New Battery Developments for Laptops

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New Battery Developments for Laptops

Posted On : Dec-18-2009 | seen (832) times | Article Word Count : 534 |

The urgent need to have sufficient battery power long enough to last a day has never been more compelling. The increase in mobile computing using sophisticated office and multimedia applications and WiFi radio to access the internet, drains laptop batteries faster than anything before. Today, Lithium-based batteries are the flavor of the month for engineers looking at how to maximize their energy-giving potential. But while progress has been made in strides, notably in cellphones, the newer more compute-intensive multimedia applications are simply outpacing these improvements.

Enhancing Current Batteries and More Efficient Processors

There are few developments in the battery industries worth noting and promises to extend laptop battery lives so users can use them to last a full 8 hours works shift before charging. These developments are mostly enhancements of current chemistry of conventional batteries used to power mobile computing devices, the Lithium-based batteries – lithium-ion and lithium-polymer.

For a long time, there have been no revolutionary or radical technological advances on rechargeable batteries to give any excitement to laptop users other than Lithium-based batteries that are now pretty much standard on many mobile gadgets including cellphones and laptops.

Improvements have been generally incremental and are a confluent result of Lithium batteries and more power efficient processors like the Intel Centrino specifically optimized to perform efficiently in laptops.

Competitive Edge in Batteries

Because of the market demand for long life laptop batteries, companies see this as another competitive feature and promptly designed their laptops to have more power conserving features. Using power efficient Centrino chips, proprietary hard disks and optical drives that automatically shut down when not in use, these companies can lay claim to having better battery lives for their laptops. But they are not the result of better battery technologies. The rush to find new and better alternative batteries remains a challenge.

Micro Fuel Cells

What seems like a sleepy battery landscape may change soon with the introduction of micro fuel cells. The new type of battery technology promises higher energy levels that can last over longer times. We’re not talking about just lasting 8 hours but more like a tenfold increase in battery life that we have today. That’s roughly 50 hours. Imagine if laptops can stay on for 2-3 days on a single charge. The competitive marketing opportunities are immense. Micro fuel cells are expected to apply not only to laptops but to other mobile gadgets like cellphones and gaming handsets.

Todate more that 60 companies including IBM, Toshiba, NEC, Sanyo, Panasonic and Motorola are competing to develop and commercialize the micro fuel cell battery. Some of these companies are shifting their focus to new technologies to recharge fuel cells without relying on electricity. New York-based Medis technologies, for instance, has developed a disposable Power Pack that it claims can power cell phones for up to 20 hours or recharge them 5 to 6 times before getting disposed.

Micro fuel cells will still take a few more year to become commercially available in the market. This will certainly boost laptops sales further. This is a multi-billion dollar industry once it reaches the same maturity level as lithium based batteries. GP

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<h1>New Battery Developments for Laptops</h1> Author: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/profile_Ritchie Smythe.aspx'>Ritchie Smythe</a> The urgent need to have sufficient battery power long enough to last a day has never been more compelling. The increase in mobile computing using sophisticated office and multimedia applications and WiFi radio to access the internet, drains laptop batteries faster than anything before. Today, Lithium-based batteries are the flavor of the month for engineers looking at how to maximize their energy-giving potential. But while progress has been made in strides, notably in cellphones, the newer more compute-intensive multimedia applications are simply outpacing these improvements.

Enhancing Current Batteries and More Efficient Processors

There are few developments in the battery industries worth noting and promises to extend laptop battery lives so users can use them to last a full 8 hours works shift before charging. These developments are mostly enhancements of current chemistry of conventional batteries used to power mobile computing devices, the Lithium-based batteries – lithium-ion and lithium-polymer.

For a long time, there have been no revolutionary or radical technological advances on rechargeable batteries to give any excitement to laptop users other than Lithium-based batteries that are now pretty much standard on many mobile gadgets including cellphones and laptops.

Improvements have been generally incremental and are a confluent result of Lithium batteries and more power efficient processors like the Intel Centrino specifically optimized to perform efficiently in laptops.

Competitive Edge in Batteries

Because of the market demand for long life laptop batteries, companies see this as another competitive feature and promptly designed their laptops to have more power conserving features. Using power efficient Centrino chips, proprietary hard disks and optical drives that automatically shut down when not in use, these companies can lay claim to having better battery lives for their laptops. But they are not the result of better battery technologies. The rush to find new and better alternative batteries remains a challenge.

Micro Fuel Cells

What seems like a sleepy battery landscape may change soon with the introduction of micro fuel cells. The new type of battery technology promises higher energy levels that can last over longer times. We’re not talking about just lasting 8 hours but more like a tenfold increase in battery life that we have today. That’s roughly 50 hours. Imagine if laptops can stay on for 2-3 days on a single charge. The competitive marketing opportunities are immense. Micro fuel cells are expected to apply not only to laptops but to other mobile gadgets like cellphones and gaming handsets.

Todate more that 60 companies including IBM, Toshiba, NEC, Sanyo, Panasonic and Motorola are competing to develop and commercialize the micro fuel cell battery. Some of these companies are shifting their focus to new technologies to recharge fuel cells without relying on electricity. New York-based Medis technologies, for instance, has developed a disposable Power Pack that it claims can power cell phones for up to 20 hours or recharge them 5 to 6 times before getting disposed.

Micro fuel cells will still take a few more year to become commercially available in the market. This will certainly boost laptops sales further. This is a multi-billion dollar industry once it reaches the same maturity level as lithium based batteries. GPAbout the Author: ITC Sales are a leading supplier of Dell and HP Laptops such as the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.itcsales.co.uk/acatalog/Vostro_Laptops.html">Dell Precision</a> and Vostro. ITC also supply servers such as the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.itcsales.co.uk/acatalog/Dell_Tower_Server_Solutions.html">Dell PowerEdge</a> Article Source: <a href='http://www.articleseen.com/Article_New-Battery-Developments-for-Laptops_7295.aspx'> http://www.articleseen.com/Article_New Battery Developments for Laptops_7295.aspx</a>

Article Source : http://www.articleseen.com/Article_New Battery Developments for Laptops_7295.aspx

Author Resource :
ITC Sales are a leading supplier of Dell and HP Laptops such as the Dell Precision and Vostro. ITC also supply servers such as the Dell PowerEdge

Keywords : Dell PowerEdge, Dell Precision, dell, poweredge, sc1430, 1900, 2900, SC440, 840 tower, server, solutions,

Category : Computers : Hardware

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