A questionable news story made the rounds yesterday about a betavoltaic battery (http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/power-breakthrough/betavoltaic-battery-could-power-your-laptop-for-thirty-years-305971.php) that could power a laptop (or Tablet PC) for up to 30 years. Impressive, but ignoring for a moment whether this is close to fruition or not, who would even want a 30-year battery for their mobile computer?
About 10 years ago, Apple rolled out their Powerbook G3 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerBook_G3) advertised as the fastest notebook available. Today, its specs wouldn't be impressive in a Pocket PC. And that's only ten years ago. Laptops from twenty years are nearly useless by today's standards. So while a 30-year battery sounds cool, I really don't see the use of having 30 years of battery power in a device that will be absolutely obsolete well before then. | 
|
4 Comments:
However, I'd argue that given the choice between a 30 year battery and a 3 hour battery, I'd take the 30 year battery every time (ceteris paribus). Sure, 30 years is a bit ridiculous...but so is 3 hours, if you think about it.
By
Andrew Ferguson, at 10/05/2007 12:40:00 PM
All things being equal, I'd agree, but you know the 30-year is going to cost and weigh a lot more. Oh, and it will contain radioactive material until its full life is expired.
By
Sumocat, at 10/05/2007 02:48:00 PM
Think about who developed it though, it's for the Airforce. It's not thta uncommon to have an irframe in the air for twenty years or so,look at the B52s (maiden flight in '52) lifetime if you just kept the batterys in and litteraly just plugged the new electronics into them it would reduce the upgrade costs immensely.
By
Unknown, at 10/26/2007 01:16:00 PM
I'm not saying there aren't uses for a 30-year battery, but the headlines have been "30-year laptop battery". Great for tracking beacons and whatnot, but 10-20 years of unused capacity for laptops.
By
Sumocat, at 10/26/2007 03:04:00 PM
Post a Comment
<< Home