What is Digg?82 Comments
- CypherXero, on 10/12/2007, -12/+50This is not slashdot. We don't try to get "first post" here.
- Truegod, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1710 hour would be a nice step up from the 45 minutes I get from my iBook G4 battery.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Surely when I do purchase this technology, my laptop hostname will swiftly be changed to "Hindenburg".
- Durrok, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Did you really buy the alienware laptop for long battery life and portability though? I always thought those laptops were more like "easy to move PCs" then actual laptops.
- lampshade, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11I don't find this to be really practical
10 hours is great, but I imagine that buying the new cartridges for the fuel cells that they talk about, the ones that are said to be like installing printer cartridges, will be lame and way more inconvenient for travelers than just plugging in the laptop every say 2-3 hours. I didn't see cost mentioned either. How cheap will it be? Is it worth buying plus buying the cartridges or should I just buy a few extra batteries. What about selling extra batteries and an external charger?
I love the sound of the idea, but after reading the article, I don't think it will be as cool as I had thought. - dfunct, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Buy a new battery, my ibook will run for over 5 hours with wifi on while web browsing with the monitor dimmed to one bar. Great for taking into college to get work done with out having to use windows :)
- mcbesq, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11Because H2 is so much more stable than gasoline.
- mfratt, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10I get 8 hours on my T43p. 10 hours on a Protege is not all that impressive, especially for such a "new, revolutinary technology." Remember, 10hr is Toshiba's claim too - expect less than that.
- Durrok, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8I think I will hold out until they can level a city block.
- lampshade, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8holy crap you need a new battery. My sister's ibook g4 gave me 4 hours or there abouts of battery when I last used it. I was only connected to a unix box over ssh, surfing the net, and talking to people on aim, but I consider that to be an average load. Even with that average load the battery life was close to 4 hours or more
- superkendall, on 10/12/2007, -0/+510 hours and then what?
I can't imagine being happy filling up a laptop every ten hours, no matter how easy it is, with something I have to pay for. You might say "well you have to pay for electricity" - but not really. At home the laptop would only consume the smallest portion of a bill I am already paying anyway. Out and about, when have you ever been charged for a plug (kind of funny, that!).
Sure you could use it everywhere plugged in and only go "On Cell" when you were using the laptop without a plug. But that really sucks, I know because at times I've had laptops with a bad battery that I had to use plugged in. Just about everywhere I use a laptop does indeed have a plug but who wants to constantly be packing and unpacking and plugging in a plug? Fuel cells make sense for cars but for any personal electronic they are just a total non-starter. - breakneckridge, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Writing a stupid enough comment is likely to get you blocked, so not only won't people see your "FIRST!!!" post, but they'll never see any other comments you make in the future either.
- Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Yeah, you can probably get 10 days off a car battery, and it's hardly smaller than that brick from the article. The technology is easily 3-4 years away.
- Piper7865, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I guess it's going to come down to how difficult they are to refuel and how much it will cost
- tempusrob, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Car batteries aren't made to be treated the way laptop batteries are (i.e. deplete, recharge, deplete, recharge) ... it'd ruin them pretty quickly. They're meant to handle the surge of starting a car.
- pillfred, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4The alternator does the juicing. the battery just turns it over.
- lain, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5kind of irrelevant and off topic, but to those who are looking to find an immediant solution to laptop battery life, there is always the dell 9 cells, I just bought a 640m inspiron less than a month ago, its battery life is 9 hrs and 30 minutes when im taking notes/doing buisiness work. it has about 7 hours if i'm watching movies, definately worth $60 extra for the battery upgrade!
just a heads up, i know its off topic. just trying to lend a hand... - triikan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4If they hooked up another battery the size of that thing, I'm sure they could squeeze at least another 5-8 hours. I believe this is a ploy to start selling the cartridges, and start a cottage industry similar to what the printer industry has going. They just want another hand in the cookie jar, because, apparently, we don't replace our laptops enough.
- ohmar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4wogaswoga,
methanol is, in fact, an alcohol, but not the alcohol that you are thinking of. Ethanol, found in your favorite malt beverage contains an addition CH2 more than methanol. As such, the vodka and similar liquids would not bode so well in your fuel cell - Tiabin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Laptop batteries just suck as they are right now... My inspiron 9100 has never gotten a particularily good battery life. I can't conceive of 10 hours though... I'd probably only recharge my battery at night. A 10 hour battery life is WAY more than the average computer user uses in a day.
- richpav, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Bic is going to make a killing. Fuel cells are basically disposible lighters filled with a different fluid.
- Nerys, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3First Hydrogen is not dangerous. Did you ever see the hindenberg. if you look at it with a KNOWLEGEABLE EYE you will see there was not that much flame and boom considering how much hydrogen was there. Hydrogen is fast Vrwoooof pop done. you could be in a mix of hydrogen when it goes uo and you would VERY likely survive and probably only with minor burns. Hardly ANYONE on hindenburg died from the hydrogen in fact the opposite they died from the LACK of hydrogen ie they fell when it stopped holding them in the air. Now a large tank of heavily compressed hydrogen IS more dangerous but no more than a tank of propane and FAR FAR safer than gasoline.
Gasoline STICKS to everything being a liquid and BURNS SLOWLY. Ie it hangs around and really ruins your day good :-)
Fuel Cells on the other hand I have ZERO interest in. the reason can be summed up into 2 words
"Ink Jet"
Nuff said ?
In case those 2 words were not clear enough for you stop buy your local store and check up on the prices of inkjet cartridges and consider that replacing the carts in your printer usually costs more than the printer itself.
something as dangerous as FUEL will be even more restricted and regulated making it harder to get "knowkc off" supplies of it like some can with ink.
no thanks
my PDA battery (first it COMES with a battery) is $40 and it lasts about 4 years charing EVERY day (I get 6-10 hours on a charge) that means figure 6 hours to be conservative that I get at least 4800 hours for my $40 (and again don't forget it COMES with one so figure 4800 hours for FREE) thats 8/10th's of a cent per hour. (and that is not factoring in the INCLUDED battery)
I have no idea how much these fuel cell refills are going to cost but I would wadger a weeks pay its not going to be $5 and that it likely going to be $10 (if we are LUCKY) a fill. lets be NICE and say I get 2 fills out of that and TWICE the run time. (again I am being nice I figure EACH will be ONE fill)
I am not even going to bother doing the math since after 4 bottles I am already over $40 and I only got 96 hours of usage from it.
Do I really need to say more ?
Chris Taylor
http://www.nerys.com/ - Arramol, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You hope against hope that Apple got it right with the thermal paste this time?
- SilentPurity, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"What is Slashdot? Is it some kind of website that competes with Digg?"
That's a website that couldn't even begin to compete with digg. ;-)
"Everytime you mod someone down, God kills a kitten."
Then say goodbye to your cat because I am gonna "get rid of it" just to account for all the cats being killed because you made that comment. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6I'm not impressed by this technology in current form.
- Kallahan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Actually it was more than 14+ hours last time i hooked a laptop to a car battery (Battery to a 300watt power inverter, then used the home charger for the laptop). The problem is the 30-40lbs battery in your backpack.
- GoMe, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The Panasonic W5 has a 12 hour battery, and it's out already. (link: http://dynamism.com/w5/main.shtml )
- NightKillazz, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Yea I got it to have a Mobile gaming unit, I almost never have it unplugged unless I use it in school.
- Durrok, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3If it is more then just pouring some distilled water into the pack it is not worth it.
- Stevethegreat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Fuel cells theoretically can reach some hundreds of hours portability for laptops, I have seen numbers like 320 hours or so. This technology is to its infancy nowadays, give it a few years and you 'll see how more practical than batteries it will be. I bet these first models would be sort of experimental to see how they 'll stand out at the market and see how to take more from this technology. I am looking forward for their actual launch, fuel cells may change how we conceive the term of portability in the future.
- zombieball, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Are half the people not reading the article, it talks about methanol fuel cells not hydrogen....
- bryan1970, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Here's another company that's working on a similar product. Aside from consumer use, they are also targeting users who might not be around an outlet.
http://www.ultracellpower.com/pwp/apps_mobile.htm - Philbert, on 10/12/2007, -0/+210 hours would definitely be cool, I'm usually lucky to get 1 hour on a laptop that's less than a year old.
- d3dm, on 10/12/2007, -4/+6People run like hell and the news announcer proclaims "Oh the humanity!"
- Demagogue, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Car batteries also help power the radio.. the AC and other stuff like that dont they? And dont they recharge the more you get going?
- thewebguy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4yes, buy a new battery for like 60 - 80 or whatever it costs. it is well worth it.
- thewebguy, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4@durrok
exactly, it is the true definition of a 'desktop replacement' - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3for those that read the article, it's methanol not hydrogen - not to say it isn't flammable, but obviously most didn't read the article.
- abbtech, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3LOL Slash Who... Is it just me or is there lots of new alternative energy products buzzing around in the past few years. Check this one out. http://hackedgadgets.com/2006/05/30/revolutionary-water-based-power-for-cars/
- Jorg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"You won't need to take it to the gas station, you won't have a laptop after the hydrogen blows up."
Since the cells that are going to be approved for us market use a weak solution of methanol and water, I don't think that is an issue. - crunkykd, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This is so lame! Fuelcells are only 25% efficient. So that 60W laptop will now have to dissipate 240W heat! A refueling cartridge will cost ~$2-5/ea at a minimum (razorblade model). Compare this to $0.001/charge today, delivered to a wall plug near you. As for power on airplanes, didn't anyone notice that modern planes have power sockets in the armrests? 1 liter size - 2.2 pounds? Are you crazy? Emerging technology will let Li-ions will charge in under 5 minutes (Altairnano, a123systems, toshiba). You could just as easily carry a spare charged battery. And the hotel you go to will surely have an electrical outlet. DMFC is dead, it just doesn't know it yet.
- timbotronic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'd like to see the fuel cell built into a laptop bag rather than as a docking station. That way you could use it to charge anything, not just a laptop. It'd also be easier when flying economy, as you could put the bag under the seat and then run a cord to the laptop. There's barely enough room for most laptops on a standard economy meal tray.
Interesting that ICAO are still going to enforce the ban on methanol cartriges on checked baggage. I think this is probably the right call for safety, but it also means you'll have to carry all your refills onto the cabin. - ohmar, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Yes, and so much more readily available than gasoline, and surely doesnt take any fossil fuels to extract, no, no, cant be.
- SilentPurity, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I thought read somewhere that some laptop had 12 hours battery life...actually I thought I read 14 somewhere else, but oh well. =D
- unitedstatians, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1 Why Methanol fuel cells?
The appeal of methanol fuel cells for soldier power sources is from the high energy density of methanol vs. batteries: a pound of methanol translates into 7-8X the converted energy of a pound of LiIon or lithium primary batteries. Even after accounting for the added weight of fuel cell system components, methanol fuel cells offer several times more energy per pound than do the best available batteries. - unitedstatians, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i hate replying to useless comment because, I hate when people make a useless comment to point out that someone made a useless comment, and that they hate everyone, because of it and i also want to kill myself.
- SnOwie, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1can't wait to see your face when u see the price of a reloading of your fuel cell every week( or even day)
- unitedstatians, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1uuummmmm...................... the military!
- drgruney, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I flew coach 2 weeks ago, both ways I had an outlet under the chair... who needs to plug the laptop into the bag?
- feucht, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1which blew up because of a mistake made with the doping compound used on the cloth of the balloon, rather then being intrinsically unsafe...
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