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...

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Source: http://www.quickertek.com/products/macbook_air_charger.php

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Accessories 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...

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marina

Great but expensive.

May 12 2009 at 5:49 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

marina

Great!

May 12 2009 at 5:48 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Jvlien

Again, why not using something compatible with the MagSafe Airline Adapter ? Is the EmPower socket also ruled by an Apple patent ?

April 15 2009 at 1:52 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Haro!

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.

April 13 2009 at 9:12 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Haro!'s comment

Haro!

I just realized it meant total of 16 hours. But an additional 6-10 hours is still quite good.

April 13 2009 at 9:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

osxdude999

You know, you could just make a dock connector cable with a voltage regulator in the middle for power. :)

April 13 2009 at 6:25 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

JKT

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.

April 13 2009 at 5:57 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

madgunde

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.

April 13 2009 at 3:30 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to madgunde's comment

iMeow

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.

April 13 2009 at 5:21 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Dave

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.

April 13 2009 at 2:01 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to Dave's comment

funkeboodha

so does plugging in for power!

April 13 2009 at 2:15 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Noah

I'm with Robert. Not only does it cost $500, it doesn't even look sexy!

April 13 2009 at 1:51 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

jaseone

"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.

April 13 2009 at 1:46 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply