Laptop Power supply voltage question

[FlippyBoy]

If I plug a 16.5V power adapter into a laptop that requires 19.5V, what could potentially be damaged, if anything?

 

[bryanl]

The battery may not charge fully, if it contains 6 lithium cells.

 

[CycloWizard]

Laptops seem to be very picky about voltages. Most things will accept voltages within 10% of nominal but I suppose laptop manufacturers make a lot of money selling adapters so they have set the computers to reject anything that is not spot on. Then, each company makes their adapters use slightly different voltages. It's really absurd from a technical point of view but technology is rarely the deciding factor for management I'm afraid.