Laptop, plugging and unpluging order

Factual Questions
1

In what order should I plug in my laptop? Should I plug the cord into my laptop first and then into the outlet? Or the outlet first and then the laptop? I suppose unplugging would be reversed? Or does it even matter?

2

I always unplug and plug it into the wall when it’s not attached to the computer, if for no other reason, it tends not to arc (outlet to plug) that way.

3

In most cases it doesn’t matter, but I’ve known a couple of cases of international travelers who fried one by plugging the cord into the laptop first: according to the IT guys, by plugging the cord into the wall first, the transformer has time to adapt to a higher voltage (the commutation is almost instantaneous but not quite). The “brick” on the cord turns the AC from the wall into DC of the voltage the computer needs.

Unplugging order doesn’t matter, but please switch off the jill if you have that feature available and pull from the plugs, not the cord.

4

I believe it because I have personally fried a laptop by plugging the plug into the laptop first. From then on I have plugged the cord into the outlet, then into the laptop. I never bothered to research this phenomena, but when I fried my computer, there was a distinct “pop” sound when I plugged into the wall while already connected to the laptop.

5

Yep, same for the one who fried hers in the same room where I was.

We actually studied the science behind it in electronics class, transitories are fun! Sometimes, as in this case, they’re a problem; other times they’re useful, such as any Fourier Transform (FT) spectroscopy, which is part of the reason we spent a lot of time on them in a course on Electronics taught at a ChemEng school.

A “transitory” is a short-lived state of rapid change, for example booting up any machine.

6

Thanks for the replies everyone. I had been unplugging and plugging it into the wall when the cord is not attached to the computer after hearing the suggestion from a friend. But after doing some googling to confirm, I found a lot of posts arguing the opposite and a handful saying it doesn’t matter at all. I’ll continue plugging and unplugging at the wall with the computer safely unattached.

Thanks again - J