Apparently, Apple has agreed to pay refunds of $25 - $79 for close to 2.3 million PowerBook and iBook owners who endured numerous problems due to purchasing faulty power adapters.

The agreement received its preliminary approval from the San Jose U.S. District Court on March 24, but the final approval will be awaited until September 8.

The class action suit accused the company of selling a type of laptop power adapter which “dangerously frays, sparks and prematurely fails to work.” The overheating issue was widely covered by the media and it led in 2001 to the recall and replacement of about 570,000 adapters.

The agreement states that all customers who bought adapters from Apple or a third-party, in order to replace their toasted one are eligible for receiving between $25 and $79.

Apple Inc’s Canadian division faces a similar situation with its Apple iPod players. The company has begun an expensive credit program, which will cost about $36 million after a class-action lawsuit determined that Apple misrepresented the life of the iPod batteries between charges. The initial claim was of about eight hours but the plaintiffs claimed that the batteries lasted for about three hours.

The program involves the offer of $45 to all Canadian residents who bought an iPod player before June 24, 2004.