Filed under: Accessories, MacBook Air
16 hours of battery life for the MacBook Air
I have a MacBook Air. Although I can get about 5 hours of mobile use out of it by dimming the screen, turning off all wireless, and only running one app at a time, there are times I'd love to be able to stay unplugged for much longer. I could always get a solar charger, but that won't work well when it's dark out.QuickerTek has announced the MacBook Air External Battery, a US$350 external box designed to let you run your MBA for up to 16 hours before plugging in. It's relatively small (7" x 3.5" x 1" -- 17.8 cm x 8.9 cm x 2.5 cm) and adds 1.2 pounds to the weight you'll have to lug around.
In order to connect the external battery to your MacBook Air, you'll either have to send your existing MagSafe cable in to be converted for use (US$25) or buy a modified cable from QuickerTek (US$100). The final bill for the MacBook Air External Battery and the cable is almost as pricey as that solar-powered charger, but it's going to give your MacBook Air much longer battery life. Now if QuickerTek could just come out with a battery to let me play Monopoly (click opens iTunes) on my iPhone for 10 hours straight...
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Robert said 1:35PM on 4-13-2009
500 for a battery?
Love the article TWAU seriously
Thanks, but no thanks..,
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mi_sat said 6:37PM on 4-13-2009
For $385, you could buy an ASUS 1000HE which supposedly has a 9.5 hour battery life. Then you could sell your Air and have cash left over!
(Kidding about selling the Air, but kind of puts the cost of the battery into perspective.)
Jason Bainbridge said 1:47PM on 4-13-2009
"Now if QuickerTek could just come out with a battery to let me play Monopoly (click opens iTunes) on my iPhone for 10 hours straight..."
The Mophie Juice Pack does just that, although I would hold out until the Mophie Air is released in a week or so.
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Noah said 1:51PM on 4-13-2009
I'm with Robert. Not only does it cost $500, it doesn't even look sexy!
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Dave said 2:01PM on 4-13-2009
It's a nice idea but isn't the point of the MacBook Air to make mobile computing light and easy? Having to carry around accessories seems to defeat the purpose of that.
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funkeboodha said 2:15PM on 4-13-2009
so does plugging in for power!
madgunde said 3:30PM on 4-13-2009
Why exactly is it necessary to jump through hoops regarding the cables? Is it that Quickertek doesn't want to buy a license to be able to make the proper connector for the MacBook Air? I'm not sure I'd trust my $1800 notebook to a device from a company that doesn't 'officially' support it thank you very much. $100 for a cable is a freaking joke too.
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iMeow said 5:21PM on 4-13-2009
Ummm...
Apple hasn't licensed their mag safe connector to anyone as of yet. It's not that 3rd parties aren't trying - it's that Apple does want to.
JKT said 5:58PM on 4-13-2009
You could buy an entire netbook and install OS X on it for less than the cost of this item. Then if your Air ran out of battery, you could fire up the netbook and keep on computing. The netbook wouldn't weigh much more than this device, either.
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osxdude999 said 6:25PM on 4-13-2009
You know, you could just make a dock connector cable with a voltage regulator in the middle for power. :)
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Haro! said 9:12PM on 4-13-2009
That would be cool if it didn't have that huge logo on it. I think it's still a good idea though, and something I was hoping someone would think of. And 16 hours is awesome. The price is quite steep though.
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Haro! said 9:13PM on 4-13-2009
I just realized it meant total of 16 hours. But an additional 6-10 hours is still quite good.
Jvlien said 1:53PM on 4-15-2009
Again, why not using something compatible with the MagSafe Airline Adapter ? Is the EmPower socket also ruled by an Apple patent ?
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marina said 8:57PM on 5-12-2009
Great!
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marina said 8:58PM on 5-12-2009
Great but expensive.
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