INTRODUCTION

   Every single person out there has pretty much owned or at least used a notebook at least once in their lives so you all know how large their AC power adapter can be making it quite difficult to carry them around (even inside a notebook bag they take too much space). Size aside most of the time these are not only hard to find in the market but also quite expensive to replace when they die (if you decide to get a genuine one). Because of these two reasons it really comes as little surprise that many manufacturers have released their own 3rd party AC power adapters which are not only smaller and cheaper than the genuine ones but in some instances they also offer improved electrical efficiency. Huntkey is one such manufacturer and today we will be taking a rather quick look at their X-MAN 90W Universal Notebook Adapter.

   Huntkey Enterprise Group, founded in 1995, is a professional provider specialized in the development, design, manufacturing and marketing of power supplies. The products of Huntkey cover a wide variety, including power supplies (1W~250KW), power systems, computer cases, universal notebook adapters, chargers, power supply converters, etc. The industrial parks of Huntkey in Shenzhen and Heyuan and Hefei which cover a total area of over 750,000 square meters, are now the largest IT manufacturing base in China’s mainland. Huntkey with over 7,000 employees has set up its branch companies in Hong Kong, Japan and Europe. Its clients are found all over the world in more than 30 countries and regions, including Lenovo, DELL, etc.

   I've tested quite a few high-end notebook AC adapters in the past so just like them the X-MAN 90W by Huntkey is almost half the size of most normal/genuine adapters without however sacrificing power output. According to Huntkey the X-MAN 90W has an MTBF (Mean time Between Failures) of 50.000 hours, an impressive number to say the least. The X-MAN 90W is also widely compatible with most notebooks in the market thanks to the ten included power tips and it also features a nice USB port (5V/2A) with which you can use/charge pretty much every gadget you have from digital cameras, smartphones, MP3 players, speakers and many more. The unit also features three separate failsafe’s to guard your devices such as overvoltage (OVP), over-current (OCP) and short-circuit (SCP) protections. Specs-Wise the X-MAN 90W sounds quite impressive but the time has come to take a closer look.

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

The X-MAN 90W arrived inside a clear plastic package from which you can see the entire product. The front is filled with stickers describing the main product features but what's quite impressive is the 2 Million product Liability Insurance sticker.

The table with all the supported brands along with which tip you need to use with each of them is present on the left side.

You can see the electrical specifications of the X-MAN 90W at the rear of the box in 12 languages.

The package contains the X-MAN 90W Universal Notebook Adapter, the AC power cord, 10 tips, the user's manual and a carrying pouch.

THE X-MAN 90W

Measuring just 117mm in length, 68mm in width and 17mm in height while weighing 268g the X-MAN 90W by HuntKey is amongst the smallest 90W capable Notebook Adapters we've ever seen.

The HuntKey logo and the power LED are placed at the two opposite sides of the top.

The notebook part of the cord is attached onto the main unit.

This is where you mount the required tip/s.

At the other side we see the AC power plug.

Once you plug the adapter onto a wall socket the power LED lights up blue.

The X-MAN 90W also comes with an 5V/2A USB port which was able to charge and power everything we threw at it from smartphones to speakers.

A large sticker with the unit’s electrical specifications is present at the bottom.

Here you can see all ten available tips which are numbered 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 13.

Now the available tips should be compatible with over 90% of all the netbooks and notebooks out there (just like with most universal adapters).

However again like most universal adapters none of these tips is compatible with gaming notebooks like the Qosmio line by Toshiba.

CONCLUSION

   Since Universal Notebook Adapters are not compatible with gaming notebooks i was unable to perform the various load tests I’d like to but at the same time since these adapters are not aimed at power hungry notebooks i doubt there's anyone out there who will come across any issues with them (besides notebooks also have their own built-in filtering systems). I did of course use the unit for a total of 12 days both with a normal everyday notebook (HP) and several gadgets to see if the USB port works as advertised or not and i can't say that i found anything wrong with the X-MAN 90W. Performance aside we are talking about a small Universal Notebook Adapter with all the necessary protection circuits one would need, for a notebook that is (OVP, OCP, SCP).

   The X-MAN 90W Universal Notebook Adapter is currently available only in ASIA but it should arrive inside the EU soon for a price tag set at around 50Euros (will update once this is verified). If that is indeed the case then HuntKey will soon have the cheapest brand Universal Notebook Adapter with a power capacity of 90W in the market so to me at least that means a sure winner. Certainly i do hope that all the manufacturers of universal notebook adapters will one day start to support gaming notebooks as well but since they are very aware of this issue there must be something stopping them from doing so (perhaps they just can't marry small size with high output). Long story short if your notebook power adapter has reached his end or if you just want something smaller to carry around then be sure to check the X-MAN 90W by HuntKey out since it's small, has a power output of 90W, features 3 protections (OVP, OCP, SCP) and according to the recommended price it should be cheaper than anything else offered in the market by a familiar brand name. For all of the above the X-MAN 90W Universal Notebook Adapter walks away with our Golden Award.

PROS

- Size
- Design
- 2A USB Port
- Compatibility
- 2mil Product Liability Insurance
- Price (For Some) 

CONS

- No Support For Gaming Laptops