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Comment by FootballMuse | Hacker News Reader

Anyone have any thoughts on this slim 45w charger? http://www.amazon.com/GPK-Systems%C2%AE-Portable-Notebook-Sm...

They seem to have good reviews across their range of products and have certification logos. However, I've been hesitant.

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Hesitant with good cause, is it really worth the risk? Add up the time you're spending shopping around, reading reviews, the thousands of dollars in electronics you could burnt up, the pain of trying to use your warrantee when you violated it, and losing those files you forgot to back up; all to save what $20.

Cost is irrelevant, the size is the key determinant. But your point is well made.

>the size is the key determinant

With this things, I've put reliabillity and safety as key determinant.

I have been using a 12v GPK charger for my MacAir for over a year. No problems at all. In fact it powers two MacAirs most of the time. (Switching the plug back and forth)

I'm guessing Amazon would be liable if they sold non-conforming devices, no? The charger described in the article clearly didn't respect the rules. Or maybe it's different in the US.

Amazon sells busted, bootleg products all the time, and the reviews can end up in the 1 star area. They don't pull them.

For a while literally all the XBox 360 wireless controller adapters on Amazon, for example, were Chinese knockoffs. For some reason Amazon stopped stocking the real ones, and let vendors put up knockoffs branded as the real thing, despite the reviews making it clear that they were fakes (and broke easily).

Amazon often has problems with listing knockoff products under the same SKU as the real thing. The Arduino project has had some serious problems with this in particular - for a while, if you bought an Arduino board, it was a roll of the dice whether you'd end up with a genuine one or a knockoff.

I bet the same thing was happening with the XBox controller adapters.

The charger I tore apart was from eBay; see the article for details. Cheap chargers shown on Amazon are typically sold by third-party sellers, which I think lets Amazon sidestep any quality issues.

Not really, they might remove it if they get a lot of complaints.

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