Good source for genuine replacement chargers?

[VanZan]

I purchased a T420 on eBay which came with one of those unofficial chargers and being a purist I hate it! Does anyone know where I can get a genuine one and preferably one with a FRU listed in the hardware manual please?

Thanks!

[brchan]

The forum marketplace here is a good place. Ebay can also work too. Usually you will know right away if the unit is genuine, just by looking at the pictures.

[VanZan]

Ah yes I forgot about the marketplace here! Thanks!

[VanZan]

May I ask something else related to this please? Does it matter at all which FRU charger I get as long as the output is correct? For the T420 it's 20V and 4.5A with a 90W charger and 20V and 3.25A for the 65W charger (I think).

As long as the output is correct can I use any FRU charger with the T420? The hardware manual for the T420 lists a few FRU types but I'm wondering whether this is an exhaustive list or not.

[Qing Dao]

You can mix and match chargers without any problem.

The best deals on real chargers are used ones on Ebay. The lifespan of chargers is "indefinite" so you shouldn't worry about them being used.

[precip9]

Pardon, the lifespan of a charger is quite finite. They are switching power supplies. Lifetime limiters: electrolytic capacitors, and diffusion in the junctions of the switching transistors.

Chargers have gotten better, but I still carry spares, even on day trips.

I still buy used chargers.

[Hans Gruber]

I have the Lenovo 65w and 90w chargers for most of my Thinkpads. I can't really tell the difference between the generic chargers and Lenovo chargers.

[rkawakami]

My advice would be to get the 90W (20V 4.5A) charger if the cost is the same as the 65W one. If your T420 has discrete graphics (i.e., NVIDIA), then you need to use the 90W unit. If your T420 only has Intel graphics, then the 90W will still work fine and you won't be running the power supply as hard as it was designed for. And in the future, if you ever end up with an NVIDIA unit, you'll have the proper supply.

There's many different FRUs for the 90W supply. Different manufacturers were used and they probably added more that aren't listed in the HMM.