Newnex's Angled USB Extension cable

In March 2004, Newnex Technology Corp began selling a low-profile angled USB 2.0 extension cable (image below, left, direct from Newnex's site). Their part number is UH2-AAR02T-14 and the single quantity price is US$15 (as of March 2004).

It does fit between my Dell Inspiron 8600 and the APR.See image to the right. If this product had existed when I first had the problems with the APR, I wouldn't have bothered to make my own.

I do notice some slight interference between the cable and the dock. While I'm not too concerned about the minimal upward flex on the USB connector, I am noticing that the computer seems to be very slightly twisted in the dock. If you imagine the notebook to be flying away from you, there's a very slight "yaw" (I think that's the right word) -- turned a teensy bit to the right about a floor-to-ceiling axis. Feeling a little overprotective-of-my-new(ish)-computer, I'm a little concerned that if this flex were transmitted to the docking connector at the bottom of the notebook/top of the dock, that more delicate connection might over time somehow be damaged.

I don't see this as being a huge concern, but just because I'm me, I grabbed an X-Acto knife and shaved off some of the plastic on the back side of the plug, roughly parallel to the surface of the APR to see if I could give it a tiny bit of clearance.

After a few attempts, I was able to get one business card's thickness -- but not two -- of clearance without cutting through to metal (image below).

Of course, if you wish to do the same, always be careful with sharp objects and don't blame me if you somehow manage to send yourself to the emergency room for stitches. If you think you might, maybe you should go at it with an emery board or something like that instead :-)

Note: Newnex was kind enough to send me a free sample cable to test with the Inspiron 8600 and Tungsten T3. Thanks, Sam. Yes, this has probably slightly biased me to think kindly of this company and its product. Which isn't hard to do anyway... I always appreciate a company that makes a good product and makes the effort to understand and deliver what I need.

Copyright (C) 2004, David H. Brown. Don't steal my stuff; I won't steal yours. But I'd probably be really happy to share.
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