Over the course of the year since I’ve had my MacBook the battery life has plummeted each month regardless of whether or not I calibrate the battery. I’m not whining about it, but less than two hours doesn’t leave me with enough time to do anything if I’m working somewhere without an electrical outlet or when I’m in a foreign land and forgot my adapter at the hotel room. It happens to us all. The smart thing to do would be to have an extra battery on hand, but that’s not always the case.

My biggest gripe with the MacBook has been its tendency to die when it says I have 20 minutes left. There’s nothing that irritates me more than this. It shuts down at the most inopportune times and I just want to throw it out the window. But now that I’ve had the NewerTech Intelligent Battery Charger/Conditioner Station for a few weeks my frustrations have subsided.

The charging station holds two batteries in case you have that many and it also calibrates them so you can get the full potential of your batteries. I was skeptical at first, but now my sole battery lasts around 2.5 hours and doesn’t die until the battery meter hits 0:00. The IBCS does a deep discharge and recharges your battery for maximum efficiency so make sure you have an alternate machine to work on since it takes about 12 hours to do. Just plop it into the left bay and hit the calibrate button. You can even drop the other battery in the next bay to charge, but you’d be a crazy person to leave your beloved off for so long. To get a full charge takes less than three hours.

It’s a bit pricey at $150, but if you have an extra battery and you’re just not the diligent type to do the battery calibration every month then your money wouldn’t be going to waste. It actually does what it’s advertised to do and that’s all that really matters. But we’ll see how it works out in the long run.

You can also purchase one for your MBP, PowerBook G4 and iBook G3/G4 for the same price.