When Apple introduced its ingenious MagSafe power cord on the MacBook Pro last year at Macworld, gobs of people couldn’t think straight due to the enthusiasm of such a great invention. It didn’t take long for many to figure out that they would be out of luck once they boarded an airplane, however. While Apple did later introduce an airline power supply, it had many short comings such as the inability to charge your battery while in use. Further, there was no DC adapter for cars which more of us will use than the EmPower ports found usually only in First and Business class of most commercial airlines.

So here we are, a year later and one more laptop line that carries this great power port but still no fix to Apple’s portable power solution. Enter the heroics of Mikegyver! Mikegyver has taken off-the-shelf product and converted it to work with Apple’s MagSafe power port on both the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines. Further, the professionally modified power supplies will charge your battery while using your Mac as well as work in cars! What else could one want? How about two different versions? Both will power your Mac laptop in a car and plane while the modified Kensington All-in-one adapter will plug into a AC wall outlet.

Now Mikey’s stuff ain’t cheap. This apparently is rocket science since Apple hasn’t even come up with a solution for this problem and those lab coats Mike wears in the lab while creating his solution costs some money. So, prepare yourself. The top of the line Kensington All-in-one adapter is going to cost you $229.95. Gulp. Okay, the next one down will only set you back $139.95 (on sale from the $165.00 price.) If you return your Apple supplied power adapter, then you can get one for $75.00. Remember, Apple doesn’t just sale these MagSafe cables at the Apple Store, so Mike’s got to buy the entire AC plug to make his magic work. That coupled with the cost of the other devices he’s purchasing makes things a bit pricey. Plus Mike deserves kudos in the form of greenbacks for his hard work. Heck, Mike’s such a nice guy that he even gives you instruction how to do this all yourself! What a man!

If you find yourself on a plane or out in the middle of no where often in your vehicle, then you’re going to want to look at Mikegyver’s site long and hard and visit his store. Many other happy customers have.

4 Responses to “Power Your MacBook/Pro in the Car With the Mikegyver Kit”

1. Glenn Perez Says:
   February 24th, 2007 at 15:16

   Save your money! If you want to use your Apple Macbook or Macbook Pro in a car just buy an Kensington Portable Power Inverter which converts 12V into 120V AC Power. Then plug your Apple MagSafe power adapter which came with your Macbook into this adapter. And you can do this for only $20.00 plus shipping. Oh and another benefit in using this solution is that you can use this adapter for any other 120V device that you might want to run in your car.

2. Sven Rafferty Says:
   February 24th, 2007 at 20:53

   True, inverters are the cheaper alternative; however, they aren’t always the best. The cheaper ones can damage your equipment by not putting out a constant stream of watts. When start getting into the better ones, then the price nears that of Mikegyver’s lower-end offerings. Lastly, inverters will do you no good on a plane and we’ve already established the fact that Apple’s plane offering leaves on the grounded for charges.

3. adriano ceccarelli Says:
   April 7th, 2007 at 2:36

   I am impressed that a car lighter adapter can supply the 7 Amp necessary for the macbookpro, when the lighter fuse is only rated 10 Amp. This for the 220V european power supply units. Don’t know if the 120V is a different story.
   As for the inverters, I have one in the motorhome that supplies 300W/220V, but that doesn’t work either. All these devices are designed to automatically detect too low a voltage and stop, and this happens all the times I plug in the mac and it starts charging. It only works with the engine on. A bigger inverter would cost as much as the middle range Mike’s adapter.

4. Tim Says:
   January 6th, 2010 at 12:56

   Hi. I’m frenchy. Your post can interesting lot of people in my country. So, if you re ok, i can copy it on a french blog.

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