Lenovo Lipstick Power Adapter: First Thoughts

I bought the Lipstick Power Adapter last year, and a while back it started acting up — it wouldn’t charge my ThinkPad X1 Carbon anymore.

Actually, this problem is really annoying. First off, the adapter still charges: it charges phones, it charges a New MacBook, it charges a Switch, it can even charge a MacBook Pro. It just won’t charge the ThinkPad.

Personally I figure it probably doesn’t support the PD protocol anymore.

Thought about it for a bit, realized it was less than a year since purchase, so sending it in for repair was the only option.

At first I wanted to send it in through the official site — after all, I bought it there — but the “repair request” button on the site did absolutely nothing when clicked.

Eventually I couldn’t get through on the 400 number either. I searched around and found a repair log from a user on “What’s Worth Buying” (SMZDM) who seemed to have just gone straight to a service center. So I decided to try my luck too.

Lenovo’s service center in Zhengzhou is on Huayuan Road. After I got there I still had to take a number and wait. After a while a repair guy finally took my case, and I explained the problem. He said…

He didn’t understand it either — after all, nobody had ever sent one of these in for repair. But he could send it back to the factory for me. It might take “about 5 business days.”

In the end, less than 3 days later, I got a call. The guy told me they’d swapped it for a new one and I could come pick it up.

So I picked up the replacement, and honestly this repair went pretty well. Lenovo’s service staff really are patient — lots of old folks came in asking computer questions, and they explained everything patiently.