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Apple's Battery Charger Sets New Standby Usage Benchmark
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You know you're on a fanboy site when there is this much excitement about a friggin' BATTERY CHARGER!
Actually, it'd be a lot nicer if the batteries were re-chargeable within the devices THEMSELVES.
Tony
iPod, iPhone, iPad.....
Then people complain that they cannot swap out batteries.
Actually, you are right. It would be nice if the keyboard/mouse/trackpad have an USB wired option, which also charges for wireless operation.
Wow, pretty big thread for a friggin' charger.
Anyway, I think Apple missed the boat by not providing:
Anyway, I think Apple missed the boat by not providing:
- 2 USB ports: 1 for charging iPod, iPad, and iPhone and 1 for connecting to another USB device to draw the power from (in lieu of connecting to the power outlet).
- Support or AAA batteries
- MacBook style battery capacity indicator lights
- On/off button for zero vampire power draw
- 4 batteries capacity
It's written that the light indicator shuts down after 6 hours (I.E., when trickle charging stops). I'm pretty sure it is faster.
Charging time tends to decrease with size. GP has the V800C which completes a full charge in 15-40 minutes, but that's a large(ish) unit with a separate power brick. The compact chargers that sit directly in the wall outlet tend to be slower, 2 hrs up to a whopping 12... but we'll see.
Let me just say, this vampire power draw thing is absurd. Let's say you leave their example "average battery" charger plugged in for an entire year. Using Apple's charger instead provides a savings of ~2.5kWh.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(315+mW+-+30+mW)+for+1+year+in+kWh
As wolframalpha puts it, this is about the same energy as one fifteenth of a gallon of gasoline. Turn off your AC for an hour a year and you get the same energy savings. I mean, come on.
That said, it's great (for an entirely different but obvious reason) that Apple is promoting rechargeable batteries instead of disposable. The 29$ price point for 6 batteries and a charger shows that instead of making a ridiculous margin (as they do on every single other accessory), Apple cares about making an environmental difference here.
http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(315+mW+-+30+mW)+for+1+year+in+kWh
As wolframalpha puts it, this is about the same energy as one fifteenth of a gallon of gasoline. Turn off your AC for an hour a year and you get the same energy savings. I mean, come on.
That said, it's great (for an entirely different but obvious reason) that Apple is promoting rechargeable batteries instead of disposable. The 29$ price point for 6 batteries and a charger shows that instead of making a ridiculous margin (as they do on every single other accessory), Apple cares about making an environmental difference here.
I've never unplugged my chargers from their port... why would I do that?
I have two of them sitting in a spot they've always been... I pop in batteries to charge them, take the batteries out when they're charged. But I never unplug the chargers themselves.
LOL! Until Apple actually provides some real specs for this I'll stick with my Maha MH-C401FS and PowerEx batteries.
"of any similar charger on the market" folks. WTF does Apple define as "similar"???
Heh... yeah. If Apple were really so concerned about energy saving they might wanna ask everyone to turn off their "Flurry" screensavers and have the display go blank/black or switch off instead. Or, ship Safari with Click2Flash included. Boom! That's an idle power plant or two right there.
I think its great that Apple is truly committed to reducing power usage in all of its devices. They really are trying to make some green products and help the world in their little ways.
my sanyo Eneloop batteries and charger make me rock hard, what is new here?
fixed it for ya.
I might actually consider purchasing these. But the iPhone 4 is higher on my to-buy list at the moment.
Figure it out.
The UK price of £25 includes (VAT) tax.
The US price of $29, of course, does NOT include tax.
I can't believe that people remain so incredibly stupid when doing country-to-country price comparisons. You'd think they'd learn that there is the price of the product, and then there the price of a product plus tax. If you want to compare manufacturer product prices, remove all taxes - as each place has its own tax strategy and tax rules.
The UK price of £25 includes (VAT) tax.
The US price of $29, of course, does NOT include tax.
I can't believe that people remain so incredibly stupid when doing country-to-country price comparisons. You'd think they'd learn that there is the price of the product, and then there the price of a product plus tax. If you want to compare manufacturer product prices, remove all taxes - as each place has its own tax strategy and tax rules.
Charging time also tends to decrease with sophistication. In order to charge batteries at a high rate of charge (1C rate or faster) safely, you need things like adjustable charge rates (based on mAH capacity) and delta V(oltage) and delta T(emperature) peak charge detection, etc. If you want to maximize battery life, you don't want to dump massive amounts of current into it to fast-charge it. Sometimes, though, you just want the things to charge quickly even if it mean that the cells won't last through quite as many charge cycles. That's why sophisticated chargers like the LaCrosse Alpha BC-900 have more than just a wall plug and a light:
I am really surprised that Apple didn't make a version that could charge both AA and AAA batteries -- given the popularity of the smaller size.
Plain old non-thinker
Multiply that by the 10 or 50 million chargers they'll sell and suddenly that turns into very real money going from your pocket into regions of the world that could use more money to finish building a very real nuke.
As for the "ridiculous margins", perhaps you're comparing something other than a decent charger and decent batteries.
I saw a similar deal at Sears the other day - except that it came with 4 batteries, a clunky 2x bigger charger, and a brand I never heard of. On sale for $28.
Multiply that by the 10 or 50 million chargers they'll sell and suddenly that turns into very real money going from your pocket into regions of the world that could use more money to finish building a very real nuke.
As for the "ridiculous margins", perhaps you're comparing something other than a decent charger and decent batteries.
I saw a similar deal at Sears the other day - except that it came with 4 batteries, a clunky 2x bigger charger, and a brand I never heard of. On sale for $28.
I love my Eneloops. I see about 6 weeks in mouse and keyboard on a three-hour charge.
I imagine this is much like sunglass manufacturing: there are a great deal of batteries all made in the same factory.
Honestly who cares about the aesthetics of a wall battery charger anyways? The Sanyo Eneloop has a 4-battery charger with 4 Eneloop batteries for $17!
It's easy. It's "similar in price". Oh wait... there is no other 2 battery chargers on the market at this price.
Yeah like these AA "Apple" batteries are not just rebranded Sanyo Eneloops.
Sanyo? No way. These Apple batteries will be no-name cheap chinese stuff.
I'm pissed I bought mine for $18. Apple charging $29 is a laugh. Apple, go to hell.