Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but the IT department sees several people each semester who have dead laptop power adapters. This creates a crisis for the student every time. Bring a spare.

Also, most of the failures are due to cable damage: When you wind up your cords don't bend them sharply where they come out of the 'brick' as this breaks the copper wires inside and will cause a failure at some point.

Regards,

-Travis

EDIT: This goes for Mac users too! (I have someone in my office right now with a dead Mag-Safe adapter. As described above, it appears that wrapping the cable too tightly has broken the wire where it enters the 'brick'.

__________________
Travis Barth
Systems Administrator
Saba University IT Department