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Archive for January, 2012

Flash disks increase laptop battery life?

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

Laptop PCs need longer battery life. I used a flash-disk based laptop for much of the ’90s and loved its 10-hour laptop battery life. You just have so much more freedom when you don’t need to worry about keeping a laptop battery charged.

I’ve been very interested in how flash drives could extend notebook battery life. Using a Kill-a-watt power meter I ran some experiments with an Intel Core Duo notebook. Power use is a little more complex than I’d thought. Here’s what I found.

Laptop config:

  • MacBook with the 2 GHz Core Duo,
  • 2 GB RAM,
  • Intel 950 integrated graphics,
  • 13 inch screen,
  • 8x DVD Drive,
  • 160 GB Western Digital Scorpio 2.5″ 5400 RPM HDD,
  • Bluetooth,
  • Wi-FI

One of the nicest things about the MacBook is that disk drive removal is easy (see the 1 minute video here). I ran the tests with the internal Scorpio drive removed and ran the MacBook off an externally powered FireWire drive.

Instrumentation
In addition to the Kill-a-watt power meter, which sits between the wall power and the MacBook’s power adapter, I also used the most excellent open source MenuMeters utility. MM shows CPU, memory, disk and network usage, typically sampled over a user-selectable 1-2 second period…

 

The Tests
I booted the system while video taping power usage with both the internal and external disks. I also ran a disk defragmentation tool, the estimable iDefrag to create heavy disk I/O.

Since I had the system up, I also checked some of the other subsystems. Display power consumption was measured with the display off and at minimum and maximum brightness. Optical drive consumption was checked by watching a DVD and ripping a CD. Idle power consumption with the screen off and CPU at 3-4% was also checked. I even removed a 1 GB SO-DIMM.

The Results
The surprise is that you can’t just turn features on and off to judge power use. For example, performing I/O is a CPU involving business whether to disk or over Wi-Fi. In my defrag workload the CPU utilization ran from 80-95% on both cores, for an 8 watt hit – almost 3x of a busy disk…

Basic Tips Before Purchasing Laptop Batteries

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

A whole desktop computer is equivalent to a laptop and I suppose the reason why laptops are preferred instead of desktop computers is because of their mobility which is only possible through laptop batteries. The portable machine can be moved around from one place to another without going through any hassle. Due to the laptop batteries, the machine is ideal for businessmen and college or university students to make their presentations, projects, business dealings and assignments while having a combine study at a friend’s place or colleague. Thanks to the laptop batteries, light weighted and their miniature size, life is now easier than it used to be.

A notebook computer which is completely correspondent to a desktop computer is always preferred for multiple reasons. First there is the fact of a laptop being portable which is ideal for students and businessmen for their daily assignments or presentations respectively. Now with wireless internet connection you can stay logged on to the internet at all times from everywhere and anywhere. The touchpad on the laptop is used as a mouse and the compact keyboard is great and comfortable for typing. Just for the reason that a laptop is small in size does not mean that the comfort of using a laptop is compromised. The best feature that keeps laptop in the spotlight no matter what kind of modern desktop computers is in the market is laptop batteries that make mobility possible in the first place.

Earlier when laptops were new to the market and was still being experimented to make them even better for use, nickel-cadmium laptop batteries were used. But due to being temperature sensitive and highly expensive the use of them was substituted by lithium-ion batteries. These batteries are also temperature sensitive but can resist a lot more heat than nickel-cadmium batteries in addition they are not that expensive making the prices of laptops affordable. Now if you are planning on purchasing a laptop batteries here are a few things that should be considered. First of all make sure that the battery is new and original as used or counterfeit laptop batteries may be cheap but will be a waste of money due to their short life and flimsiness.

 

Keeping these above suggestions in mind certify that the laptop batteries you have narrowed down to are compatible with your laptop and are of the same size as your previous battery otherwise you can be in a pickle if once ordered the wrong one. Also check the running time of a battery, of course the more the better with a one year warranty incase of some sort of a technical problem. Usually the prices of laptop batteries start from $70 onwards. Make the right choice by spending the right amount on money and purchase the right battery as laptop batteries is the key to a good and useful laptop.

 

The Many Different Laptop Batteries

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

Whenever you get a laptop one of the first things you want to know is how good is the laptop batteries that it has. Well unless you buy a real top-of-the-line laptop, the battery is probably not going to be that great. Of course worry not, because you can buy better laptop batteries online or at stores. I have never had a laptop that had a great battery to start with, but after buying some laptop batteries online I found that this is the way to go. This way you can spend as little or as much as you want on your laptop batteries. Some of the laptop batteries can cost a lot to almost nothing, but remember that you get what you pay for.

Buying laptop batteries is not something that has to be hard, however, it seems like if you buy them online you can get a better deal than you can buying them in stores. I think this is because you can compare prices to other stores online. It is hard to run around town comparing different laptop batteries. Not only are you not going to save very much money, but after all the driving around your savings will be eaten up buy gas prices. Of course, I think that is why I like to buy everything online, and this includes laptop batteries.

 

I always think that having great laptop batteries is a must because your laptop battery is the life source of your laptop. Without good laptop batteries, your portable laptop just becomes a small desktop PC that has to be plugged into the wall. Of course there are a lot of things you have to look for when you are buying laptop batteries online. First of all, you have to make sure that the battery you are buying fits your laptop. Also, you have to make sure that it is a good battery. In fact, I think it is a good idea to go around and read a few reviews about the different laptop batteries. This way you can get someone else’s thoughts on this type of battery. After all, there is no reason to spend money on a battery that is no good.

The best thing you can remember when buying laptop batteries is that you get what you pay for. If you get a cheap one, then it is more than likely going to be crap, however, you still need to look at a few different online reviews just to make sure. By doing this you can see what other people think about the battery. The thing I try to remember when I am buying laptop batteries is that it is just as important as the laptop itself. Because of this, I try to spend good money on it. I found that if you buy the cheap ones they start losing their charge a lot faster than some of the more costly ones. If you do not think that you can go out and buy laptop batteries right now, then you need to keep the factory one that comes with the laptop. Although it may not be the best, it is still going to be better than the crap ones that you buy. I try to not let myself get fooled into thinking something is better than it really is, however, if you just read about the battery then it is going to happen to you. That is why I cannot say this enough, be sure to read a few different reviews about the battery before you get it. This could end up saving you a lot of time and money. Nothing is more important in this day and age than your time and money.

LG to Replace Laptop Batteries

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

LG Electronics has offered free replacement batteries after two users claimed that their notebook PCs exploded. Despite the recall offer, LG has so far described the incidents as “isolated “. The partial recall applies to batteries manufactured by LG Chemical for two recent laptop models, the LG Z1 and LG Z2.

Video shot in January showed a journalist’s LG Z1-AE007 notebook burning and then exploding.

 

LG stopped selling the Z1 last week after a second battery fire was reported, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency. The first battery fire was triggered by “unusual heat and pressure”, a researcher from the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute told the Korea Times. However, the researchers were unable to discover how that battery had got into such a state. The notebook’s owner claimed that it had been put into a backpack in sleep mode a short while before catching fire, and that there was nothing unusual about the storage conditions.

Common safety standards call for Lithium-based batteries to withstand at least 10 minutes at 130 degrees centigrade.

Testing Laptop Batteries And The Reasons For It

Thursday, January 12th, 2012

There are many ways to go about buying laptops now-a-days. Pretty much what this means is that many different people buy used laptops. Whenever you go to buy a used laptop, one of the main things that you are going to worry about is the quality of the battery. Testing laptop batteries is one of the best things that you can do before you buy a laptop, and if you are not able to you should test it as soon as you get it. If a laptop has a bad battery that does not mean that you should not get it (because you can just buy a new one). But it’s good to know if you are going to need to get a new one or not.

Compaq Battery

There are many different ways of testing laptop batteries. If you look around online you will see that many different people test their batteries in many different ways. However, either way you choose to test your battery, you want to have something running. Many people think that they can just turn on the laptop and let it sit there. Then after a hour or so they come back and see if the laptop is still on. This is not testing your laptop battery. You have to have the computer running something, and it helps if it’s using the CD-ROM drive as well. The more things that it has going on it at once will let you see if the computer can hold a charge. After testing the computer you will be able to make a good choice on whether you would like to keep the battery that you have or if you are going to need a new one. Please keep in mind if you buy a new computer you should aways fully charge the battery first before using the computer. Otherwise you could damage the laptop battery.

HP and Dell Laptop Battery Shortages

Friday, January 6th, 2012

With the battery being such an integral component of a notebook computer, the cost of the laptop battery can have a noticeable effect on the cost of the entire notebook.

LG-Chem Fire

Reuters reports that Dell announced this week that there was a shortage of laptop batteries because in part of a fire at a major laptop battery manufacturer – LG Chem.

Dell 9 Cell Battery

Dell also admitted that prices for laptop batteries sold separately from a notebook system have gone up because of the shortage. LG Chem, one of the leading makers of batteries for laptops, had a fire in its Ochang plant on March 3. Dell says that it is working with other vendors to obtain batteries in an attempt to stave the shortage and prevent price increases for new notebooks from being passed on to consumers.

Dell spokesman Jess Blackburn told Reuters,

“We sell battery packs. The prices of those battery packs for people ordering extra batteries have gone up.”

However, Blackburn didn’t comment on the amount of the price increase.

Dell isn’t the only PC maker looking at laptop battery shortages; Hewlett Packard is feeling the same pinch. Hewlett-Packard spokesperson Mike Hockey said,

“The full extent of the impact to Hewlett Packard and other OEMs is still being determined. We are aggressively working within the battery cell industry to secure additional supply of battery cells.

Gateway NX100X Best Budget Ultra Portable Design

Friday, January 6th, 2012

The Gateway NX100X is well known for its very low price for such a lightweight laptop, this NX100X is extremely portable and has a very sleek design of 12.1 inches wide and 12.1 inches of display and of course do include a 5 in 1 media card reader. If you are either a home user or a business user and seeking for an inexpensive and ultra portable notebook, then it is very pleasing to see the well beautifully designed Gateway NX100X. The NX100X is built with minimalism feature. One point to be noted with the built of the NX100X is that it has forgone the built in optical drive which is to reduce the higher price tempted on it.

Gateway NX100X Ultra Portable Design

The Gateway NX100X is said to be the Best budget ultra portable design, as with its cheaper price which is built mainly for the basic home and home based business user’s use, and the NX100X is with sleek black case, brushed aluminum details and with the dark blue status lights. In order to reduce its pricing problem and the sizing problem the NX100X tends to lack two or more important features and hardware follows as the built in optical drive, few multi media controls and of course some of the built in business level security features. But this has succeeded in its best budget and ultra portable design. This notebook is priced many hundreds of dollars less than that of those fully loaded models.

The NX100X do have a 1.2GHz Intel Core Solo ultra low voltage processor which is supported with a 512MB of 533MHz RAM, an 80GB hard drive spinning at 5,400 RPM, and integrated Intel graphics with 128MB of system memory. The NX100X’s do possess only a single-core processor to afford its price.

 

The NX100X is just less than an inch thick and weighs only 3.2 pounds and the dimension of this notebook do complement its minimalism. The NX100X features only a 12.1 inches wide screen display with a 1280 x 800 native resolution screen, with this NX100X gives out a finer resolution. But with these the NX100X produces the images crisp, the text looked slightly blurred, and the display look as if to be fairly bright.

Then with the keyboard as the screen is bigger keyboard spaced to be better roomed. The typing with this notepad keyboard is not much comfy as it is built with the shallow travel of keys. It is built up with regular but small sized touch pads, mouse buttons. The NX100X comes with only one single power button above the keyboard. Next with the ports and slots of the NX100X considered, there are 4 pin Firewird, and 2 nearly placed USB 2.0 ports and a headphone and a microphone jacks. There is a Type II PC card reader but no Express cards.

Gateway NX100X

When talking on the Networking connections, the NX100X do comprise of the modem, Gigabit Ethernet card, and 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi with the optional Bluetooth. Using the USB port the external DVD burner could be attached if you afford one for your must purpose. But when apropos the business level security the NX100X do lack the Finger print reader and a trusted platform module. The battery life of the NX100X is merely of average with 3 hours and 6 minutes with its 3 cell battery. When your usage of the built-in optical drive is less, then the economical choice would be, Gateway NX100X

One Battery to Power Most of your Portable Devices!

Friday, January 6th, 2012

With myPower ALL, you carry a single lightweight rechargeable battery to extend the play time on your laptop, portable DVD player, digital camera, camcorder, MP3/MP4 player and more. myPower ALL Plus includes a bonus USB port that enables you to charge your mobile phone or other small device at the same time your powering your notebook.

Use just one battery to power and charge most of your portable devices!

myPower ALL Charger

myPower ALL charges and powers virtually any portable device anywhere, anytime making it a versatile solution for the power needs of mobile products, on the road, and at home. Most portable devices are often in need of recharging after just 2 to 4 hours of use.

 

Selecting the right voltage for a personal device is done quickly and easily. Because myPower ALL automatically resets to the lowest setting after a device is connected, you will never overcharge your portable device.

myPower ALL models:

  • myPower ALL MP3450 provides up to 19V, powers/charges a laptop and portable device simultaneously, and can be expanded with an extra battery pack (MP3450-10).
  • myPower ALL MP3300 provides up to 14V and is ideal for small notebooks and portable devices.

With myPower ALL, you can enjoy hours of extended play time on notebooks, portable DVD players, camcorders, portable CD/MP3/MP4 players, mobile phones, and other portable electronics.

Asus Warns of Exploding non-certified Eee PC batteries

Friday, January 6th, 2012

Asustek Computer has cautioned consumers against using third-party batteries with its Asus Eee PCs, and warns that it will not cover hardware damage due to the use of a non-certified battery under warranty. This follows a recent, unsubstantiated, report that a third-party battery exploded in China.

Second- and third-tier battery makers in China have begun to manufacture batteries designed to be used with the Asus Eee PC. Some vendors are offering batteries with capacities up to 10400 mAh, which can support up to 5.5 hours of usage, priced around $80, according to channel vendors.

Asus Eee PC Battery

However, reports claim that one of these “high-capacity” notebook batteries recently overheated during charging, and eventually exploded causing damage to the Asus Eee PC. According to the reports, Asustek has refused to repair the PC, but Asustek has denied knowledge of the damage, while stressing that in such an event, any needed repairs that were the result of using non-certified laptop batteries would not be covered by the company’s warranty.

The China-based vendor said to have sold the 10400 mAh laptop battery has also refuted that its product caused the damage. The company commented that its batteries are in increasingly high demand, and as such rival companies have started the rumor in order to hurt its sales.

Sony Recalls 440000 Notebook Computers

Friday, January 6th, 2012

Sony Inc. said the recall involves 19 models in the Sony Vaio TZ series manufactured between May 2007 and July 2008. Two years ago, several computer makers were forced to recall almost 10 million notebook batteries made by Sony because of possible overheating. That recall cost Sony about $430 million.

Sony Vaio TZ plus Batteries

Sony said that over 400 devices had been affected worldwide. Five people suffered minor burns in Japan and one each in the US and Italy.

Sony Vaio TZ Battery

It said that 373,000 of the notebooks were sold in 48 countries, including the USA, and the remaining 67,000 in Japan.

Sony takes the quality of the products its sells very seriously and makes every effort to ensure that the products it develops meet all relevant regulations and standards. We sincerely apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused.”

 

In 2006, Apple, Dell, IBM/Lenovo and Toshiba were among several major notebook manufacturers which recalled a total of 9.6 million Sony li-ion batteries after evidence that, in certain circumstances, the battery could overheat and catch fire.

Sony officials said at the time that the problems were caused by microscopic metal particles that mistakenly got inside the laptop battery, causing short-circuiting.