How to never forget one's laptop power cord again | Hacker News Reader

How to never forget one's laptop power cord again

7 pointshackaflocka17 comments

My laptop (HP EliteBook 8540p) has about 1.5 hours of battery life at best. So I have to plug it in all the time. (For work reasons, I need to use it at its highest performance, most power-hungry setting.)

In my work, I have to demonstrate lots of things on my laptop at places outside my office.

Once in a while, I'll leave my power cord behind at the previous place. Leads to all kinds of problems for me. (I'd rather not carry a spare cord because those things are heavy!)

So I googled "never forget laptop power cord". Sadly nothing came up --- a rare time the internet failed me :-(

Hacker sisters and brothers --- what are your homegrown solutions to avoid forgetting the digital umbilical cord at some inconvenient place?

Update: I now realize I should probably have posted this in the "Ask HN" section -- sorry about that, I'm new to this folks, please excuse.

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Buy a second power cord and keep it in your bag?

That is a viable option, thanks for the reminder. I'd prefer not having to lug around the extra weight though :-)

Can you clarify? I do this. I have one cord at home and one in my backpack. This way I always have a cord with me if I go out. If you have to lug your power cord with you anyway, isn't that the same as you always carrying the same amount of weight? I don't really understand (unless you bring out your bag without taking your laptop with you in certain circumstances).

It sounds like the OP is thinking the GGP suggested carrying around two power cords so that if the OP forgets one, then they at least aren't stuck without a power cord (although they likely would want to retrieve the old cord at some point.)

Yes, I meant the following: I go from meeting to meeting, so if I carry 2 at a time, and I forget one at the previous place, I can have a backup at the next one.

Get one of these http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Anti-Lost-Tracker-Security-Re...

Reasonable solution -- there are also some that can be connected to one's smartphone.

Put a little tag on the zipper of your laptop bag that says "Don't forget the power cord". Somewhere you can't avoid seeing it.

...or superglue/tape/tie the adapter to your laptop.

Both are good ideas -- thanks!

do what i do, whereever I am. Be paranoid and look around and say "what have I left here, because I dont want to come back to get it."

If only I could remember to be paranoid enough and paranoid always!

The problem approaches a solution asymptotically: Once I bought my third tablet charger, it was, in practice, impossible to leave behind.

LOL -- I feel ya bud.

Get a Stick-N-Find and put it on your power cord. If you walk away from it your phone will remind you.

Thanks for the suggestion -- I'm going to consider it. Here's the problem, I usually silence or turn-off my phone at these meetings, and so if I'm walking away, I may not hear the notifications. I usually only remember to un-silence or turn-on my phone much later.

Use fishing line or something to tether your cord to the bag or the laptop.

This! (as old school as it may sound -- this sounds like the most doable -- I'm definitely going to do this).

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