little switches that plug into the AC outlet.