Apple is a great company in many ways, but they are often frustratingly proprietary too.
One of Apple’s niftiest proprietary technologies is the MagSafe power cable tip that has been used on all of Apple’s recent laptops. The MagSafe holds the power cable to the side of a MacBook with a magnet so that you (or your pet!) tripping over the power cord does not risk hurling your laptop to the floor. It is indeed an ingenious bit of technology, and it has probably prevented an untold amount of damage over the years.
I love the MagSafe tip. I really do. But….
One particular frustration that has vexed me for over three years now is that there is no “official” way to power any MagSafe-equipped Apple laptops directly off of 12v power. As full-time technomads living in a small solar-powered trailer, we have ample access to 12v DC, while 120v AC is a rare luxury for us. Sure, we could use an inverter – but (as you will see) that inserts a lot of overhead and inefficiency. We would much rather run our lives directly off of 12v as much as possible.
Unfortunately, Apple has not released a 12v car-charger of their own, and they have threatened to send an army of lawyers after any third-party power supply manufacturer that dare introduce a MagSafe-compatible power cable. There is no technical limitation preventing Targus, Kensington, or iGo from producing MagSafe compatible tips for their universal notebook power supplies. But without a license from Apple, they just aren’t going to chance it.
But there is an alternative…
Mike Lee of Mikegyver.com has made a business of taking genuine Apple MagSafe tips, and splicing them onto 12v compatible power supplies.
His cheapest option ($60) involves you sending him your laptop power supply to convert, or for $165 he will include a new Apple power brick that he has modified for you. And for $229 you can get a MagSafe-equipped Kensington or iGo universal power supply that is slim, light, and runs off of both AC and DC, including from EmPower jacks found in many airliners. These supplies offer a true go-anywhere replacement for Apple’s power brick, only they are much more versatile.
We checked out the Kensington All-In-One, and it has quickly become one of the most indispensable items in our technology arsenal. We have been particularly thrilled with no longer needing to power up our DC-to-AC inverter to power our laptops.
I took some measurements to see how much power we are saving by using a DC-to-DC power supply, rather than needing to convert from DC-to-AC-to-DC via an inverter and the standard Macintosh power brick:
| Configuration | Mikegyver | Small Inverter | Big Inverter |
|---|---|---|---|
| MacBook Pro Sleeping | 0.1A / 1W | 0.7A / 9W | 1.9A / 24W |
| MacBook Pro In Use (Fully Charged) | 2.2A / 28W | 3.0A / 38W | 4.1A / 52W |
You’ll notice that our small Xantrex 400W inverter inserts about 10 watts of overhead, and our large 1500W Xantrex Freedom 458 Inverter/Charger wastes over 20 watts of power just by being fired up!
Here are a few other interesting notes and observations…
- The Apple power brick has a parasitic drain of 0.3A (4 watts) when plugged in, even when no laptop is connected. This is an example of why you should never leave wall-wart power supplies plugged in when you are not actively using them!
- The measurements in the table above are from Cherie’s laptop, a mid-2008 2.4GHz MacBook Pro, with the screen on full brightness. My early-2006 2.16GHz MacBook Pro is significantly more power hungry, despite the half-as-bright screen. It typically burned nearly 20 additional watts of power under a similar load!
- Power consumption while charging varied depending on how thoroughly drained the laptop is. I measured as much as 89W of power consumption while charging a fully drained laptop via the Kensington power supply!
- The Kensington power supply comes with two tips you can use – the N2 and the N3. The N2 puts out 16.5 volts (equivalent to the MacBook 60W power supply), and the N3 puts out 18.5 volts (equivalent to the 85W MacBook Pro power supply). According to Mikegyver.com you should not use the N3 tip on EmPower equipped airplanes because you risk overloading the 75 watt maximum of the airline jacks. But in my testing of charging a fully drained MacBook Pro, the N2 tip consumed 85 watts, and the N3 89 watts. In daily use, I have found the choice of tip seems to make no practical difference.
- The Kensington power supply has a low-voltage cutoff to protect you from draining your battery below 12 volts. This is great for use in a car, but can be frustrating if you have a solar setup and deep cycle batteries that can handle a deeper drain. Reportedly the iGo power supply does not come with this “feature”. (Read the update posted below to discover just how frustrating this “feature” proved to be for us…)
- If you are handy with a soldering iron, Mike also publishes a free “Do It Yourself” guide to doing the conversion of an old Macintosh power supply on your own, and he sells the parts (including the DC power supply) in his store for $65 to help you do this. Stuart Schmitt has published his own alternative description of the conversion process here.
- Another company, HyperMac, is taking preorders on their own MagSafe compatible 12v power supply for $149. Even though they have not shipped yet, they are claiming to be “the world’s first and only” – despite MikeGyver.com having been in business for years. For now, I suggest avoiding them. UPDATE: Be sure to read the comment thread to this post for much more information on the HyperMac, and look for an in depth review to be posted here soon.
- Mike often has some great deals on his refurbs page. Right now you can get a Kensington kit just like ours for $119!
The Mikegyver solutions are indeed expensive, but considering that Apple forces Mike into buying an entire power supply just to get the cable tip, the cost is not that unreasonable.
And if you live in a 12v world and are often away from AC power, we have discovered the Mikegyver solution to be truly invaluable. I have actually wired ours semi-permanently into our Oliver trailer (mounted in one of the under-seat storage bins), so that we have a charging cable always on hand.
UPDATE: After a month with the Kensington All-In-One, the low-voltage cutoff “feature” proved to be unbearably frustrating. Mike Lee of Mikegyver.com graciously sent us an iGo Everywhere to try out as an alternative. Read my thoughts and analysis of this solution here.
————
February 2010 Update: Our Mikegyver iGo Everywhere has bit the dust as of a couple months ago. Currently, it’ll run our laptops but not charge them. Our Mikegyver lasted less than 6 months of usage, which we don’t find all too impressive.
May 2010 Update: Our HyperMac has also bit the dust- the 12v connector melted in the socket. We ran it fairly regularly for less than a year. Thankfully, no permanent damage to our trailer or computers – but wow. Not good. Afraid at this point, we have no reasonable recommendations for 12v power supplies for MacBook Pros. If you have one.. we’d love to hear about it!
Any updates on the 12v chargers. I see them on Amazon, and ordered the Pawtec and the magsafe adapter was too long & narrow. Unfortunately that is the only one they offer.
http://www.amazon.com/Pawtec-Macbook-High-Speed-Compatible-Mid-2012/dp/B00MU7S5F8/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1423792603&sr=1-1&keywords=pawtec+mac
Also curious as to running my mac off a small 100w inverter like this one.
http://www.amazon.com/Stanley-PC1A09-Power-Inverter-Outlet/dp/B001U04MYE/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1423792702&sr=1-2&keywords=stanley+100w+inverter
I gave up on the native 12V power supplies for Mac laptops years ago – none of them are certified by Apple, and the seeming inconsistent quality of the ones out there leaves me very hesitant to trust plugging a premium laptop into them.
A small quality inverter is probably a much better bet. And the Mac battery life is so good that you can manage with just a brief period of charging each day.
– Chris
If your looking for a super efficient power inverter- I have a travel trailer that is fully equipped for boon docking and is totally solar (running for 2 years now). I have part of one circuit dedicated to running a Morningstar SureSine inverter. Its a true sine wave inverter and is by far the most efficient one out there. Its standby current is only about 50ma. No cooling fan needed, and will handle continues loads up to 300 watts with 600 watt 10 minute surge. We use it to run all the electronics- cellphone chargers, cell phone & data booster setup, iPad and Mac Chargers, the Dish Satellite TV receiver, and the 22 Inch LCD TV and anything else that needs to be charged. The only things it won’t run is the Microwave, the toaster, the electric ice maker, or my wives blow dryer. For that we turn on the Xantrex ProSine inverter.
21′ Rockwood Minilight travel trailer, towed behind a Toyota Highlander Hybrid
700 watts of solar panels on the roof (Provides up to 37-39 amps battery charing capacity- summer, 20-23 Amps winter).
Morningstar TS-60 charge controller
300 Ah battery storage
Xantrex Link Pro power monitor
Xantrex ProSine 1800 watt inverter
Morningstar Sure Sine inverter.
We have a back up generator but have never used it other than to run the Air conditioner.
Questions? Email me at C23Flyboy@hotmail.com
Sounds like you have a great setup. That little Morningstar inverter is great – I’ve heard nothing but good things about it.
For a cheaper DIY solution.. You could use MikeGyver’s “Lind Car Adapter & Apple Adapter Kit” – buy just the adapter for $99, get a magsafe cable from your local computer repair shop for free or for just couple of bucks, with some soldering you’ve got yourself an efficient MacBook car adapter.
I got my hands on one of those Lind DCDC (15V output) converters from work, just soldered the magsafe cable straight on to the board where the output socket used to be before I removed it and ran the cable trough the socket hole on the front panel.
All,
this latest post is obviously a plant, and not a very informed plant.
The iGo is an adapter. It does NOT hold any charge at ALL (as referenced by “now not being able to hold any charge on its own”)! It only plugs into various outlets such as AC and DC power and is NOT a battery!
The Hypermac in which the post was referring too is a battery, and in that case it DOES hold a charge.
Thanks,
Mikegyver.com
Actually, if you mean does the 12v adapter support other laptops out there, it does!
The iGo and Kensington ships with other various tips as well.
Thanks!
Mikegyver.com
WOW really? the mikegiver iGo is TERRIBLE after 6 months it is completely burned out. It acts as a in-wall charger now not being able to hold any charge on its own. While the Hypermac has been working superbly holding its original charge capacity almost fully for 6 months. all in all to all readers CHOOSE HYPERMAC. don’t waste your money on the useless mgyver
Can the HyperMac or Mikeguvyer products be used with a Dell Laptop or Samsung Netbook? I have a MacBook but my partner has the other 2 items.
BTW, Chris & Cherie, you have the most amazing blog! So much great information. And I’m a big fan of Tales from Technomadia on YouTube!
Thanks Chris 🙂
No, the HyperMac & Mikeguyver 12v adapter products would not work on anything other than an Apple products that uses the proprietary magnetic power thingy. That’s why they’re a specialty niche product. There are lots of options for non-Apple products already out there.
OK…we just spent a week with the MBP-100 and it is freakin’ amazing!
Never had we been able to just work and work and work…without having to look for an AC outlet!
FirstLook/FirstUse here:
http://www.rainydaymagazine.com/RDM2009/Home/November/Week2/RDMHomeNov1009.htm#HyperMac
Sincerely,
RainyDayInterns
@Tom Adam: There are adapters that convert the 12V cigarette lighter car charger plug to an empower plug. HyperMac products are designed to mimic the original power adapter, hence its unique ability to vary its operating voltage between 16.5V and 18.5V for the MacBook Pro 15/17″. Airline systems have a power limit of 75W, so there is still a possibility to trip the system if you are using the original 85W power adapter. However the only time the MacBook Pro will draw 85W power is when the MacBook Pro’s battery is totally empty and you are performing extensive tasks on the computer. The power draw is much lesser than 75W if you are using the MacBook Pro with a battery of substantial charge or if you are charging the MacBook Pro internal battery with the computer turned off. So the trick is to charge the MacBook Pro internal battery while the computer is turned off and only use it when the internal battery is fully charged.
@Ed Mizzi: The HyperMac Car Charger operates within 10~15V. Outside of this voltage range, the car charger will cutoff the power. This power cutoff is not permanent, once the operating voltage returns to within the 10~15V range, the car charger will provide power again. You can visit our website for many reviews on our HyperMac battery with real life test results. I dare say no other external MacBook battery gets more reviews than the HyperMac.
@Cherie Ve Ard: The HyperMac battery that we sent you is a 150Wh. You have to look at your internal battery capacity to determine how long the HyperMac battery will last. For example, if your internal battery is 50Wh, then the 150Wh will last about 3 times as long as your internal. The times listed on our website are based on Apple’s wireless productivity test which measures battery life by wirelessly browsing various websites and editing text in a word processing document with display brightness set to 50% on a MacBook with a Better Battery Life setting. Obviously if your usage is more intensive, the battery life will be lesser.
Thanks Cherie. I will await Chris’ review but if I may, I have two questions that you, or someone else, may be able to answer. Earlier in this blog you mentioned that “The Kensington power supply has a low-voltage cutoff to protect you from draining your battery below 12 volts” and this was a problem so you tried the iGO version and it did not have this feature. How does the HyperMac DC adapter compare in this regard? I’m using a stand-alone deep cycle battery. Also, which HyperMac battery do you have and does it last as long as the website advertises? Please and thanks
The HyperMac has been working reliably in cases of low voltage – whereas even the iGO still cuts out on us. Not sure which battery they sent us – I think it was a middle range one. And no, it definitely doesn’t last as long as we were expecting.
Chris D. You said in an earlier post that you would be reviewing the Hypermac soon. Just wondering if you have reviewed it yet?
Or has anyone else tried the HyperMac DC adapter or the batteries they sell?
Please and thanks
Chris and I have been using the HyperMac adapter and battery – and been pretty happy with them both. It is queued up for Chris to write about in more depth. Between HyperMac missing our shipping deadline a few times as we were in transit, and us being incredibly busy lately – Chris just simply hasn’t had the time to write up his caliber of indepth review. It is forthcoming – as with many other blogging projects he’s behind on.
As of May 2010, our HyperMac melted into our 12v socket. Thankfully, no damage done to our computer. However, we can no longer recommend HyperMac as a quality product.
It has been almost a year since we gave this website a unit for the purpose of writing a review. Despite several promises, no review was forthcoming. So naturally it came as a surprise that this website would finally make a recommendation when the unit failed on them, instead of checking in with HyperMac support.
We believe that this is an isolated incident. We have sold a lot of these products. Genentech deploys thousands of our car chargers to their mobile sales personnel for usage on a daily basis without any incident.
The full nature of what actually happened cannot be determined without examining the actual unit. We cannot discount the possibility of external factors contributing to the problem. In any case, the safety protection circuitry in our products would always prevent any damage to the computer even if the worst happened.
We stand by our products as good quality, reliable products. Rave reviews and awards by reputable websites like Engadget, Gizmodo, Macworld as well as from many of our users lay claim to that belief. Our products are backed by a 1 year warranty so users can have the greatest peace of mind knowing that their investment will be safe.
Matt and all,
I’m sorry. There is very little I can say to take it all back.
After that episode and upon refecting, I should never have let my buttons be pushed. That’s why I left the debate.
Again I am sorry. You should not have gone throught that and I am embarressed to even have let it go that far.
Mike
ps. At cost of loosing you as a potential customer, you do have Many more direct DC to DC adapters for the MacBook out there now. And they are not offered by us. Just google for it and you now have plenty of other vendors.
so where does that leave me? I need a dc-dc adaptor and I’m so thoroughly disgusted by the behavior demonstrated here by 1) hypermac 2) power-my-mac (whose website is now AWOL) and 3) mikegyver that I want absolutely nothing to do with any of them.
So, since I refuse to by anything from them, what dc-dc adaptor should I get? much thanks in advance,
matt
Just curious from what I’ve read, Airlines have limited power on the empower before it trips the breaker. If the HyperCar adapter support dual voltage, wouldn’t that be a problem because once it switched over to the 85w mode, it’ll trip the airline breaker? Of course, they don’t have a built in empower port so I guess that’s not a problem.
Sorry if I’m monopolizing this forum and your time with my very unique situation. I guess I just don’t understand batteries very much. To Hyperdrive: Let’s say I’m out on a cold evening and simply powering my Macbook (not including my telescope and camera, etc.) with the battery. Will it not drop below 10v over a period of a few hours and then I’m “dead in the water”, no?? To Mikegyver: Yes, I will contact you on your website, directly, and ask to chat with your other user, thanks for the generous offer. I just have to make sure this is going to work and it is so hard without testing it. Thanks again, Ed
Ed,
I believe they just mention a 12v car battery(for the person in your field), but other customers have used deep cycle batteries and in this case the iGo would work perfactly or our Mikegyver kit.
Pls contact us directly if you would like to have a chat with my other user in your field. I will of course ask his permission.
Thanks!
Mikegyver.com
Thanks to both Hyperdrive and Mikegyver for replying to my question. 1. I didn’t mean that all sites I visited said the car must be running, but a few did and I just wanted to be sure that yours did not. 2. Based on what you’ve both said, however, I think I had better purchase a “Deep Cycle” battery which, apparently, can be almost totally drained without damage to the battery, even though they are rather expensive. It would be nice to know if the “people in my field” that Mikegyver mentioned are using special batteries. Anyway, this information has helped and I appreciate it. Ed
There is no need to get a “Deep Cycle” battery if you are using the HyperMac car charger because it will cut off power once the supply voltage drops below 10V, hence preventing the battery from being overly discharged.
Ed,
Where are reading that the car must be running?
All our adapters will work with 12v battery alone. In fact we alrady have people in your field using our adapter with success.
But as Chris noted, the Kensington does have a low power shut off so that you can’t drain your battery below here where you can’t start your car. So as Chris noted the iGo has a better bet as its low shut off is a little more tolerant below 12v.
Thanks,
mikegyver.com
Hello, I have been reading your reviews of DC-DC adapters and have a rather unusual situation to pose to you. I am into astrophotography, whereby I take many and long exposures of galaxies, etc. for several hours in a night. I power my scope, camera and PC laptop with a stand-alone 12 v car battery, NOT hooked up to my vehicle. I want to get a Macbook 13″³ Pro but I want to be sure that I’ll be able to purchase an adapter that will run the Macbook from my car battery. I’m hoping that you or someone out there has tested a similar scenario and can tell me if this will be possible with either a Mikegyver unit, a HyperMac unit or other unit. Most of the units I’ve seen state that the car must be running to provide enough sustained voltage. Please and thank you, Ed
The MacBook car charger from HyperMac is able to operate within 10-15 volts (max 4.5A). Outside this range, power will be cut off, but will come back when the voltage enters the 10-15 volts range. I guess you now have to figure out how to connect the car battery to the cigarette lighter plug of the HyperMac car charger.
Thanks to you all,i am now better informed about available power supplies, how they work,and how to think about acquiring one.
Haydn Robin.
Chris & Cherie,
What a great site – I have learned a lot and will continue to.
I’m hoping you will be able to review the HyperMac Car Charger soon as I am about to take a Macbook on the road.
Thanks for what you do,
Doug
At this point i don’t care about any products either of you two assemble. Your childish bickering has pretty much sealed the deal. If I EVER pick up a power supply for review or personal use, it will NOT be one from either of you to bozos. Shesh.
Bicker on but your potential customers are not impressed.
Glenn
St. Louis, Mo.
“Our company has the financial capability to buy 100 houses if necessary and we are definitely bigger than our competitors who make similar MacBook power products.”
humm more Hype? what if they were few million dollar houses… but that’s not my point… can you buy a life?
If I get sometime, I’ll like to research this companies background. They sure make a lot of claims.
This thread sure looks like kindergardeners fighting in a playground with hyper big a new bully. I bet they can’t step away and will counter this comment with something “bigger”.
No, we can’t buy a life but neither can a big company with name brand recognition, financial backing and track record.
We have already stated for the fact that even a small fire is an impossibility. Given that the recall was completed over one month ago, there was only one reported incident of a burnt capacity, the one that led to the recall. There was no fire and it certainly did not spread beyond the adapter casing, let alone burn down anything.
I don’t see the point with all your hypothetical “what if” scenarios. Anyway, you seem to take a particular interest in putting our company and products in an unfavorable light so one can only wonder your true affiliation.
For all of you following this comment thread, I wanted to let you know that I have a new blog post up taking a look at the iGo Everywhere, comparing it to the Kensington All-In-One tested here.
You can read that new post here.
I’ve also been doing a lot of testing of the HyperMac 12v power supply – look for a detailed review to be posted soon.
PowerMyMac said “I also am not going to state negative things about another companies product, as that is not the way that we choose run our business.”
It’s really funny when you said that because you started off with your first post by stating that HyperMac “most certainly are not the best for DC Power.”
Since you decide to make those comments about our products, we felt compelled to respond and rebut your statements.
1) Well if you look at http://www.lindelectronics.com/custom_adapter.php?OrderID=!ORDERID! , it would appear that anyone can “partner” and “team up” with LIND to “custom make” a DC power adapter. By comparing the specs between PowerMyMac (http://www.powermymac.com/technicalinfo.html) and above LIND webpage, it seems that the off-the-shelf DC power adapter direct from LIND is even better than PowerMyMac’s “custom made” LIND DC power adapter, with a wider input voltage range, larger max current/power output while maintaining the same weight and dimensions.
Put it this way, you did not manufacture anything from ground up. LIND certainly didn’t develop or manufacture the power adapter or microprocessor chipset EXCLUSIVELY for you. Your DC power adapter is as “customized” as a Dell PC.
2) Who is to say that our products do not produce the same if not better quality, clean and efficient power and COLOR? I’m pretty sure if you have the volume, LIND will spray paint their DC power adapter to white color and remove the LIND label at the same time.
3) Better heat dispersion does not make a product more efficient. In fact, an efficient product should produce lesser heat in the first place. The real reason for the size of the LIND DC Power Adapter is because it is rated up to 105W (as evident from above LIND webpage) when all the MacBook Pro need is 85W, even lesser for MacBook (65W) and MacBook Air (45W). That’s at least 20W of redundancy going to the size of the product, which is designed to disperse heat produced by a 105W source. Case in point, the original Apple MacBook adapter does relatively more complication AC-DC conversion, yet it is only half the size of the LIND DC power adapter.
The protections that you mentioned in the LIND power adapter are hardly rocket science, rather it is common-space technology found in virtually all power adapters.
All the safety protections in the world cannot distract from the fact that your 16.5V product is over-volting the MacBook Air (14.5V) and under-powering the MacBook Pro (18.5V), which only serves to do more harm than good for the MacBook and its internal battery.
This is a fact that you conveniently tried to sidestep.
In case you need to know, our DC power management chipset is from Linear Technology (www.linear.com), which makes the best power management IC chipset in the world (what you call “digitally programmed Micro Processor”). Lind Electronics is just a secondary manufacturer (just like us) and I would not be surprised if Lind Electronics uses chipsets from Linear Technology. If Lind is “Dell”, then Linear would be “Intel”.
First off this will be our last post in this comments section on this. We will be getting Chris a Power My Mac DC-DC Power Adapter for his own review and testing. I welcome his review as well as our other Customers comments and reviews of our products.
I do feel it has become necessary to educate the consumer of our products being that HyperMac has come on here and attempted discount the quality of our product.
I will apologize for calling the HyperMac DC Adapter inferior. That was a bit out of line and may potentially even be off base. I personally have not tested your products. However, from looking at your website it seems that HyperDrive is a company manufacturing specialized memory card backup products, in China since 2002. Not until the middle of 2009 had I ever heard of your company in the DC Power marketplace which I have been a part of since 2000. It does not appear that you had marketed any products in that market until that time. (Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong on this.
1) Lind Electronics works with many companies directly to create DC-DC Power for their laptops and other devices. Some of these include, Panasonic, Xplore Technologies, Dell, General Dynamics/Itronix, and in the past Apple Computers and IBM. Lind is the stand alone leader in the DC-DC Power Market in Military, Healthcare and Public Safety. These are some of the reasons that we chose to ask Lind to design a DC-DC adapter for Power My Mac. We also really like that their DC-DC Power Adapters are made in the USA. I will say it again, Lind manufactures this DC-DC Adapter Core exclusively for Power My Mac.
The DC Power Adapter that Lind exclusively designed for Power My Mac is based on a 90 Watt configuration (for the 85W MacBook Pro) and on a 70 Watt configuration (65W MacBook). Sure they offer higher powered DC units, but that is not necessary for this configuration.
Lind offers MANY products, configurations and categories that Power My Mac does not offer at this time. Honestly I have no clue what brand microprocessor is used in this DC Power Adapter, all the components are fully potted and are not exposed to us, the consumer or any elements that could cause damage. We trust in Lind that they provide top of the line DC Power Products.
2) I have no idea what HyperMac’s quality is, what the efficiency levels are, or what levels of protection are offered in your DC Adapter product. There are no specifications listed on your website’s product page. In fact the only descriptions that are on the product webpage look like you took them directly from Power My Mac’s FAQ’s page.
3) As you can see from our Technical Specs the 65W DC Adapter is in a Smaller Extrusion than that for the 85W DC Adapter. So, I am not really where you get the redundancy of the product size of producing 105 Watts.
*) Regarding the 16.5V output that we provide to the MacBook Series.
All DC Output Power Voltage is going to fluctuate depending on the Load. Power My Mac DC-DC has a specified voltage range of a minimum of 16.1V at full load (85W) and 16.9V at no load. Both the MacBook and the MacBook Pro is looking for 16.5V ±5%. Actually the MacBook Pro runs most efficient at 16.5V about 95% of the time. The only times when the MacBook Pro MAY request the 18.5V is, for example, when a user is doing “Graphic Molding,” as this is very processor intensive. The lower voltage will not cause an issue to the user, and the power adapter will not cutout. You will notice that the AC Adapter for the MacBook Pro has both 16.5V and 18.5V capabilities. If you run test’s on this during operation, you would also notice that the AC Adapter is generating 16.5V the vast majority of the time, as referenced above.
The 16.5V is safer and more efficient for the MacBook Pro and does not run the risks of overcharging the MacBook Pro internal battery. This is the reason we have chosen to provide 16.5V instead of the 18.5V for the MacBook Pro models.
As another poster/consumer mentioned in a posting here, all this “bickering” is not putting a good face on any of our companies, and I do agree with that person.
I have not wanted to bicker, fight or argue this topic. Instead I have tried to answer the questions and claims that have been posted about my company and our products.
I truly hope the conversations here, by everyone, has helped provide information and understanding in what can potentially be a confusing product selection process. We want nothing but the best for the customer.
“In fact the only descriptions that are on the product webpage look like you took them directly from Power My Mac’s FAQ’s page.”
Your above statement basically sums up all the bull you are spreading.
I regret wasting my time to correct you.
We will be getting Chris a Power My Mac DC-DC Power Adapter for his own review and testing. I welcome his review as well as our other Customers comments and reviews of our products.
After several attempted follow-ups, Power My Mac has not followed through with their offer to provide a review unit to us. So we regrettably are unable to provide our readers with information on their products.
Don’t these two look awfully similar?
I guarantee that I wrote the below FAQ for Power My Mac myself.
From Power My Mac’s FAQ’s Page (http://www.powermymac.com/faq.html)
Why should I use the Power My Mac DC-DC Power Adapter instead of an DC-AC power inverter?
There are many reasons to avoid using a DC-AC Power Inverter. Here are just a few:
1. Quasi-sine Wave (Modified-sine Wave) inverters frequently do not operate correctly with the AC/DC adapters supplied with notebooks. Pure-sine Wave inverters will operate properly but are substantially larger and much more costly than the Quasi-sine Wave inverters. Quasi-sine Wave (Modified-sine Wave) inverters used with any sort of continue basis, have been shown to cause damage to the AC Adapters and can potentially damage the Laptop.
2. Typical efficiency of Power My Mac (Lind DC/DC) adapters is 92%. The typical efficiency of Inverters is less than 85% combined with the typical efficiency of the AC/DC converters (wall plug-in) is 80%. Using an Inverter and an AC/DC in combination results in an overall efficiency of 68% (0.85 times 0.8). An inverter based power system will therefore consume 32% more power from a DC power source than it provides to the notebook.
3. Power My Mac (Lind) DC-DC Power Adapters have low levels of EMI (Electronical) noise in comparison to Quasi-sine Wave Inverters. Low levels of EMI are essential in many applications. High levels of EMI noise can also produce wiggles in your screen and/or a buzz in your speakers. This is not something you would want when watching a movie, much less working on music or graphic design as this could influence a poor quality in your work.
4. High voltages are inherent in Inverters and present shock and fire hazards in the vehicle environment. Frayed cords and liquid spills can cause power arcing that can result in fires within the vehicle. Damaged cords could result in shock hazards to the operator that are particularly dangerous at the 110-volt AC level. The Power My Mac (Lind) DC/DC adapter has no voltage higher than the vehicle (aprox 12 VDC) or the laptops (16.5 VDC) voltage levels.
5. Power My Mac (Lind) DC Power Adapters are built to handle harsh environments. Lind adapters are fully potted so there are NO exposed circuitry or moving parts, such as fans, that could be damaged by liquid, dust, vibration and other hazards commonly found. (I could just imagine the spilling of beverages in the airplane or car.)
6. Lind adapters are smaller and more lightweight than the combination of a DC/AC inverter and an AC/DC converter. Inverter based systems feature long cables with modules in the middle of the cable system. This can be very awkward and messy, not to mention cables coming unplugged inadvertently.
————————————————————-
From HyperMac’s Product Page (http://www.hyperdrive.com/HyperMac-Pure-DC-Car-Charger-for-MacBook-p/mbp-car.htm)
Why HyperMac Car Charger is better than power inverters?
SAFE
Power inverters output high voltages (110 volts) which can be lethal if there is a short circuit or malfunction. A simple accident like a spilled drink on the inverter can potentially cause vehicular fire or fatal electric shocks. HyperMac Car Charger only output sufficient voltage (14.5~18.5 volts) enough to power your MacBook and is always safe to use.
GREEN
Power invertors work by stepping up the car’s voltage from 12 to 110 volts, converting from car’s direct current (DC) to the invertor’s alternating current (AC). The MacBook power adapter then steps down the inverter’s 110 volts AC to 14.5~18.5 volts DC. This whole step-up/step-down, DC to AC back to DC conversion process hurts energy efficiency by almost 50%. In the long run, it increases fuel consumption and shorten the lifespan of the car battery. HyperMac Car Charger involves a simple DC-DC (12V to 14.5~18.5 volts) conversion and is typically 92% energy efficient. Over time, it reduces fuel consumption and saves you money.
FIDELITY
Most power invertors available in the market (even the one sold at Apple Store) are not pure-sine wave inverters. The MacBook power adapter is not designed to work with such modified-sine wave inverters and continual usage may damage the power adapter and MacBook. Square-wave inverters also do not offer good voltage regulation or frequency stability which will degrade EM noise sensitive functions like audio,video,graphic playback and editing, communications, scientific measurements and calibrations. HyperMac Car Charger is a pure DC device with low electromagnetic interferance, producing a clean power signal, important for high fidelity work. It is a must use for professionals and non-professionals alike.
COMPACT
HyperMac Car Charger is smaller and lighter than any inverter and power adapter combinations. It features a direct connection from the automobile cigarette socket to the MacBook without messy inverters, power adapters and cables.
Powermymac you are such a joke!
Not only do the 2 articles look quite different to me, your claim that Hypermac took everything directly from your site is simply ridiculous.
Stop being a kid and keep your word that your previous post will be your last.
I’m seriously tired of your whinning.
If your products are anything like your words, I don’t recommend that anyone should trust them at all!
Point taken, however what if my house was burnt down by your adapter? how about 100 more customers who have been burnt down? I think a bigger company with name brand recognition not only have the financial backing, but a longer track record of less likely to have problems. You recalled within the first 12 hours, so that means your adapter did not have a track record yet…
We did a recall of affected AC adapters from a specific batch within 12 hours of first reported incident. This should not be confused with the time the product has been on the market. In any case, you would want such things resolved sooner rather than later. If you are talking about company track record, we have been producing battery and power related products since 2001.
Of the affected batch of capacitors, only a very small percentage would actually burn up. The PCB board and the ABS plastic case of the AC adapter are made of fire redundant materials. Even if every component in the adapter were to burn up, it would not even start a small fire or spread out of the AC adapter casing, let alone burn down a house.
The recall has been completed over a month ago and every affected customer were voluntarily shipped a replacement AC adapter. Till this very day, there is only one reported incident of a burnt capacitor, as already pointed out by you.
Our company has the financial capability to buy 100 houses if necessary and we are definitely bigger than our competitors who make similar MacBook power products.
You of course maintain your prerogative to buy from bigger brand name companies with more money and longer track record. But to say that they will less likely to have problems is like saying that banks will never go bankrupt.
Humm… Was intrigued with the debate going on here and I decided to do some research..
It seems that Hypermac’s hype about doing their own manufacturing (ISO certified etc) from the ground up didn’t do so well for them… they have already issued a recall:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=708060&page=3
What if this burnt down my house?
I think i’ll stay with the name brands.
Name brands are not without their recall problems
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14500443/
What is important is that we isolated and corrected the problem within almost 12 hours of first incident report. The reason why we are able to respond so fast is because we have our own R&D and engineering capability.
What happened was due to a faulty component (a capacitor) which we did not manufacture and could not have anticipated. We are not giving excuses, just stating facts, hence we did the voluntary recall of the power adapters. Just like Apple have to recall the batteries which uses lithium ion cells made by Sony Corp.
It is regrettable that you didn’t catch this in testing before you shipped, but I give you full credit for how well you handled the problem after it was discovered.
Few companies are so open as to actually share the engineering analysis explaining exactly what went wrong. Most companies would try to keep things as under-wraps as possible. Kudos to you for embracing openness.
Who cares who was FIRST… Let’s just agree that there are three company’s that have some great products! I wouldn’t switch out my Apple Juicz external batteries from QuickerTek if you were to give me a free one to try. I’m a loyal customer and will be for life! Just as there are loyal customers for your products.
Please take a moment to check out http://www.PowerMyMac.com
We were truly the first to manufacture and ship a DC-DC Power Adapter made from the ground up for the MacBook Series. We have been shipping since the beginning of the year and have had a 100% satisfaction rate among our customers. All of our DC Power Adapters are completely manufactured in the USA by the leader in DC Power.
I will admit that MikeGyver was the first to provide some sort of DC Power solution to the general public for the MacBook. HyperMac, however, has made many claims that they are “the first” when they clearly are not the first and most certainly are not the best for DC Power.
HyperMac’s External Battery Packs sure do intrigue me though, and at the price they are selling them for seem like a pretty good deal.
If PowerMyMac is “truly the first to manufacture from the ground up” then
1) Why does PowerMyMac product bears another company’s name?
2) Why is a black power adapter and cigarette plug matched to a white MagSafe cable?
3) Why the need for a huge DC-DC power adapter that is 2 times the size of the original Apple MacBook AC-DC power adapter and 4 times the size of the HyperMac? Looks like a lot of redundancy (or inefficiency).
The answer is simple. PowerMyMac simply buys ready made DC-DC Power Adapters from Lind Electronics and hack in the MagSafe cable. “Manufacture from the ground up?” I don’t think so.
For HyperMac, we have our own ISO certified manufacturing facility and design our own product mold. That is why we are able to make all white accessories and efficient products that are compact and designed specifically for the Apple MacBook. You won’t find our products elsewhere unless it’s manufactured by us. We don’t simply buy big, ugly general purpose DC power adapters off the shelf from another company and call it our own.
We will let reviewers decide who has the best DC power but we can certainly show you why the HyperMac DC power is superior to PowerMyMac’s:
1) HyperMac DC power adapter is more compact and a quarter size of PowerMyMac.
2) HyperMac all white accessories are aesthetically better looking than PowerMyMac.
Take a look at our product http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/8068544_283Bg#526147969_gQhwA and compare it with what you see on PowerMyMac.
3) HyperMac DC power supports auto switching voltage between 14.5~18.5V. Hence it can be used to accurately power all MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models. PowerMyMac product is only able to output a fixed 16.5V voltage (see their specs). Hence PowerMyMac is over-volting the MacBook Air which only requires 14.5V and under-powering the MacBook Pro which uses variable 16.5~18.5V voltage. In other words, you will lose power from PowerMyMac when the MacBook Pro switches to 18.5V during intensive operations. You will also need to 2 different PowerMyMac products to power 3 different MacBook types: MacBook Air (14.5V), MacBook (16.5V) and MacBook Pro (16.5~18.5V).
I am not going to come on to article about another person or companies product and argue with anyone. I also am not going to state negative things about another companies product, as that is not the way that we choose run our business.
I will, however, answer your incorrect and obviously uneducated claims about my companies product. (I am not saying you are uneducated, just that your claims about my product are uneducated or uninformed.)
1. Power My Mac, LLC has partnered with Lind Electronics to develop and manufacture the DC-DC Power Adapter core exclusively for Power My Mac. Lind Electronics has been manufacturing DC Power for Laptops for over 25 years. We have chosen to team up with Lind due to their Rugged and Durable DC Power Solutions, as well as their highly respected place in the mobile power market. We have chosen to leave the Lind label on the DC Brick because we want the customer to know that we have partnered with the leader in Rugged DC-DC Power.
This DC Power Adapter is NOT an “off-the-shelf” or ready made DC Power Adapter.
This DC Power Adapter is Custom Made with a digitally programmed Micro Processor.
(If you would like to get into more specifics, feel free to email me at sales@powermymac.com)
Power My Mac does use the exact same MagSafe Cable that is on the Apple AC Power Adapters. We fully respect Apple’s Patent on the MagSafe Connector. We do not manufacture the MagSafe Cable or Connector.
2. Color? Really, If that is the most important thing to you, and not protection with quality, clean, and efficient power; then maybe another product is a better fit for you.
Power My Mac is a small piece of a large puzzle for Lind. Every one of Lind’s power adapters are in the Black Ruggedized extrusion. They are known for that, and are not changing anytime soon. I’m OK with that, and I would like to think that our customers are as well. Thank you for your opinion on the appearance our “ugly” products.
3. The size of the Power My Mac DC Power Adapter is due to a few reasons.
The unit is fully potted to help disperse heat (making the unit very efficient, 91% on average) as well as protect the electronic components. This is a big reason why these DC Power Adapters are as rugged, sturdy and strong as they are (let’s put it this way, you can run it over with your car, and it will still function perfectly). There is also numerous protections in place to protect your investment in not only your DC Adapter but more importantly in your MacBook. Protections included in every power adapter are:
Spike, Surge, Over/Under Voltage, Short Circuit, and Over Temperature protection, all with Automatic Shut Down and Reset. There is also a replaceable 15A Mini Blade Fuse in the end of the Power Adapter.
We offer a 3 year warranty on our products. I’m not sure of another DC Power company that stands behind their products to that extent.
Like you said, let’s let the consumers and reviewers make their own choices.
I will not stand in your way as you talk in a positive light on your own products, and I hope that you allow us to educate the consumer on our own products. Please do not, in the future, make uninformed statements about my company or our products.
If anyone has any further questions or there is anything else we can do please do not hesitate to contact us at sales@powermymac.com
Best Regards,
Power My Mac, LLC
I guess I’ll just say, http://www.powermymac.com
This is the place where you can avoid the argument above. Power My Mac has the DC-DC Power Adapters for the MacBook Series of laptops. We were selling and shipping and had a presence prior to HyperMac, however I fully admit MikeGyver was the first to have some sort of a solution for the MacBook Series available to the general public. Power My Mac does actually have the DC-DC Power Adapter Manufactured in the USA, and we have them designed from the very start specifically for the MacBook Series, by the leader in reliable DC Power.
Please take a look and make a decision for yourself.
Many others have made the choice to go with PowerMyMac.com and we have 100% satisfaction worldwide.
Well, Since the Air Battery looks different then the MacBook and MacBook Pro batteries and has a right angle connector. And I did speak with QuickerTek about the MacBook and MacBook Pro batteries and they can be used for either of the computers without harm. And I’m smart enough not to mix them up.. 🙂
QuickerTek isn’t very forthcoming with product specifications on their website. There is no mention of battery capacities or output voltages.
What QuickerTek didn’t tell you is that the MacBook Pro uses variable 16.5~18.5V voltage. While it is possible to use 16.5V (MacBook voltage) to power/charge the MacBook Pro, you will lose power the moment the MacBook Pro switches over to 18.5V during intensive operations. If your MacBook Pro internal battery is present, it will draw power from the internal battery instead from the external QuickerTek battery.
Depending on your usage, the MacBook Pro may switch between 16.5V and 18.5V many times within a short period. Rapid switching of charging and discharging states certainly won’t do the battery any good.
HyperMac on the other hand is able to adapt to the MacBook Pro variable voltage demands and provide a constant uninterrupted power source for all MacBook models.
That’s Mikegyver. 🙂
Our Power & battery solutions work across not only all MacBooks but IF you decide to it has tips for other laptops too!
That is not correct, for my situation I wanted to purchase all three batteries so that every computer in my house could have extra battery life. I checked with QuickerTek and they said that they are interchangeable but that the extention time would very. IF I had purchased one of your batteries my daughter and I would have to share the battery and for us that wasn’t an option.
Maybe I’m not following something here.. but why would you have to share a HyperMac battery, but not a Quickertek? From what I can tell on QuickerTek’s website, their external battery product is very similar to HyperMac’s, and in a similar price range. What prevents you from purchasing multiple batteries from HyperMac to get a similar end result? Having not tested a QuickerTek battery, I don’t know much about them other than what their website says.. but they seem to be quite similar products. Our extensive review of HyperMac’s products will be coming out shortly.
The biggest difference that I see is HyperMac’s 12v power supply that (currently) comes with their battery. As as that is the original basis of this discussion – the 12v power supplies for Macbooks by MikeGyver and Hypermac, I think that’s a relevant point in this discussion.
From what I understand, QuickTek’s batteries are MacBook model specific. They output at either 14.5V (for MacBook Air), 16.5V (for MacBook) or 18.5V (for MacBook Pro). This means their batteries are not cross compatible and cannot be shared with all MacBook models. Doing so will shorten the lifespan of the MacBook’s internal batteries. So care have to be exercised to ensure that you do not use the wrong QuickerTek battery on the wrong MacBook model.
All HyperMac batteries and car charger on the other hand are capable of variable voltage 14.5-18.5V. Hence it can safely be shared across all MacBook models.
Of course as Cherie has pointed out, if you want a dedicated external battery for each MacBook model your family, you can still buy multiple HyperMac batteries and unlike our competitors’ products, mixing up those HyperMac batteries with different MacBook models will not have any adverse effect.
Yes,
We did purchase one for each of our computers only because my daughter does her thing and I do mine as I said in the earlier blog.
In other words, the QuickerTek batteries are not cross compatible with the different MacBook models.
Hi,
I would love to get into this discussion/debate I have three Apple Juicz external batteries from QuickerTek. I have a newer MacBook Air and an older MacBook Pro 15 inch and my Daughter has the MacBook, and let me tell you one thing, I think that they are great! We have had no problems with them. My Daughter just came back from Europe and had no down time what so ever with her computer. Money well spent! We needed a battery for each one of our computers. She does her thing and I do mine! We love QuickerTek!
Catt
Did you have to get 3 different models of the Apple Juicz batteries for the 3 different computers (MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air) you have?
You are the one who is straying. All this while we are talking about who is the first to provide an external power solution for MacBook. No one was talking about harvesting MagSafe cables. Anyway I was just trying to illustrate to you that what we are doing is a natural progression for us, instead of your implication that we are “following your lead”.
Anyone who test our product with a voltmeter will be able to confirm that the charging voltage auto switches with different MacBook models. In fact, our battery and car charger will behave just like the original AC power adapter for the MacBook Pro and vary the voltage between 16.5-18.5V according to its usage. There lies the difference in our two companies’ product. Our products’ voltage can vary. Your products make users choose between N2 (16.5V, insufficient power during intensive operations) or N3 (18.5V, inefficient power usage). Sure, no great harm will be done by that, but we are perfectionist 😀
How we achieve that? It is for us to know and for you to find out.
Finally we will gladly provide our products to genuine reviewers or entities with serious intent to do business with us. If you want to reverse engineer our products, unfortunately you will have to figure your own way to get it.
To our present and future users,
Please continue to use the N2 tip (Kensington) for both your MacBook and MacBook pro as have suggested from day 1 from our site.
Chris was only using N3 tip for his testing purposes.
The N3 tip is only for those extreme users. Please read why from our site.
It is not nearly as complicated as hypermac would want you to believe.
Thank you!
Mikegyver.com
Again, you are straying. I am only focusing one the harvesting of magsafe cables that are universally used for other DC applications. I am not talking about who’s first in business.
We have done EXTENSIVE testing of what is required for the Macbook line of computers. We also make sure that it is IMPOSSIBLE for our customers use the wrong tip, because it will NOT physically fit with our modified magsafe cables if it is for the wrong Macbook! Other words, the proper tip will be used for the proper Macbook or it will NOT fit!
During OUR test do you know that the Macbook Air can actually take up to the same voltage of the Macbook Pro? We don’t suggest that though and even make impossible that our users go up past the recommend voltage, but we DO test beyond the boundaries just to be sure.
We have yet have a user blow up their computer.
I’d be interested to hear Chris’ review of your adapter and if there is some automatic voltage switching, how does it sense which cable (MBA or MB or MPB?)? do you have a drop down resistance or circuitry built into the modified magsafe cable? how does it sense it?
Or are you just pushing the Macbook Pro voltage into the Macbook Air and calling it automatic voltage switching?
If it truly automatic voltage switching then hat’s off to you! Then I will digress and give the fact that you are the world’s first automatic voltage switching for the Macbook line of computers.
But not to the fact that you where the first to harvest the Magsafe cable. We’d like to still stake out claim to that! 🙂
Since you are OEM mind sending us a sample for our own evaluation and research?
Thanks,
Mikegyver.com
We have been making external power solutions for Apple laptops since the Apple G4 days back in 2001. We all know that the G4 is the precursor to the MacBook so making external batteries and car chargers for MacBook is just a natural progression for us. We don’t need to follow anyone. Just because we don’t blog about it whenever we got an idea in our head or when there is no online record of when our first product rolls out of our factory does not mean that we are not the first.
The QT company you are referring to only make external batteries that are MacBook model specific. So if you have the MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, you have to bring along 3 different batteries, each of them having a specific voltage. It’s pretty much like having to remember to use the N2 for the MacBook and the N3 for the MacBook Pro (what happens if you mixed them up?). With the HyperMac, users need not bother with that because all our batteries are cross compatible with all MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air models with auto voltage switching capability.
Does the versatility that you offer also mean that users can potentially get the adapter/battery/cables/plug combination wrong with disastrous consequences. There is also the compatibility issue. Since you are not the manufacturer with no access to the detail production level specifications and information, how are you able to perform extensive large scale production level safety and reliability testing for the sum of parts that you are packaging and selling to the consumer?
sorry second link should have been:
http://mikegyver.com/gyverisms/files/dd67edef57a0979fc2fa7548988da9c9-16.html
That’s correct. As far as you know.
However if users will just checkout our blog, we blogged about doing it on 02/06/06:
http://mikegyver.com/gyverisms/files/c9bd8a8072d1172878dd281e68cab0c9-18.html
and released our magsafe solution out to the public shortly after on 07/06/06:
http://mikegyver.com/gyverisms/files/category-magsafe-adapter.html
Yes, batterygeek has been in business before us with their external batteries, but NOT with their magsafe solution until about a couple of months later (about 09/28/2006):
http://www.electronista.com/articles/06/09/28/macbook.external.battery/
In fact, their magsafe solution was a Magsafe clone that does NOT allow charging of the internal battery.
But I was not just referring batterygeek, there is another company that made their battery from the “ground up” too, but they also came in behind us (and you), using magsafe cable harnessed from Apple’s adapters. I have confidence that you are NOT the OEM of them.
Yes this seems like a silly dispute, but I like keeping records straight.
We use name brand products because customers want the versatility of existing adapters, and do not wish to be locked in to one brand. Our flexibility allows them to use the Macbook, Macbook Pro, Macbook Air with ANY adapters currently out in the market and they have the choice of which adapters and external batteries they wish to use. They just happen to be Kensington and iGo.
Thanks,
Mikegyver.com
As far as we know, batterygeek has been in the battery business long before you and introduced their first MagSafe external power solution back in 2006 as well (when Apple introduced the MagSafe). You can google that as well. So no one is following anybody’s lead.
Since we are the ones that OEM the MagSafe external power solution for batterygeek, doesn’t that make us the first then?
Anyway I do not see the point of this argument. Consumers do not care who has the first or earliest product, they are more interested in who has the latest and most advanced product. Unlike our competitors who are selling the same old 2006 product or depending on 3rd party “name brand” manufacturers to innovate for them, we introduced the HyperMac which is the first external power solution designed specifically to be compatible with all MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models.
Finally, in case you miss it in our previous post, we did say that “the whole product is designed and entirely assembled in our factory in Ningbo, China.”
Hi,
Thank you, you proved exactly my point.
There are already other vendors out there that did it before you.
But as to this specific solution, one can just google our history and find that we provided a DC Car, Airline, solution for Macbook way back since the magsafe was invented by Apple. Hypermac just came into the market with their own solution I’d say behind 3 or 4 others that are followed our lead.
Yes we know, made in “good” China, so are you admitting you are not? :-O
Look, Listen, we welcome you to the market, and frankly competition is a good thing, that’s what capitalism is all about. Like I mentioned on our own blog page, if it were not for that, we’d not have the great inventions we have today!
Thanks,
Mikegyver.com
When Apple says that they manufacture computers, it does not necessary mean that they make their own processors (Intel), fabricate their own memory (Samsung), design their own graphics board (Nvidia), produce their batteries (LG, Sanyo, Sony) etc. Heck, they do not even assemble their own products (Foxconn, Quanta).
Just because we don’t mine our own aluminum does not mean that we simply buy the entire product from another company. Yes, key components (like battery cells, aluminum, ICs) are provided by our industry leading component suppliers, but the whole product is designed and entirely assembled in our factory in Ningbo, China. If that is not the case, you will find many similar products in the market and we will NOT be the ONLY company in the World that provides external battery packs and car chargers that are universally compatible with all MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models. We certainly welcome Mr Mike Lee to source for our product in China and sell it on his website. FYI, the so-called brand names (Kensington, iGo, Apple) and over 90% of consumer electronics are all made in “good” China.
As for our similarity with batterygeek, that is because we are the OEM for batterygeek.
Hi Chris,
Thanks for the write up!
I really don’t want to get into a argument here, but no one really makes all their parts all themselves, they source them from China. We thought of that too, and to some extent we did hence “good” section of our store. But after careful consideration, we decided to go with name brand such as Kensington and iGo.
As to sourcing products, doesn’t the following suspiciously look the same?
from batterygeeks:
http://www.batterygeek.net/130W-Universal-Car-Kit-Adapter-p/car_kit_adapter.htm
from HyperMac:
http://www.hyperdrive.com/PhotoGallery.asp?ProductCode=MBP%2DCAR
Thanks!
Mikegyver.com
I am working on an idea of making a work of art that incorporates small photovoltaic cells. The cells would them be wire to produce enough power to run a macbook or two. This way people could surf the web and still do it without consuming power from the grid. Could I use one of these power supply hook ups to connect the solar cells to the macbook? Thus charging it and using it.
Please let me know.
Hi Gary —
These power supplies should work for you. But I would not suggest running the laptops directly off the solar cells without using a battery to act as a buffer. Otherwise, you could end up with a shadow or a cloud cutting the power in and out.
Your project sounds really cool – I would love to hear more about it!
– Chris
I understand that you take offense to our “World’s first and only” statement. The truth is we are the first company to create a complete product specifically to power and charge all models of MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. Other than the MagSafe plug which is made by Apple, everything else is manufactured by us. We manufacture our own external battery packs, power supplies and pay attention to little details like matching the silver color of our battery case to the MacBook aluminum case and having white cables and accessories.
We don’t simply buy universal batteries, power supplies, plugs from iGo, Kensington, PowerPad or any 3rd parties, hack it and call it our own. We don’t match your white color MagSafe cable to a 3rd party black color cable/power brick.
By making our own products instead of relying on 3rd party accessories, we are assured of the product’s technology, compatibility, quality and reliability.
For our HyperMac product, you don’t need to remember that N2 plug is for MacBook and N3 plug is for MacBook Pro. Just connect our HyperMac spliced MagSafe plug to any MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air model and our external battery and 12V power supply will automatically adjust and put out the correct voltage/power. That makes the HyperMac the “World’s first and only” product that can do such auto switching with a MacBook
If you are interested, I will be more than happy to send you a sample for review.
Thanks for the reply explaining your “world’s first and only” claim.
I can understand the advantages of manufacturing the entire power supply (other than the tip) yourself, and I would be happy to give your HyperMac power supply a full review. I am particularly intrigued about your support for automatic voltage and current switching – that does indeed seem like a unique feature in third party power supplies.
I’ll email you with our shipping details.
In some ways, I can see an advantage to the MikeGyver system of using a name-brand proven reliable power supply as the foundation. Kensington and iGo have a good track record of making quality products, and it is sometimes nice to have the flexibility of alternative tips.
HyperMac on the other hand is new to the power supply business, though it looks like you have built up a good reputation with some of your other products.
I am eager to see what you have come up with!
Thanks Chris, I’ve been thinking about rigging up a 12v supply for my Asus EeePc, but wondered if it was really worth it. Aparently it is. 😉
Dratsy!
I didn’t know I couldn’t just order a 12v power supply like I used to with my old Powerbooks. I’m chartering in the Chesapeake in June. I know we’ve got a little inverter around here, I guess that will just have to do cause I don’t see having the need often enough to get one made.
Make sure your inverter isn’t too little. My old 120W inverter would overload when trying to run my MacBook Pro. But my 400W Xantrex was able to power both of our laptops just fine.
– Chris