One of the more contentious design decisions that Apple made concerning the Air relates to the non-user replaceable battery.
"True" road warriors, apparently, need to be able to swap out batteries so they can use their computers for at least 15-20 hours at a time. Perfect for those non-stop New York to New Zealand trips we all take so often.
True road warriors also don't seem to carry iPods and iPhones and any of the numerous other devices we mere mortals carry in order to while away the time.
Nope. They positively, absolutely need more notebook power.
So what are the options?
Well, the first thing we need to remember is that the 45W power adaptor is quite a bit smaller than any other notebook adaptor released to date. In fact, it's nearly the same size as an early iPod USB adaptor, making it fairly painless to carry in a side pocket of a backpack or briefcase, and allowing one to "top off" as need and opportunity allows .
Next up is the airline Seat Power adaptor, which allows you to plug in and recharge if you're on an airline that has them. And in a seat class that has them, of course. Fly First or Business class and you have no worries.
Even in Coach they're starting to appear with more frequency on newer planes, especially those used for more than the short-legged 250-1,000 mile hops for which the Air has ample power.
But you say, I fly 3,000 miles at whack in coach on an airline that wouldn't know a seat power adaptor if it bit the pilot on the rear. Now what?
Well, first let me say that I'm sorry. And second, other than carrying an iPod to use when you run out of juice, at the moment it would seem that you're out of luck.
But there is a potential solution. And one that doesn't require Apple to re-engineer the Air from the ground up.
A spare battery.
More specifically, an external spare battery.
Quite a few people make external batteries that power notebooks, music players, and other accessories. All that's missing, really, is a cable that will allow such a thing to connect to an Air.
And thus it falls to Apple to license the MagSafe power plug to peripheral manufacturers. I can understand if they want to keep it to themselves for notebooks, but a peripheral license solves that issue while allowing third parties to do the heavy lifting.
It may not be a "replaceable" battery, but if you're carrying a spare battery you're carrying a spare battery.
And if Apple wants to design one, then I'm sure they can do a better job. How about a combination battery/recharger/power brick so that you only need one cord? Plug it in, and it recharges itself and the Air too, all automatically.
And while we're dreaming, add a USB port so that we can also recharge iPods and iPhones on the fly.
I'm not sure people would actually buy one, you understand.
But some will, and just knowing it's out there and available if they really need it may help quite few others rationalize their purchase of an Air.
And who knows? It might even help the rest of us sleep better at night.
So how about it Apple. Want to sell a few more notebooks and accessories?
Comments