I've been dreaming to buy an economic laptop with high capacity.
The desktop that I am using has been with me for 4 years. Except the CPU(900 MHz), all the parts are sort of the "then" cutting edge technology. Graphic card with 64 M memory, 40 G Hard disc, 3 optical roms (CD rom, CD R/W, and DVD R/W), and a 17 inch ViewSonic LCD monitor with speakers.
My PC is still working very fine. But it was that I just want to own a laptop, like a pet that I can take it with me to any place I want (Sand Beach, Falls, Forest, Plain, Desert... maybe not Desert).
So I did a tiny research just to find the best deal in town to save some dollars. How pathetic I have become!
Anyway, during my research, I have found that laptops have been innovated to match customers expectation. Although the development of desktops and laptops appearately are not like what Moore's Law had depicted, the capacity of today's laptops are quite satisfactory. With CAD$1,500, customers can purchase a laptop with 100G hard disc, 128M graphic card, build-in WiFi tech, 3.x GHz processing power, DVD burner, and 512 M main memory or higher.
How impressing!
You know there is alway a "BUT" in people article! "But" there is still one thing that annoys me very much. Right, it was the ABL (Average Battery Life). It seems there is no laptop in the market can have a reasonable ABL. I have found that most laptops have only 2 -3 hours of ABL, and no laptop has a ABL exceeds 4 hours.
So this has unsurprisingly diminished the usability of laptops. Why should people buy stupid laptops when they are no sure the battery lives are enough for them when they are making a trip.
Anyway, it was very frustrating.
Here is a news from "Dallas Morning News"written byVictor Godinez.
Firm claims it can increase battery life up to half
If the link doesn't work. Read here:
Anyone who has ever watched the battery indicator creep toward empty on his laptop during a critical project can appreciate what PowerPulse Technologies LP is trying to do. The Richardson, Texas-based firm says it has created an inexpensive electronic circuit that, combined with some basic changes to the design of portable electronic devices, can increase the life of any battery by 20 percent to 50 percent or more.
Now the company is focused on turning a cool technology into a profitable business while fending off massive competitors.
"We're refining something people hadn't taken a look at," said Walt Evanyk, a former Ericsson engineer who invented the technology and now serves as chief technical officer at PowerPulse.
"All the pieces were there. The physics were there. But people hadn't stepped back and said, `Wait a minute, let me apply some of the old rules of physics.'"
PowerPulse is making a radical claim.
But it's a claim the company is able to demonstrate to visitors in its lab and one that has attracted both outside investors and customers.
"I think what Walt and his company have come up with is absolutely innovative and has a good deal of value," said Matt Blanton, managing partner of Startech Early Ventures LLC in Richardson. Startech is considering investing in PowerPulse.
The company started generating revenue a few months ago, and the first products incorporating PowerPulse's circuit will hit stores later this year.
Sales of high-end rechargeable batteries are expected to top $6 billion worldwide in the next few years as cell phones, laptops and portable video game systems and digital music players proliferate.
And the growing demand for long-lived portable power means there's plenty of opportunity for PowerPulse to prosper.
"The portable equipment market is pretty desperate for more energy density," said Dave Shrigley, a general partner in the Palo Alto, Calif., office of venture capital investment firm Sevin Rosen Funds. "A broad class of products would all like to have more energy so they could have longer run times."
While experts say PowerPulse's patented technology seems to be unique, the company will be competing with the research being done internally at giant firms like Intel Corp. and Gillette Co. to create more efficient power supplies and electronic devices.
"There are a lot of different companies, including some of the large ones, that are putting R&D efforts into extending battery life," Blanton said. "We haven't seen anybody doing exactly what they're doing."
Evanyk, 60, who has more than 70 patents to his name and worked at General Electric earlier in his career, launched PowerPulse when Ericsson shut down his department and laid off all 500 employees in the division more than two years ago.
Evanyk didn't go far, though. PowerPulse's offices and a handful of employees are in the same building where Evanyk worked for Ericsson.
The new venture, which has received commitments for up to $3 million in investment so far, is initially focusing on upgrading mundane appliances to prove to skeptics that the technology works.
Rather than making the circuits, PowerPulse licenses the technology to device makers that want to include it in their products.
Cordless hair curlers, hair dryers and irons are among PowerPulse's first targets.
"There is a movement to go cordless as much as possible," Evanyk said.
That push is limited, though, by the relatively small increases in battery life that battery makers are able to squeeze out by fine-tuning their products, Shrigley said.
"Five to 10 percent a year is typically what people think about, but the appetite is much greater than that," he said.
A new technology known as fuel cells has been touted as a replacement for the lithium-ion batteries found in most rechargeable devices.
But costs are still high and experts say it will be years before fuel cells start to edge out lithium-ion batteries.
Evanyk said his chip _ which costs about 40 cents when produced in bulk _ is a quicker solution, though, and will also increase the efficiency of fuel cells when those systems become widespread.
The PowerPulse circuit works by limiting the flow of electricity from the battery to the absolute minimum needed to power the device. Evanyk said most batteries pump out far more juice than the device needs.
The PowerPulse circuit also extends the overall life of the battery, so it can be recharged more times than it could without the circuit.
Evanyk said the technology can also be used to make devices like dishwashers and refrigerators that plug into wall outlets more power-efficient.
While the technology is clearly innovative, Blanton said, it's just as important to have a straightforward business model.
"Many times we're dealing with young companies and entrepreneurs who can have a difficult time articulating what they're doing in a crisp and simple form," he said. "These guys are really well defined."
