Apple MacBook onboard

P

porth

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One for people who like boxes with lots of wires in them: We have a MacBook which we will be using onboard. Went to the Apple shop to buy a car ciglighter type charger, only to be told that they dont exist! Anyone know of a smart guy in Tokyo whos filling the gap?
PS have tried a search, no luck.
 
Theres a guy in the US doing a conversion. It was an odd omissions as Apple have done a magsafe airline adapter.

Failing that, you'll have to use an inverter I guess.

Rick
 
try maplins www.maplin.co.uk. I got a variable voltage one for my laptop. OK its not a macbook, but even macs use batteries just like any other pc so there will be a charger available.

have you found any plotting software for it? I have linux on my PC (linux is a variety of unix as is the mac operating system) so if you have there's a possibility it might work on my machine
 
I think the problem there is that no-one has done a magsafe smart-tip yet - so those universal-type adapters can't support the Macbook or Macbook Pro.

Rick
 
[ QUOTE ]
>have you found any plotting software for it<

[/ QUOTE ]
I use MacENC along with a Navionics vector chart. There is also GPSnavX, which uses raster charts. Both can be found at www.gpsnavx.com - they're fairly cheap as these things go, are comparable to the best pc equivalents and the company provide really good tech support.
However, I don't take my laptop on board very often, and certainly not to use for navigation - I download everything onto a very basic handheld gps because I can use it while helming.
The problem with a MacBook power supply is that its more than 12v - I have heard of some people using an inverter and plugging the normal adaptor in. Apple do two airline adaptors - one of which definitely won't work, but another which may - called an APC 150 watt DC to AC inverter with airline adapter - do a search on the apple.com website. You may have to ring someone at Apple to check its' suitability though.
 
I have the same problem and spent the last 2 months looking for a solution. RickP has posted a link to Mike Guyver in Florida. So far as I can see this is the only solution apart from cutting the mains adaptor off and splicing a suitable 12v adaptor to the Magsafe cord yourself. The airline adaptor won't work on the boats 12v system.

The Mike Guyver solution works just fine. It powers my MacBook and charges the battery. I received one last week. Took a little 8 days via airmail from Florida to Spain.

The cause of the problem is that the new Magsafe plug is the subject of a patent application by Apple and presumably because of licensing issues none of the usual suppliers has marketed a 12v adaptor.

The Magsafe plug is a clever idea but this innovation has made an essential peripheral (for me)much more expensive than standard third party products and the 12v power supply I used for my old I-Book obsolete.
 
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