Laptop Thoughts: Get Extra Device Power with the Tekkeon myPower MP3750 External Battery

Please click on the video title above to watch it on YouTube in 1080p full screen video.

Who doesn't' want more battery life from their mobile device? I think we all do. I've been on a personal quest for years to find the best multipurpose external battery that I could find. I've looked at a few of them of the years (such as this one, and this one), but every one I've looked at has had limited functionality in some way. Usually it's that it's not compatible with whatever new laptop I'm using. The Tekkeon myPower MP3750, which sells for $119 in the Digital Home Thoughts Amazon.com store, is versatile battery in that it not only serves as a power source for a laptop, but with the USB port it can power a variety of devices. I was eager to take a look at it, and for the most part have been quite impressed with it.

How did it perform? In the video I talked about using it with my Dell Vostro V13, but I was rattling off numbers from a test I did at least six months ago. My test notes tell a different, and better, story. I used my Dell Vostro V13, at full screen brightness with Wi-Fi turned off, on a three hour car trip with it connected to the MP3750. At the end of the trip, my Vostro V13 still had a full charge, and the MP3750 still had three of six charge bars remaining. Based on that performance, I should be able to get around six hours from the MP3750, then a minimum of another three from the V13, all at full screen brightness. The MP3750 allows me to turn my Vostro V13 into a 9-hour laptop (sans WiFi mind you), which is something I've wanted since I moved on from my dual-battery Fujitsu P7010 laptop.

Next I fired up the extended edition of Lord of the Rings, which clocks in at 2 hours and 51 minutes long. With a fully charged V13 battery, and a fully charged MP3750, I set the brightness on my laptop to 100%, turned off WiFi, and let it play. Normally, the V13 can't make it through the entire movie - it comes very close at 2 hours a 46 minutes. By leaning on the MP3750 for power, I was able to play the entire LOTR movie twice, all the way through, which amounts to 5 hours and 42 minutes. Amazingly, the V13 still had 15% battery life remaining.

When it comes to charging devices via the USB power, the MP3750 seems to be much less efficient, being essentially drained after recharging my iPad 2 once even though the battery indicates it should be able to do nearly two full charges. Still, it's incredibly useful to have something that can kick out enough juice to charge an iPad 2 and also be compatible with a laptop. If you're a frequent traveller and you find yourself away from a wall socket for extended periods of time, the Tekkeon MP3750 is worth serious consideration.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, his wonderful son Logan, and his sometimes obedient dog. He likes devices that have long battery life, but he won't be happy until battery life is measured in days, not hours, of usage.

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