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May 4, 2006
The Problem with Airplanes and the MBP
Stanford Law Professor Lawrence Lessig has started an excellent thread on the Apple Discussion forums about the lack of a good airplane charging solution for the MacBook Pro. It looks like Apple needs to take some action on this issue or risk losing a lot of frequent flying potential MBP sales. Click through to read the rest of the thread.I'd be interested in whether people think this problem is specific to my machine, or general.
I do too much travel on planes. I therefore couldn't begin to use my MPB until I could buy 3 batteries (about a month after I got the machine), and I also had to buy an inverter, since I couldn't find any iGo like tip to connect to the new magnet connection.
The first inverter I got was a Targus. It promised 90w - above the reported 85w drawn by the machine. Four flights, never would it work. Everytime, it would trip because too much power was demanded. I then bought a "CyberPower" inverter, promising 120w. That worked for a good 3 hours on an internatinoal flight, but then it began flaking as well. I then discovered that if I had a fully charged battery (so it wasn't trying to charge), it worked fine. So the obvious "solution" is either to have a fully charged battery, or to remove the battery -- though that's obviously a bit dangerous, since the cord disconnects from the laptop so easily.
This is a big problem with the machine. Is it just mine, or is it general? And is there any useful way to control how much power the unit draws? Notice, the processor speed control has been removed from the Energy Saver panel.
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technorati tags: macbookpro, inverter
Posted by jasonogrady at May 4, 2006 9:00 AM
Category: MacBook Pro
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Comments
The problem is that Apple isn't licensing the MagSafe connector to anyone yet. This affects airplanes, car chargers, external batteries (I own the LIND battery which I've used with my Prior Powerbooks)....
Victor
Posted by: Victor Orly at May 4, 2006 12:58 PM
This is not specific to MBP. Most power output on planes is shoddy at best. I've been on plenty of flights to Asia and Europe -- my 12" iBook charges just fine, but my Dell Latitude D600 will not charge. It does however work off airplane power without the battery in (as mentioned in the article). This is not a new problem, by any means, for seasoned road warriors -- and it's definitely not a problem specific to MBP.
Posted by: David Meier at May 4, 2006 1:01 PM
I understand what you are saying - But the problem lies with the Airline empower system which is limited to 70 watts. !! Industry rumour says they are going to step up to 90 watts per (2 seats) by end 2007 - but its just rumour.
the solution is - If you REALLY travel a lot and want to use your laptop on the plane - Consider a 65 Watt notebook - thats it - Problem solved.
Posted by: Uncle Dave at May 4, 2006 6:57 PM
This isn't limited to the MBP. I just returned from a trip to Asia on Northwest airlines. My 75W Kensington power adapter for my 17" PowerBook G4 wouldn't work properly with the 120V Empower connector at my seat. (Yes, 120V -- not a 12V.) After running for a few seconds, it would reset. Then it would start again in a few moments, then reset.
Very annoying, since this Kensington adapter is supposed to be specifically for use on airplanes (it has both 12V and 120V inputs).
I contacted Kensington's support, and they said that this adapter doesn't work with the plugs on Northwest. Would have been nice if they had disclosed this BEFORE I bought it.
I was thinking that a great little app would be one that would tell the laptop not to try to charge the battery. Better yet would be one that could limit the power requested from the adapter to a specific value (say, 65W), drawing any additional needed from the battery. I don't know if the electronics in the laptop are capable of this sort of power management, but it would sure be nice. Even if the seat power supply couldn't supply your laptop's full needs, you'd still get very long battery life if the adapter could provide some of the juice.
Posted by: Mike Kobb at May 4, 2006 8:55 PM
