Taking the piss

[ffutures]

When I got my iBook the battery was capable of 2-3 hours operation, more if I turn off WiFi. Since I wanted to use it at trade shows where they charge £100+ for the use of a mains socket I got a second battery fairly cheap on eBay, which had about the same life.

Today the original battery has about an hour's capacity, and the second one is below two hours. So I went along to the big Apple shop in Regent Street and asked prices tonight. And it turns out they cost £89.95 each. And unless I can find replacements a hell of a lot cheaper than that I'm afraid that my days as a Mac user may be somewhat more limited than I'd anticipated.

So if anyone sees anyone selling genuine batteries for a 14" screen iBook G4 cheapish please let me know.

Comments

Re: Li-ion batteries

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'm a bit leery of the Mac power pack socket with the glow-in-the-dark plug etc.; if I went the external power pack route would there be any unusual problems, or is it just a straightforward connection?

Re: Li-ion batteries

[nojay.livejournal.com]

Point -- Apple are renowned for designing in weird power connections that nobody else can build to.

Here's a second solution for you -- 12V-240V converter (150W) @ 14.99:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?TabID=1&ModuleNo=218810&doy=14m12

plus two of Maplin's L21AC 6V lead-acid gel-cell batteries on special offer right now at 3.99 each. That will run your laptop for about as long as a regular Apple battery would (3-4 hours) plus it'll drive anything else main-powered you want to run off it like a phone charger etc. Extra batteries are cheap to stretch your power-on time too. No hacking at the Apple's power port required.

I suspect if you dug around you could get a better price for the power converter and batteries but Maplin are, well, there.

Re: Li-ion batteries

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Heavy, but certainly a possibility.