Laptops are powered by an internal battery. To use your laptop, this battery will have to be charged by connecting it to a source of electricity. For the most part, we can connect the charger cable to the power supply in our homes and offices. The power travels through the cables and supplies power to our laptop’s battery.
The laptop charger provided with your device is the most effective way to charge your laptop. But there are some other ways that power can be provided to your laptop without the dedicated charging cable.
To power up your laptop without the charging cable, you will need:
A power source
A conduit to transfer the power to the battery
Can you charge a laptop with USB?
A common question we are asked is whether or not the laptop can be charged with a conventional USB cable. This depends on the type of USB port and charging ports you have on your laptop.
If you happen to be using an external ‘wired’ mouse or keyboard, the connection made to your laptop is most likely made with a USB Type-A connector. This is the most common type of USB connection. When someone asks about a USB connection today, this is most often what they are referring to. There is a good chance that you have a mobile device that also uses this connection. Even though Type A connections can be used to power the mobile device, it is not going to provide this service to your laptop.
Type A cab is used for data transferal, but when it comes to transferring large amounts of power, as you would need to charge your laptop’s battery, the wattage supplied by Type A batteries is just not large enough.
This is where USB Type C makes a powerful ally.
USB 3.1 introduced a different type of USB connection called the Type C, better known as USB-C. This type of connection has a slightly oval shape and is designed for transferring greater wattage. This means it can transfer more power than the USB-A can and at greater speeds too.
Type A — Speeds up to 10 Gbit/s
USB-C —Speeds up to 20 Gbit/s
But it gets better than that.
Back in 2019, the latest iteration of the USB port was made available called the USB4, which can transfer data at speeds of 40 Gbit/s.
In the end, you will not be able to charge your laptop with a typical Type A USB, but if you have the USB-C cable you can.
1. How to charge a laptop with USB-C
So, if your laptop does have a USB-C port, you are in luck and can power your laptop using a USB cable. You will need that USB-C charger box that comes with the USB-C cable, this is a small box-shaped object with a conventional plug and a USB-C port on one side. Some of these laptops use the USB-C as their primary charger for simplicity’s sake.
To charge your laptop with your USB-C:
Plug one end of the USB-C cord into a power outlet
Plug the other end of the USB-C cord into the laptop
As you can see, the process couldn’t be simpler if you had someone do it for you. So long as you have the USB-C port and cable, you can charge your laptop anywhere. But this brings us to the next problem. What if you don’t have a USB-C port? It could take a while to order one online, and there may not be a Radio shack on this side of the French Sahara.
Plan ahead for options
Of course, this does you no good right now, but planning is always the best option. If you will be purchasing a new laptop in the future you may consider choosing an option with USB-C ports and a variety of other charging options as well. We have seen that most devices these days have a USB-C port so that it can be counted on. This also means that you can shout ‘Can anyone lend me a USB-C cable” and get at least 20 offers within shouting distance.
You will be happy to know that all HP laptop brands have USB-C ports:
- HP Chromebook 11
- HP Specter
- HP ProBook
- HP ZBook
- HP EliteBook
- HP ENVY 13
Check product specifications before you buy.
2. How to charge your laptop in a car
The car also produces electricity, right? This means that if you are on a road trip, or traveling in a rental car, you can still charge your laptop on the way. This is a fairly simple operation and will only require a few small objects:
AC Adapter Cable USB Type-A connector on one end USB-C connector at the other end
USB car charger
Now you simply connect the USB charger to the vehicle charging port.
Turn on the car’s engine.
Connect the charging cable to the USB charger and the USB-C end to the laptop you would like to charge. You may not even need the cable as many USB car chargers already have this connection installed.
On this topic, here is an important reminder. Never leave your laptop charging in an unattended car even for just a moment. Theft is almost certain and you are sure to damage the laptop from overheating.
3. Charging your laptop with a power bank
Perhaps the most simplistic way to bring power to your device is with a power bank. This is a portable battery of power that can be transferred to your laptop battery as needed. The best thing about the power bank is that it can be used anytime anywhere, with no need for power connections.
Power banks can be very different and they are not all built with the same charging capacity. The lower power options will have a USB Type-A connection. A more powerful variety may have a USB-C connection. Because you will be powering your laptop with the power bank, you will need the type with the high-power USB-C connection.
With the great advancements being made in the field of power and battery technology, there is little doubt that you will find a suitable option. Your power bank should have more than enough power to fully charge your laptop battery, even more than once. You will need to remember to connect your power bank to a power outlet and fully charge it to ensure that you always have an extra boost of power on hand for emergencies.
For this reason, we recommend using the power bank as the last resort if all other means of powering the laptop have been exhausted. Always keep the power bank with you if you are taking a laptop.