The abysmal battery life of notebooks
 

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It seems to me that incredible progress is being made on many technological fronts with regard to notebook computers – except one.

So I have a simple question: What is the likelihood that we will soon see a significant increase in battery charge up to an acceptable level?

Perhaps we can agree to define “an acceptable level” as a full working day – 8 hours or so. But that’s a bare minimum; a 12 hour charge would be nice.

Do any current technologies holde the potential for that kind of improvement? Any other interesting battery technologies on the horizon?

...or can the power consumption of the CPU, harddisk/HDD and screen be vastly reduced?


-- ArcticStones
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May be sooner than you think....
 

Two words: Fuel Cells.

The following article from two years ago may be of interest:

http://www.millenniumcell.com/fw/mai...ID=24&CntID=12

Specifically:
A year ago, this was the state of progress:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/laptops/s...pop-224446.php

But they do say:

Downside is that it's not really portable, and its basically like having a small power station attached to the back of the laptop!

Anyway, (my) optimistic estimates would put a viable production unit available by the end of 2010. After all, consider the benefits to whatever manufacturer got this out the door first!

Just imagine Steve's KeyNote 2010:

Introducing.....the MacBook Unlimited.

It's a Mac. Your Mac. But for longer at a time!


Of course, you'd probably have to take it to your local filling station to charge it!

If we take my 5G iPod Video as an example, it will run all day playing music, 2 hours playing video, and 20 minutes importing photos from my camera. Those activities are processor, backlight and drive-dominated respectively.

So as long as you don't run the backlight or access the disk drive of the laptop the current models should easily go from morning to night :D

The solid-state drive should make a big difference depending how they implemented it but I'm not sure it's worth the extra $1000. I'd like to see some price points as I'd probably take a 15Gb SSD - really all you need if it's not your primary machine.

Maybe a slower processor too - can the current processors be underclocked to reduce their power consumption, or are they stuck at their designed speed?

How about solar cells on the cover? Not all that useful in charging it from dead but a trickle charge while in transit might be all it needs.

It's funny you mention this. Once, on a long trip, I decided to use my old PB12" as an iPod (since I didn't have a real one at the time.) I turned up all the energy saver options and allowed the display to go to sleep after a minute. As I recall (though my memory is sketch) I had 'about an hour' left in battery life, but with the screen off, the HD turning itself off and on, and only iTunes running, the computer lasted for the next four hours of the trip...

I'm willing to bet that in no time at all after fuel cells became available, the Department of Homeland Security would decide that you couldn't take one on a airplane -- one of the few places where you really need it.

They'd probably deny them now - flammable liquids would be worse than Sony lithium cells.

Now, if the fuel cell can run on duty-free vodka we might have something :D

Imagine a Terminator style killbot running on today's batteries?

"I'll be back ( as soon as I charge my badderies )."

I think this is a very efficient way to make us buy newer products. Notebooks and especially cell phones.
:D:D

Terminator IX - Ah-Nuld vs. the TSA. Lets Get Ready To Ruummmmmmbbbbbbblllllleeeeeee.

Come over to Japan to see Mobile Marketing run amok. The average model has a 6-month lifespan, they're already overloaded with features, battery life is long enough that no one cares and are sold basically on style.

And by the way, how far are we now? What is maximum capacity of laptop battery? I guess it is not more than 6 hours. My friend has 5-hour battery on his Vaio. I am looking for more powerful battery for my Toshiba Sattelite M100-222. Can't find it yet... :(

Actually, notebooks are not much optimized for unplugged work. My Sony Vaio works about 3 hours of unstoppable use (fully charged).
Sorry, I didn't get what you mean... You say that 6-months lifespan is enough for a model?

I wasn't clear enough - the sales lifespan is about 6 months, then that model is replaced with a newer design. The phone itself will last for years. They're sold on style because there's not much else that can be crammed in. My wife's phone has a browser, pc-grade email, camera, movie, calendar, 500-entry address book, 1Gb memory card, barcode reader, GPS navigation with moving map and voice prompt, alarm clock, voice recorder and TV!!

Mine is 3 years old and has all the above except the TV ( FM radio instead ) and a smaller memory card.

Ah, now it's clear.
Well, in this case the only way is to reduce the lifespan of batteries to make people change their electronic contraptions...=)
And if serious, I think I would use one model for years. I'll change my cell phone only when it is broken. I dislike new phones, players etc - you have to get addicted to the new design.

This policy of selling on style is similar to what Apple does with MacBookAir and iPod-pink.

The kill-bots are coming

Kill-bot

Apple had an excellent design, regarding battery life, in the old G3 "Pismo" Powerbooks. The CD-DVD drive can be removed and a second battery can be inserted. They get great battery life with two batteries. Additionaly both batteries can be charged in the computer at the same time.

They have bizarrely done the opposite. 3 years ago the batteries were integrated into the case design a la iBooks, so the replacements had to be model and colour specific. Now the phone batteries are under a cover panel and are much more generic.

Nice song! Thanks=)

I don't think we'll ever see an improvement in overall battery life. I think that for a very long time we will continue to compromise/balance between size/weight/power and battery life. If tomorrow our batteries had double the capacity, I think they would just make smaller notebooks. The majority of people seem fine with the current battery life or wish for only a little more. Personally I carry a spare battery but I use it maybe every other month (reminds me I need to swap it to keep it cycled).

Eh? But I thought ANYTHING could run on DF vodka???:D

In regards to the fuel cell--wouldn't those be a tad expensive judging the outrageous prices of fuel today? And having to take them to a gas station to refuel--as opposed to plugging it in--would be an enormous hassle.

Really makes you wonder about the technology gap vis-à-vis what is sold in the West, doesn’t it? It’s almost embarrassing!
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I wouldn't necessarily say "embarrassing". There's a button on mine, never used, that instantly adds a full-colour animated Disney theme to the display. Wifey's phone has animated penguins.