Today I received a unexpected New Year's gift from a good friend of mine.
Fed Ex arrived at the door, and much to my surprise, a brand spankin new lap top was delivered to me.

It is a Dell Dimension 5150, and I don't have a clue what it has because I haven't been able to turn it on.

Since it arrived from the middle east, it is set up on their power supply (see photo)
I'm sure this is not a big problem, but what do you guys suggest?

If I go to any local computer place, can they sell me the power cord I require?
Also, would there be some kind of polarity switch I must change on the computer to change it over to our system?

My friend must've been reading my mind because I was planning on buying a laptop within the next few weeks.
What timing!

Any help will be a big help.

Anyone know anything about this machine? How fast is it? Battery life?

Thanks
Habibi

 

We needa picture of the end of the cord that plugs into the power supply (the brick) and not the end that plugs into the wall.

We also need to know the rating on the power supply. Is it 110 or 220? 50Hz or 60Hz? this information should be written on the brick itself.

-Don

 

 

That looks like a standard Dell/IBM power plug. It isn't easy to find but you can get it.

I can't read the actual voltages on the power supply unfortunately.

If it says 110/120 Volts and 50 or 60 Hz all you need to do is get the right plug cord.

If it is 220, you need a new power supply or a voltage converter (which is big and defeats the purpose of a laptop)

-Don

 

I found my magifying glass, this is what it says:

Dell AC ADAPTER
MODEL: PA-1131-02D
DP/N:9Y819
INPUT: 100 - 240V ~ 50 - 60 Hz 2.5A(2,5A)
OUTPUT: 19.5 (19,5) V ~~6.7A(6,7A) 130W

What does this mean?

What part do I ask for at the computer store?

Thanks
Habibi

 

Well son, I can't help you with the electrical stuff...maybe Burt will see this and can tell you what that means...but I can help you with what your new machine is about... that there is a Dell Inspiron 5150 (Not a Dimension 5150) Depending on how it’s configured it’s either a 3 GHz or a 3.2 GHz Mobile Intel P4...(as Martha Stewart would say,"That's a good thing"). It comes standard with 256 meg of ram (not enough) and can take up to 2 gigs of ram (another good thing). Comes complete with your usual stuff…firewire port, 2 – USB2.0 ports your standard 15 pin video out and an S-Video out port, Ethernet port and modem port (yeah…whatever). It’s got a 15” screen (can either be SXGA or UXGA) which kinda sucks these days as 15 and 17 inch WIDE-SCREEN displays are all the rage.

Now, as for battery life, in your case that would be ZERO since you can’t charge it. (If you could charge it it’s supposed to be 3 hours according to Dell’s propaganda, which means a real world lifespan of about 1.5 hours.

Assuming you can find a power brick to work, you could be writing some nice reports for your boss there...and you could have fun with Math (if I remember you were going to brush up on your math there) and run Mathematica very nicely.
http://www.wolfram.com/products/math...roduction.html

Let us know if you get it running.
K

 

You can find that power cable at CablesToGo.com as well as several other sites. That site calls it a "3-slot notebook power cord".

http://www.cablestogo.com/product.as...=914&sku=27400

 

Thanks fellas,

I am writing this from the 5150.
I fired it up, and the battery life is 50% so I am doing windows updates and just checking it out.

I unplugged the ethernet cable from my Dimension 8100, plugged it into the 5150, and "presto" I am in business.

The display is very sharp and clear, it has 512MB of ram, and the 3.06 MHz processor. Oh ya, 40 gig HD.

It has some other nice features, MS office, cd burner, roxio software, and wireless internet, I just need a wireless router now.

Hopefully tomorrow I can find a proper power brick!

Thanks again
Habibi

 

Check out Office Depot, Best Buy, Comp USA, Office Max, or Circuit City.

They sell replacement power supplies for laptops that should work. I sold a bunch of them when I worked at Office Depot.

 

The power supply should work, you just need the new cable with the different plug on it (like VyPeR listed).

 

Any local place will have it man... Check your Office Depot, Staples, or somewhere like that... That is a standard DELL 'brick'. I'm typing on a Dell lappy that I could loan you the cable from if you'd like. Of course, my rental rate is a little higher than just buying one for yourself... let me know if you're interested though. (FYI - My rental rates include the purchase of a 2005 King Ranch F-150).

RP

 

Habibi,

Vyper listed exactly the right cable for you.

If you want to order it online, that is where to get it.

If you do not want to wait, take your existing cable to a local computer store, show it to them and tell them you need the American version of that plug.

The power brick itself is fine. It will work with just about any power system so that does not need to be replaced.

-Don

 

You could check out the Dell website to see what they have to say, or perhaps even read the manual.

I'm such a bitch early in the morning.

 

If you go to the Dell web site, and supply the correct model and serial # (express service code...should be a tag on case) you can see exactly what the lappy has, etc. You should also be able to download a manual. I can't imagine a power cable (from brick to wall) could be all that expensive...or tell Dell that the plug end came apart and if the machine is still under warranty, they might replace it (you'll have to convince them to send the 115 V model, however).

 

Yeah, all you should have to replace is the power cord to the converter "brick". It's a pretty standard cord. My wife's laptop and docking station have the same "triangular/circular" plug with their converters. I believe her external hard drive has the same type of plug also, so it should be easy to come by.