Apple Archive

Fuel Cells: Better Batteries Mean Better Portables

- 2003.03.14

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core 8GB kit $232 / 4GB kit $116 / 2GB kit $72. New Macbook 2GB DDR3-$65. HARD DRIVES available -- Free shipping / LIfetime warranty.

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

Laptops have been around for almost 20 years, with the Model 100Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 being one of the first. This laptop was powered by standard AA batteries, but as screens got larger, processors got more power-hungry and hard disk drives were used, AAs no longer could be used.

The Macintosh Portable featured a fairly good lead-acid battery. Unfortunately, these batteries had a few problems. Mac PortableFirstly, they were large and heavy, and secondly, if you accidentally let the battery drain completely, you risked ruining the battery, since often it might not recharge. (If you have a Portable, be sure to read Alternate Battery for Mac Portable.)

The PowerBook 100 used the same PowerBook 100type of battery; however, it was smaller than the Portable's and did not last nearly as long.

The PowerBook 140 through 180 used a NiCad battery, which wasn't quite as good in terms of battery life as the lead-acid batteries, but you no longer had to keep the battery charged at all times. In fact, letting it run down completely and charging it back up helped preserve the full capacity of the battery.

The PowerBook 500 series used an "intelligent" battery that allowed the computer to tell you how much time was left for you to work before the battery needed to be recharged - and much more accurately than on earlier 'Books. The PowerBook 5300 was going to use a higher capacity LiIon (lithium ion) battery, however it was found to be dangerous, so production models had NiMH batteries instead.

Modern PowerBooks use LiIon batteries, and, as Apple boasts, they give excellent battery life. While Apple does say that the PowerBook G4 gets 5 hours out of its battery, mine gives me 3.5 to 4. Still, this isn't bad for a laptop, especially considering that a PowerBook 140, with its 16 MHz processor and black and white screen, only ran for 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

Fuel Cell Technology

Toshiba recently demonstrated a prototype notebook computer that uses a fuel cell instead of the standard rechargeable battery. These fuel cells use cartridges and come in 5 and 10 hour varieties. Imagine being able to use your laptop for 10 hours - longer than many flights, and more than enough to last you through a day at work or school.

Another company, Neah Power, is also planning to offer fuel cell technologies for laptops. In their case, the fuel cell will fit into the battery compartment on an existing laptop computer as an alternative to rechargeable batteries. They also say fuel cells with be one-third the weight of today's batteries.

The drawback to this system? With fuel cells, you must change the cartridge when the old one has expired. Fortunately, this is not as complicated and time consuming as getting out your AC adapter and waiting for the battery to charge before you can resume your work.

However, it does mean that you would have to carry extra cartridges when you travel. This could prove to be a burden, especially when going away for extended periods of time. It could also prove to be quite expensive. If you own your notebook for three years and use one fuel cell every two days, powering your computer would cost over $2,700 at $5 per fuel cell. The computer probably only cost you half that to begin with!

Also, as Paul Andrews mentions in his article on Neah, expired fuel cell cartridges could end up creating more waste, not preventing the hazardous waste that they are supposed to. A program would need to be initiated to recycle used cartridges. [Editor's suggestion: Maybe a deposit system like many states and provinces already use for beverage containers.]

Using fuel cells would drastically increase the amount of time that you can use your laptop without having to rely on AC power. Instead of 3-4 hours of work time, you could have 10. In years to come, that will increase. Fuel cells also eliminate having to wait for your computer to fully charge before using it again. Instead of waiting 2-3 hours for the battery to recharge, you could simply install a new cartridge and resume your work where you left off.

I'd guess that the practical use of fuel cells in laptops is around 1-2 years away. Until then, we have to deal with recharging our laptop - which reminds me, I should probably connect my PowerBook to its adapter right about now.

Recent Apple Archive articles

Links for the Day

Recent Content on Low End Mac

Recent Deals

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Apple Archive articles copyright ©2000-07 by Adam Robert Guha. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2008 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, iPhone, PowerBook, MacBook, MagSafe, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.


Have a question?
Ask an expert!

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Best Used Macs
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.