A fast-charging laptop battery that promises to last at least three years without any degradation in performance is coming to the market as an option with Hewlett-Packard laptops. The Sonata battery is the product of three years of development work by Boston-Power and will be rebranded by HP as the "Enviro" battery and offered from early 2009 with select machines.
The battery can be charged to 80 percent of capacity in 30 minutes, which could be useful for travellers who only have a limited amount of time near an electric outlet, and will go 1,000 charges before the battery's capacity begins degrading. That's a charge a day for three years -- or four years if it's only used on weekdays -- so it should last the average life of a business laptop. Common laptop batteries today start to degrade after 300 charges.
[ Get the latest on mobile developments with InfoWorld's Mobile Report newsletter. ]
"It brings a new level of performance to the market," said Christina Lampe-Onnerud, founder and CEO of Boston-Power in an interview.
HP will back up its longer-life promise with a 3-year warranty and the battery will cost an extra $20 to $30 over a standard model. Users will be able to select it with certain machines during the customization phase of ordering. It will initially only be available in North America but HP plans to offer it in other markets later.
Lampe-Onnerud first unveiled the Sonata battery at the Demo 2007 conference and the company has spent the last two years developing the technology and preparing for mass-production. Most of the batteries will be made by Taiwan's GP Batteries while some will come from HYB Batteries in China.
At the time of its launch at Demo it was endorsed by Hewlett-Packard and the two companies have been working together ever since so HP's move as the first major customer for Boston-Power isn't a surprise.
Looking ahead the company is hoping to pick up addition laptop vendors as customers as well as break into other industries including consumer electronics and transportation, said Lampe-Onnerud.
Get the independent advice and expertise you need to support a virtual workforce.
The increase in Linux popularity has increased the frequency and sophistication of malware attacks. Read this 2 page white paper now to learn how you can protect your Linux environment with real-time protection that is certified by all major Linux vendors.
Download now »
Ensuring acceptable application delivery will become even more difficult over the next few years. As a result, IT organizations need to ensure that the approach that they take to resolving the current application delivery challenges can scale to support the emerging challenges. This handbook elaborates on the key tasks associated with planning, optimization, management and control and provides decision criteria to help IT organizations choose appropriate solutions.
Download now »
A common misconception is that mid-range storage requirements are dramatically different than that of a larger enterprise. Mid-range storage users may require less capacity, but they have similar functionality and management requirements. This ESG paper examines mid-range storage needs and reviews a new solution that adjusts size while retaining value, performance and functionality.
Download now »
Sign up to receive Hardware Resource Alerts
5 Recommendations
