If i want to run a laptop off the 12volt in my car, can i get away with a regular inverter, or do i need one of the "pure" inverters? All info on the subject is appreciated!

 

well there really is no such thing as getting a pure sine wave from a dc source. there are converters out there that are better at realizing the pure sine wave than other inverters. for a laptop power supply, the input voltage should be the closest thing to a pure sine wave because of the nature of the laptop's switch mode power supply design. better yet would be a dc-dc converter that will give you the required dc voltage that your laptop requires with a certain current demand; highly regulated of course.

 

if i understood you correctly, a dc-to-dc converter shouldnt do harm to my laptop?
also, i saw car adapters for laptops for sale (about $60). can i use that instead of dc-to-dc converter? (or are THEY the dc-to-dc converters?)

your info is appreciated!

 

yeah, that is a dc-dc converter.

a dc-dc converter just converts a certain dc voltage like 13.8V to some other DC voltage like 19V or whatever. it is harder to do that with DC than AC because you cannot just use a simple transformer to change voltages.

 

Ok, now i got it. I'll be going with that car adapter for my laptop. Thanks for your time and info!

 

no prob dude