Posted May 19, 2005
When a friend got a new laptop recently, the thing I was most jealous of was the teeny power adapter that came with it—because my old Powerbook has this giant hockey puck of a power block. While laptops have been holding steady sizewise for the past couple of years (with the lightest Apple notebooks just under 5 pounds, and the lightest Windows machines hovering in the 3 pound range), their adapters have actually been steadily shrinking. So I shopped around and found the best way to go on a more streamlined power trip: upgrade with the Kensington iPod/Notebook AC Power Adapter. It’s about half as big as my older power block and only half an inch think, so it’s really easy to slip into a pocket of my backpack. It weighs less than 10 ounces, is powdery white to color-coordinate with iBooks, and it comes with interchangeable tips so it can also recharge an iPod or iPod mini. There’s a similarly-sized PC version that works with most standard Windows notebooks (check Kensington.com for compatibility info), although the Windows PC version doesn’t double as an iPod charger—and it only comes in black (to color-coordinate with ThinkPads, I suppose).
$65.99 at amazon.com.