Why did IBM/Lenovo change the power adaptor's (rant)

[jodymr]

I just saw this while looking for a case and thought I would post it; and no, I don't work for Targus.

Here is the new tip that works with the Targus Universal Adapters for the T60/X60.

http://www.targus.com/us/product_details.asp?sku=APT31[/url]

[beeblebrox]

I am sure, the new plug is just a scheme for Lenovo to make fresh money. The wires are thick enough to carry either 4.5 or 3.25 Amps. The high frequency power bricks don't care much about the voltage difference, although their efficiency is slightly higher with a higher output voltage. On the other hand you have to transform the 20V down to 1.3, 3 and 5V on the motherboard, where you just burn the excess voltage to heat.
The inverter doesn't care, it produces 1200V for the display. Which potentially might use LEDs backlighting in a few years anyway. LEDs run with 1-3 Volts anyway.

And the power usage? You had big, fat hot Pentium 4-M processors 3 years ago, that sucked more Watts than the Core Duo (check the Intel data sheets) and the power bricks were just fine.

So I guess, Lenovo wanted to reduce the brick size and the heat of the power bricks and changed the voltage. While making a new start on the accessory business.

The other useful explanation would be new ThinkPads with fat ATI chips and/or mobile Core 2 Quadro chips.

But then again, your max power is constrained by the max heat emitted from the thinkpads, which were kind of constant in the past 10 years.
I would not buy a ThinkPad that sucks 90W, and hot as an iron.