Apple's new battery charger is deceptively cool

The reason your charged-in-15-minutes batteries only last 15 minutes is because you're charging them so fast. It puts huge stress on the cells and they breakdown at a much faster rate. The added heat caused by putting that much current through the charger and into the cells also causes faster degradation. In short, don't expect your quick-charged batteries to keep much of their original capacity after more than 100-200 cycles.

Fyi... I work at a Batteries Plus, we sell plenty of rechargeable batteries/chargers. There is no mention of the capacity of the batteries but the site does say they are NiMH, nickel metal hydride, batteries. Pretty standard for rechargeable batteries and are probably around 2000mAh. We sell similar batteries that hold 85% of their charge after 1 year (2100mAh) as apposed to apple's 80% so that's not a big deal, we also sell high capacity rechargables that have a 2700mAh capacity, most likely much higher than apple's. Also, there is very slim to no chance that the batteries will last 10 years, "hundreds of charge cycles" is pretty mediocre. Our high capacity batteries have about 1000 charge cycles in them and would last maybe 5 years being rotated and charged correctly. So aside from the power management system which minimizes draw when the batteries are full this system doesn't seem very innovative or filled with "Apple magic". And the reason your 15min charger doesn't keep your batteries charged is because they cannot charge fully in that time no matter how big the current is charging it. They would get to 80% of their capacity at best, the charger also would kill them exponentially faster than a regular one as high current charging decreases the life of the batteries.

Apple magic? The kind where every product catches on fire at launch and only sort of works by v3? Wait for the reviews and a few weeks after release before calling the game

I was going to rush to GameStop to buy Starcraft II. But this is way cooler. Why watch Raynor's rise to power when I can recharge batteries instead?

Conveniently posted right after I bought the exact Energizer charger he's talking about and a bunch of Energizer rechargeable batteries.......

Seriously guys, it's a battery charger. Not everything Apple makes is Magic. Relax, breath, and start focusing on good Apple add ons like software that can make our experience better.

I still love these www.usbcell.com but at $30 for six batteries and the charger, it's tempting.

how long does it take to charge batteries?

Looks like where the prongs are could also cover up part of the upper outlet, meaning it effectively turns that outlet semi-worthless while it's plugged in. guess that's how the phantom power draw is so low.....

I understand how this is interesting, but I already have 8 rechargable batteries that work quite well.

http://www.amazon.com/DURCEF90NC-Battery-Charger-System-Batteries/dp/B000JCWOZ8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1280258550&sr=8-1-catcorr

I believe I have this one. I'm not at home right now so I can't check to be sure. Cost me about $20 a few years ago. Extra high-capacity batteries for another $15 (I'm guessing, its been so long). The Apple charger can only charge 2 at a time. Mine can charge 4. My charger is rather large, but comes with a small AC adapter which only takes up one plug.

So how is the Apple charger better then what I already have and has been on the market already (besides the lower standby power usage, which can be removed from equation by just unplugging the charge when not in use)?

I'm not bashing Apple for this, just find it funny that they (and TUAW) are making this out to be some amazing product when it actually isn't anything special.