Macworld 2010: HyperMac brings some style to the battery backup market

We're still on the lookout for battery backup options to power recharge your iPhone, iPod touch or just about any USB mobile device. The market just got a bit larger with the introduction of the HyperMac line of batteries at Macworld. Hypermac is also showing its backup batteries for the MacBook Pro here at Macworld, and is offering a 10% show discount.

The first thing you notice is that they are very easy on the eyes, which is unusual in a market filled with very utilitarian design. These batteries come in in 9 iPod Nano colors (black/silver/pink/red/orange/yellow/green/blue/purple) and are housed in an attractive aluminum casing. The second thing I noticed is that they are much lighter than they look.

Hypermac External Batteries @ Macworld 2010

The HyperMac line for iPhone and iPod is made up of three models.

The HyperMac Nano rated at 1800 mAh and selling for US $69.95 is an iPod Nano sized device that come with a built in charging cable.
The HyperMac Micro rated at 3600 mAh selling for $89.95 looks like a slightly version of the picture above.
The HyperMac Mini rated at 7200 mAh selling for $119.95 as pictured.

Since the largest battery backup I had previously seen was the ZAGGsparq which came in at 6000 mAh, and could charge an iPhone about four times, I was interested in the largest capacity model. Booth spokespeople claim that the 7200 mAh model will charge an iPhone six times, but I find that hard to believe. It turns out that they came up with the number of charges by simply dividing 7200 mAh by the 1150 mAh iPhone battery. Commenters have previously pointed out that there is a good deal of energy wasted in the process of recharging, so I would think that five times would be a more accurate number.

Using lithium ion batteries that are advertised as being good for 1,000 charges, Micro and Mini can also charge other USB devices. The back panel sports inputs for USB, DC in and mini USB. There is one light that turns red when mostly discharged and green when fully charged. A nice touch is that along with the AC adapter, a USB to 30 pin cable as well as a mini USB cable are included.

HyperMac is currently running a show special slicing $20 off of each model, and the batteries can be bought online at their site.

View Tags

Source: http://hypermac.com/

Categories

Macworld Hardware

We're still on the lookout for battery backup options to power recharge your iPhone, iPod touch or just about any USB mobile device. The...

Add a Comment

Sign in »

5 Comments

Filter by:

michbarr

I've looked at and there are 100s of mfgs. from China making these so it seems to me a far fetch that HyperMac is the supplier to batterygeek. It does make sense to throw some spin around a competitor since most of the Chinese mfgs. use the same footprint for the LI batteries and it does make it confusing for customers. What I see happening is HM is changing colors to differentiate their product by color. Still inside most of these units are close in power and fit. What makes the difference is customer service and small features that make them more convenient to use or adapt to other uses. Just MHO.

February 28 2010 at 12:56 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

michbarr

There are many mfgs. of these batteries and after looking at them both I do not see that HyperMac is the supplier to batterygeek so I'm wondering why the last comment by HyperMac. Seems like there is some 'spin' in the dialogue here IMHO.

February 28 2010 at 12:51 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

tvBilly

Batterygeek.net has had these batteries for eons, though only in black, for a lot less. Their 7200mAH battery, for example, is $80 and their 3600mAH battery is $60. Same size, same case shape, probably the same battery, though it's hard to tell since the HyperMac site is more interested in displaying their models holding the batteries, as opposed to showing the batteries themselves.

February 12 2010 at 11:14 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

1 reply to tvBilly's comment

HyperMac

It is true that batterygeek has similar products to HyperMac. That is because the parent of HyperMac is the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) for batterygeek.

Appearance-wise, they look similar but that is where the similarities end. HyperMac products cost a little more because we use higher (military) grade components and battery cells, which are more reliable than the usual consumer grade products. The IC solution used in HyperMac is also developed only recently in 2009/2010 as opposed to batterygeek's solution which are over 3 years old. Case in point, our HyperMac External MacBook Batteries can detect which MacBook it is currently connected to and automatically adjust its charging voltage. It can automatically switch from 14.5V for MacBook Air to 16.5V for MacBook and 16.5~18.5V for MacBook Pro. This is a patented technology and HyperMac remains the only external battery in the world that can accurately work and provide the right amount of charging power to every single MacBook model, automatically. If you look at batterygeek solution, you have to manually select the charging voltage. Only 2 voltage values (16V and 18V) will work with MacBooks and they are not even the accurate voltages that the MacBooks use.

While there are great feature/specification differences between HyperMac and batterygeek, we agree that the similarities in appearances can be misleading for some users, as such we will, with immediate effect cease supplying HyperMac-like products to batterygeek.

February 18 2010 at 2:34 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Moose

Lawsuit from Apple for naming convention in 3...2...1...

February 12 2010 at 3:49 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply