I think you're over-pricing the job of fixing your laptops.

Another option for you: a separate battery charger that you load the laptop battery into. Granted, that's a whole other standard-problem.

Maybe you could buy matching laptops that have a working charge socket but some other fatal flaw, such as broken screen. Use that machine to charge your battery.

I agree that a smart power supply might be overkill. The biggest problem is not what technology to use, as there are several options, but to get the industry to address the issue at all. Perhaps, as with mobile power supplies, that will only happen with political pressure.

Whilst some voltages are common in IT, not everything has a standard voltage. Digging up a handful of power supplies, and I have a combination of 3.3v, 5v, 7.5v, 9v, 12v, 15v, 19v and 24v. Some of them are DC, and some of them are AC.

Having a single power supply that can adjust its output to match what a device requires tends to mean the "smart" power supply is less efficient, as it cannot be tuned to one particular voltage. It also makes the supply more complex, as a robust mechanism for selecting the output voltage is required. (No-one wants a dodgy connector to cause the power supply to supply a voltage that is too high!)

Instead, it would make more sense to have a standardised power supply voltage (24v?), which is then internally converted to the voltages that the end device requires. The downside is that the end device costs a bit more, due to the power conversion.

I have an observation that one of the biggest weakness Laptops have is the power jack. I literally have 10 Laptops sitting around my house that have nothing wrong with them but the power jacks. Since the power jacks are soldered to the motherboard fixing them isn't economically viable. Somebody really should do something about designing better inputs more robust.

You somehow turned this article about every hardware company in the world and aim it back it Microsoft which makes a very small amount of hardware themselves...

Where do you get off on things?

The simple answer to this is make a usb power socket availbale on planes for charging phones (you only then need a USB A I think to mini-USB cable)and have 1 power socket for a "SMART PSU" which has a rating upto the highest as needed now down to the lowest as needed now power ratings with a standard end.

BUT. This wont happen due to the fact Casual Reader put in. They make too much cash from second/replacement/car powersupplies.

I think there is a fast-track process available to push standards through the ISO certification process and ignore the wishes of most others. This can be expensive, but certain companies have lots of dosh. I think that this was done quite recently by one company for a document standard...yes it was called OOXML, and the company was...what was it again...oh yes, it was Microsoft.

Just think, they could force the ISO "standardization" of a plug shaped like a little wavy Windows logo. Then afterwards, sue everyone for trademark infringement if they did not pay licencing fees. A volish delight.

Mobile industry wasn't any smarter. It's the EU who put the preasure on mobile industry to make a universal adapter. The very same could be done for laptops as well. Manufacturers earn quite some money by selling spare adaptors. So, they have too little motivation to go universal.

...which evidently is for when you aren't using the computer, because it isn't needed when you are.

Couldn't agree more. I have a boxful of these adapters at home, all with different power ratings and connectors. As most are also appallingly labelled, you can never tell which is which. You always worry if you get rid of them, you'll then find the device that needed it, and not be able to charge it!

Universal power supplies with standard plugs would be a huge step forward, and keep the green camps happier as well.