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General discussion

How safe are all these USB devices to use?

Oct 22, 2009 11:17AM PDT

Noob question, I know so don't troll me.

So I have this desk fan that plugs into my usb device (to keep me cool), I was curious about how the constant draw of power from this thing will affect my laptop over time? I've seen all sorts of these odd usb devices recently, from usb coffee warmers, toasters, drink coolers, to keyboard lights, but is plugging all this crap into your PC really safe to do?

Discussion is locked

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Gimmickry
Oct 22, 2009 11:33AM PDT

I don't favor any of those gadgets as they do tend to draw power. While that maybe well and good for a desktops its really pushing your luck on laptops. There are enough power issues with laptops that sucking the juice on limited power and to include the very small circuits involved could be overdrawn on the USB path. Sure you could have a camera and mouse, but once you start adding fans, lights, coolers or coffee warmers it really can break the camels' back sorta speak. Of course, its up to the user. Why not drag a solar powered fan around.

tada -----Willy Happy

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At what true price?
Oct 24, 2009 4:33AM PDT

Everyone wishes their laptop had better battery life. Manufacturers practically trip over each other claiming better performance. Even the very best don't last particularly long on a single charge. If you power a coffee warmer from your USB port, how much battery life are you giving up? Bus-powered USB devices should be limited to several Watts, but, even so, as a constant draw, they will noticeably shorten your working time between charges. Also consider, laptop batteries can only be recharged a limited number of times before they need to be replaced and they can be expensive. Even several hundred charges can go by pretty quickly. Do you really want to use up your $100+ laptop battery just to keep your coffee warm?

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perhaps
Oct 24, 2009 4:02PM PDT

Thanks for the great points. My laptop is almost always plugged in so I'm not sure if that'd have as much negative impact on my battery. I wasn't sure how else the fan might affect my PC, like I heard some time ago by my IT manager that plugging a vacuum into the the same surge protector that's being shared by a computer would somehow mess the computer up. I'm not sure if there is any trough to that. Right now I just have a small mouse plugged into my laptops usb which isn't giving me any problems. I'll probably just use the fan for my desktop.

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spell check
Oct 24, 2009 4:04PM PDT

I have no idea how I got "through" out of "truth"

My bad.