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Comment by chrisseaton | Hacker News Reader

> regular power plug

What's a 'regular' power plug? I thought these weren't standardised beyond USB-C?

It's the traditional barrel power plug. It might not be standardized outside Dell, but it's standardized within Dell: the same power supply can be used for a long list of Dell laptop models (there are two power supply capacities, 65W and 90W; the list of compatible models for the 90W power supply I found at Dell's site has nearly 250 compatible laptop models).

Dell now seems to use 2 types of barrel connectors, the older ones are 7.4mm and the newer ones are 4.5mm, usually for the thinner (e.g. XPS, Precision 55xx) laptops. Fortunately, you can get 4.5mm-to-7.4mm converter dongles and velcro them to the older power cords. As a side note, Dell power supplies also come in flavors of 130W, 180W and 230W. The 230W power brick is a monster.

My 7390 is compatible with the power adapter from a circa 2008 Vostro 14! Threw that laptop away a long time ago but still have the power adapter. And because of this compatibility, generic or replacement Dell power adapters are cheap on EBay. The same is also true for replacement batteries.

Does anyone prefer a barrel plug over USB-C?

I've owned many laptops, and the barrel plug on every one got loose over time. Sometimes slight, and power continued; but other times it was enough to require delicate jiggling to keep the power flowing; once or twice an accident was catastrophic, the plug and even the surrounding frame was damaged.

It's why I won't buy a Dell laptop, now that the other brands offer USB-C.

You can draw more power on some laptops than usbc can offer

The Latitude 7390 has a thunderbolt port. I power the laptop through the usb-c/thunderbolt port when I am in the office via the thunderbolt docking station.

Your argument is invalid.

you won't buy the dell because other brands offer only low wattage usb-c, while dells also have fast-charge ports that go up to 230w. oof. i don't even want to argue with that logic. thank you sir for existing.

The Precisions can power from either the barrel plug or USB-C, I just plug in a C connector in the office and it's got power, ethernet and monitors. Tasty.

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