As laptops gain more processor power they are replacing desktop computers due to their low power consumption and portability. OWC offers two products that compliment your laptop, the OWC Batter Charger / Conditioner and a replacement hi-power battery. When you combine the charger with the improved battery you increase the portability and reliability of your laptop. Both the replacement batteries and the Charger / Conditioner is specific to each model of laptop. For review purposes I test a 3-year old 12" G4 iBook model, that was kept in fairly good battery condition. The initial response to the products is an overall YES! While these are two separate products, they really go together nicely and get the most out of each other when used together.

The OWC battery is a must for laptops both old and new. Lithium batteries can give no warning that the battery is going bad. Often times the battery still holds a charge, but the internal chemistry slows or stops the delivery of the power. There isn't much you can do about it. Lithium batteries start aging at the time of production, they are generally rated at 3 to 5 year life span. If you have an older laptop, you could benefit from a new battery. It would give you longer up time, and would greatly reduce the risk of having your laptop die in mid-project.

OWC's battery offered over a 25% improvement in battery life when compared to the stock battery in a real world test. The two real world test that illustrated the power of a new battery were test in low battery mode and high CPU load. The high CPU load test was done with custom energy settings; no sleep, no hard drive spin down, and no monitor shut-off. The screen saver was set to "Flurry" and was set to kick off in 20 minutes. I then ran an application some of you may be familiar with, "CPUTest". CPUTest allows you to run the CPU at 100% for a designated number of test, or in my case indefinitely. Apple's Stock battery came back with 1:56 of operating time before forced shut down, while the OWC battery came back with 2:30 of operating time before forced shut down. The difference is partially in the total power in the unit and partially age. The stock battery is rated at 50 Watt-Hour capacity, while OWC's is rated at 55 Watt-Hour capacity. These times were actual times as recorded by CPUTest.

Lithium based batteries do not need the constant charge / discharge that the Nickel based batteries needed to keep a good charge. In fact, you should keep your battery charged whenever possible and not run it to 0 unless conditioning the battery. Conditioning the battery doesn't exactly improve the life of a battery, but rather gives you a more accurate reading on how the battery is doing. Consistent partial discharges and recharges causes the battery meter to report false readings. Conditioning a battery involves fully discharging a battery and then completely recharging the battery. It is important to note that the recharging of a Lithium battery is a tricky thing. It has to be on a controlled flow and should never overcharge or completely drain the battery. You should also look to avoid heat when charging a Lithium battery. That is why the OWC is such a great device for heavy laptop users.

The battery charger by OWC is handy in that it not only has two docking bays, but also has two functions, a charger and a conditioner. The charging function is shared by both bays, while the conditioning feature is set to only the first bay. Having two bays insures that you will always have a battery fully charged and ready to go when you are. The charging and conditioning also benefit because you remove the battery from the heat of the laptop when charging. Conditioning also takes up valuable time. Not only do you have to drain it completely, but then you have to wait for it to fully charge. Having an external charger and a spare battery greatly reduces the hassle of conditioning your battery. While conditioning will not gain battery life back, it will give a more accurate reading of what you have left. It is also a good practice to spot any trouble that may be lurking with your battery.

The battery charger's design partially blocks the same battery charge lights. You can still see the glow of the lights and it does not have any effect on the performance either. A future improvement may also be to offer a model with interchangeable power adapters, so the same base station could be used by different laptops, rather than buying a charger for each model of laptop.

Overall, if you make a living off your laptop you should get a battery charger / conditioner and a spare battery. This combination allows you to take proper care of your batteries and prolong the life of the batteries. It is important to get your Lithium batteries & chargers from a reliable source as poorly designed or functioning products can cause major damage. OWC offers a quality product that is easy to use from a trusted Mac based company.