New Fuel-Cell-Batteries...

[ZballZ]

So, pretty much everything about developing notebook parts is somehow about "power efficiency", new low-power CPUs, Low-power harddrives, screens etc...

But what the F*** happens to that wonder-fuel-cell-battery??? When is it here? I heard about it the first time in year 2000, pretty much ever since then, news have been "it'll be in every notebook by the end of the year"; "improves runtime tenfold!", and stuff, and what happens?? NOTHING!!

Every bit of wire in a laptop now has some super idle-low-power-mode, every notebook shopper checks out the runtime, AND BATTERIES JUST STAY THE SAME!!! (changing from Ni- to Li- years ago is pretty much the only difference, or am I wrong?)

And It is almost impossible to find any credible news about this stuff. Does anyone know anything about this subject.....??? (cuz I would like some sort of battery-miracle to happen, so that my next notebook would run for a couple of weeks on battery )

 

[8767092]

I remember reading about some Nokia handset prototypes that could run for weeks after being filled with the liquid that they used. I would love to see that in the iPhone 3G and Macbook Pro..

 

[ZballZ]

Yeah, me to, ethanol based batteries:

article from 2001:
PARK RIDGE, Ill. — Fuel cells inched closer to the consumer electronics market this week as a portable fuel cell developer unveiled a technology that it claims could vastly improve the performance of handheld cell phones and notebook computers.
(...)
Medis Technologies Ltd. (New York), which introduced the new technology at this week's Fuel Cell 2001 Asian Conference in Tokyo, also said that its product could boost a notebook computer's time between recharges to approximately 12 to 15 hours.


seven years later ... STILL WAITING!!!!

 

[ZballZ]

Or only two years ago:

Tiny Fuel Cell To Replace Batteries In Laptop Computers, Portable Electronics

ScienceDaily (Sep. 14, 2006) — If you're frustrated by frequently losing battery power in your laptop computer, digital camera or portable music player, then take heart: A better source of "juice" is in the works. Chemists at Arizona State University in Tempe have created a tiny hydrogen-gas generator that they say can be developed into a compact fuel cell package that can power these and other electronic devices -- from three to five times longer than conventional batteries of the same size and weight.

 

[ZballZ]

Or PC-world in 2003:

Providing Power
Small, relatively simple fuel cells that use methanol as their primary fuel could appear in mobile devices as early as next year. Fuel cells don't require recharging: When they run out of power, you simply replace the empty methanol cartridge with a full one.

These cartridges will pack a lot of energy.

"Methanol has 40 or 60 times the energy efficiency of lithium ion," the primary storage component of the best batteries, estimates Dr. Brian Barnett, managing director of the TIAX LLC consulting firm.


... and the list goes on!!! But where are those fuel-cell-batteries!!!???

 

[andrewdale]

You also have to consider all those tales you hear about major corporations BUYING patents for these types of things so that their product will last longer. A patent is public, but protects the product for X years.

That's when you get more companies making it! (I.e. Advil & Ibuprofen.)