Any laptop powered by USB 5V ?

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hw_user

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Mar 11, 2010
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Not all airplane provide 110V for laptop. But most newer one has USB port which you can use to charge tablets or phones. I do a lot of business travel and need power form laptop on longer flights.
I think ,ost tablets can be powered by the USB port provided, But they may not have all the software I need or processing power I need for business. Is there any laptops that can be powered by the USB port or anyway that I can power my existing using the USB port with some kind of adapter that i can build or buy ?
 
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I think your best bet is to buy 1 or more additional laptop batteries, charge them before leaving, and have them available to put in the laptop when the primary battery is getting low. If you are travelling for work, your employer may allow you to expense the batteries (if you are the employer, you could write them off as a business expense for tax purposes).

Snipergod87

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As far as I know no, also the USB port on airplanes will be limited to 2amp max (probably 1amp), meaning either 10w or 5w of charging power, not enough to actually charge a laptop unless it is turned off.

I tried charging my ultrabook (while shut down) on a 120v .10 Amp outlet (12w max), that didn't work to well / at all it would blow the fuse for that circuit.
 

mjslakeridge

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I think your best bet is to buy 1 or more additional laptop batteries, charge them before leaving, and have them available to put in the laptop when the primary battery is getting low. If you are travelling for work, your employer may allow you to expense the batteries (if you are the employer, you could write them off as a business expense for tax purposes).
 
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hw_user

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I am not electrical engineer. I am not sure if this is right. I don't mean to charge the laptop battery. I normally have the battery fully charged before I go on to the plane. So what I need is power to sustain the laptop usage during the flight or at least get the battery to last longer until I get to my destination.
 

Snipergod87

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Your best bet would be as Scottray posted above, a battery bank for a laptop. the 5v 1-2amp wont be enough to really sustain the laptop, it may be enough to partially offset the usage of the processor alone.
 

mjslakeridge

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Every minute the laptop is turned on, the battery is discharging. So to make the battery last longer, it does need to be charged, either during use or while turned off. As said above, the current provided by the typical 5v USB ports isn't sufficient to charge a laptop battery as fast as it is being discharged. A tablet or cell phone, yes, but just look at the size of a laptop battery compared to a cell phone's.
 

InvalidError

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The size of a battery doesn't matter. Given enough time, you can charge a battery of any size using a 5W adapter as long as the power draw and self-discharge rate are meaningfully less than the power that can be delivered.

The Thinkpad X260 ultra-portable can last up to 23h on a 72Wh battery, which is just over 3W. Low enough to run indefinitely on a 5W adapter if it had such an option and charge it from flat to full in ~40h while in use.
 
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