If you do any traveling, you probably haul around a lot of electronic gadgets — notebooks (or netbooks), smartphones, media players, etc. And with those gadgets comes all the power cords that you need to keep them running.
There are a variety of products out there that try to solve this dilemma by offering a single way to power all your small mobile devices. However, only a few can handle the power needs of notebooks. Innergie’s mCube 90 universal adapter (US$100) is one of those devices.
What is it? The mCube 90 is a small (5.07 x 2.76 x 0.93 inches), sleek-looking, 9.28-ounce device that can power a variety of notebooks and USB-powered devices. The idea is that if you carry around a number of electronic devices with you, you can carry just this one adapter rather than a bunch of power cords. (Note: The mCube has to be plugged into an outlet to work.)
How does it work? The mCube 90 comes with three cables — a wall cable that plugs into a normal two-prong outlet, a detachable car/air adapter (so that you can power your devices from your car’s cigarette lighter socket or from the DC power socket on airplanes) and a notebook output cable. The latter comes with seven different tips to accommodate a variety of notebooks. You plug the mCube 90 into the wall (or into your car’s power port), plug the output cable into the other end, attach the appropriate tip and plug that into your notebook.
The mCube also has a USB port so you can simultaneously power up your phone, media player or other small device (Innergie sells retractable USB cables with replaceable tips separately for $8 to $10, depending on your device).
What’s cool about it? If you travel with a lot of technology — especially if you’re one of those who brings along both a notebook for heavy-duty work and a netbook to carry around during the day — and you don’t want to worry about which power cords to pack, you can just drop the mCube 90 into your suitcase and forget about it. In addition, the mCube 90 is smaller and lighter than many (but not all) notebook power bricks.
What needs to be fixed? The mCube 90 actually has a rather narrow range of notebooks that it works with. Your notebook has to use 65W power, and the output voltage has to be anywhere from 18V to 21V. In my case, that leaves out three of the four notebooks I have in my household — while a Lenovo ThinkPad T61 has the appropriate voltage level, an older ThinkPad T43 does not, and neither does a Sony Vaio VGN-S360 or an Asus EeePC 701.
You can check whether your devices work with the mCube 90 on Innergie’s Web site.
Final verdict: While the mCube 90 is a nice idea, especially for those who travel with a lot of gadgets, its usefulness is limited. It works only with certain notebooks and will only help those people who travel with more than one notebook (since anyone who has only one notebook can just as easily travel with the original power cord — and can just charge USB gadgets from the notebook itself). And $100 seems like a lot to pay for the convenience of not having to carry two power bricks and some other small cords.
On the other hand, the car/air adapter has a lot more potential; it can be very helpful for people who do a lot of driving and need to power their notebook while they go from point A to point B. That alone may be worth the price of admission. Note that you can purchase just the car/air adapter as the mCube 90 DC for $50; that may be a smarter choice if you don’t need the full adapter set.
