Is the Apple Battery Charger a Big Deal?

I’ve had an on again, off again relationship with rechargeable batteries. Being a photographer, I tend to go through dozens of batteries at a time in my flash, and that can get pretty irritating. I’ve spent some time researching the issue, and either the chargers are too expensive, don’t hold *just* the size batteries I want, or the replacement batteries are super expensive. As a result, I’m always looking around at new chargers.

So this new Apple Battery Charger is an interesting deal. For $32, Apple gives you a battery charger with a fancy disconnect-able power plug ala the MacBook Pro power supply, and six AA batteries.That’s enough to have a mouse and keyboard stocked with a pair of batteries charging, or now, a keyboard and a trackpad. That makes it perfect for most Apple products, particularly the iMac, since they now come standard with wireless components.

It’s definitely not the cheapest battery charger out there, but it does have one cool feature: automatic charging. It shuts down when the batteries are charged up all the way, so that it doesn’t overcharge the batteries and become a vampire on your power supply.

I’m not quite sure if this is going to work for my needs, mostly because I need to charge multiple batteries at a time. But for the cost, it’s not that bad of a deal. If I had a newer iMac, I just might consider buying one.