New Kensington notebook power adapters are light AND energy efficient

PC peripherals company Kensington Computer Products Group has added two new Energy Star-qualified laptop adapters that use 30 percent less energy than typical adapters AND are light, to boot.

The Kensington Wall Laptop Power Adapters are compatible with notebooks from Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Toshiba, Lenovo, Sony, Gateway, Acer and ASUS. (You need to check the models, though, to make sure your system is one of the ones supported.) One of the models comes with a USB power port, which means you can hang other devices off the same charger. Read, you don't have to take two or more with you; this is significant because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guess-timates that the average U.S. person has about nine external power adapters for their various electronic gadgets. Talk about a waste of space and materials.

Because they are built with load testing in mind (ala the company's surge protection products), the Kensington adapters can protect your notebook against power surges, over current and over voltage. They also keep tabs on temperature, to make sure things don't get too hot while you're charging.

Here's a rundown on the two new models as well as their pricing:

• The base-level Kensington Wall Laptop Power Adapter K38074US is list-priced at $69.99.
• The Kensington Wall Laptop Power Adapter with USB Power Port K38077US has a list price of $79.99; it can handle mobile devices from mobile phones to MP3 players. It also comes with a mini USB charging cable and adapter.