Help with Airplane and Car Charger....

[gpspad]

I recently got a 13" Macbook Pro Retina and looking to see what I might need to travel with it. I have seen some older apple airline adapters on ebay, but between the different magsafe tips and voltage requirements not sure they won't harm the mbpr.

I realize these adapters only allow use and don't charge. But can anyone explain the differences between the old adapters or what they use for travel?

Can you use an old airport as a car adapter also?

The bad review on amazon has me concerned about some of the auto charges on there....

 

[Anitramane]

Airport adapter doesn't work for cars.

 

[dyt1983]

edit: To remove personally identifying info not relevant to the conversation.

 

[luvmymbpr]

Why not get a power inverter for the car like this?

http://www.amazon.com/BESTEK®-outle...TF8&qid=1420159155&sr=8-1&keywords=Car+outlet

It should charge the mbp as long as you aren't using resource intensive apps or doing heavy video editing. In addition, they usually have a built in fuse that prevents power spikes better than a normal cigarette adapter.

 

[gpspad]

Thanks for the reply.

There doesnt seem to be a lot of definitive answers on why they stopped making the airpline adapters, ie can't supply enough voltage to run the macbook, or you can have power spikes when used in cars.

The amazon.com reviews of some car adapters are all over the place. They go from awesome, to fried my macbook.

There was an adapter I saw that was part inverter, part spare battery power supply. That probably is able to smooth out any power spikes.

Just wish there was more info from apple on this.

Thanks again.

 

[luvmymbpr]

Thanks for the reply.

There doesnt seem to be a lot of definitive answers on why they stopped making the airpline adapters, ie can't supply enough voltage to run the macbook, or you can have power spikes when used in cars.

The amazon.com reviews of some car adapters are all over the place. They go from awesome, to fried my macbook.

There was an adapter I saw that was part inverter, part spare battery power supply. That probably is able to smooth out any power spikes.

Just wish there was more info from apple on this.

Thanks again.

You're welcome. You could also put a simple surge protector between this power interveter and your mac. That should give you both peace of mind and the added protection. There is nothing that car 12v electric system can do to your mac that standard AC power in your house can't.

Something like this is all you need:

http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-SP...0205808&sr=8-3&keywords=small+surge+protector

 

[joe-h2o]

They're becoming less common because the airlines are beginning to incorporate mains power supplies into their seats that you can connect your regular MBP power brick to.

For a car charger, I would go for an inverter with a power smoothing function. Direct 12V from the car's systems will be incredibly noisy and variable which the MBP's DC in board can probably clean up for you, but it is more likely to cause damage if it goes out of bounds or has large ripples or spikes etc.

An inverter will weather that storm for you and act as a buffer between the car's power systems and your Macbook. You only need a small one - you ultimately only need 60 to 80 watts at mains voltage.