Apple, Dell to discuss battery standard
updated 02:20 pm EDT, Wed August 23, 2006
Apple, battery standard
Apple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, and Lenovo are scheduled to hold a summit meeting in San Jose, California to discuss manufacturing standards for lithium-ion batteries made for portable and handheld electronics. The decision follows reports of laptop batteries bursting into flame, ultimately resulting in a massive recall by Dell last week of 4.1 million notebook batteries. Both Dell and Sony on Monday admitted in a statement that a design flaw in certain lithium-ion batteries could potentially ignite or cause an explosion. The companies to hold the summit meeting are part of the OEM Critical Components Committee of the IPC-Association Connecting Electronics Industries. The organization boasts roughly 2,400 members involved in making, designing or using electronic components, according to the E-Commerce Times.












instead of manufacturing
08/23, 03:39pm reply
Maybe they could get a standard size and connector. Then you wouldn't have to toss old batteries with a new computer and there would be less waste.
Not to mention it would help consumers. Oh wait, nevermind.
oh i have an idea.. standardize the DC power jacks. oh wait.. no that's too intelligent.
freakboy2
Dedicated MacNNer
Joined: Oct 2002
RE:instead of manufacturi
08/23, 04:42pm reply
umm... yeah.
Let's stifle Apple's innovation be requiring them to use a standardized battery size and power supply.
If that were the case, MacBooks would have to use the same size power brick as the MacBook Pro and we wouldn't have the MagSafe connectors.
Personally, I prefer the innovation over being able to use the same battery as my old PowerBook or the same power brick as a coworkers Dell.
slytle
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Apr 2002
Standards?
08/23, 07:03pm reply
How about one battery design for all laptops? Or at least 5 or less..
Eriamjh
Addicted to MacNN
Joined: Oct 2001
Tried and failed
08/23, 07:55pm reply
Duracell tried this about 5-10 years ago. Failed miserably. You were supposed to buy one standard battery for your laptop (NiMH, IIRC) and it would work from laptops from many manufacturers. Problem is it failed miserably. A few companies made them, but it really was just a huge flop.
I expect the same this time around.
itguy05
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2005
Re: instead..
08/24, 11:08am reply
umm... yeah. Let's stifle Apple's innovation be requiring them to use a standardized battery size and power supply.
Right, there's so much innovation on those batteries! Look, its got a rounded corner on one end!
If that were the case, MacBooks would have to use the same size power brick as the MacBook Pro
No, you'd have different size batteries for different size computers (stupid to think you'd have just one size, because if Apple ever dared make a sub-notebook, the battery would take up much of the size).
and we wouldn't have the MagSafe connectors.And what does having a magsafe connector have to do with the battery? That's a power supply/connector, not anything related to the battery. Although wouldn't it be nice if there were a standard connector as well, so if you forgot your power pack you weren't screwed, you could borrow someone elses?
Personally, I prefer the innovation over being able to use the same battery as my old PowerBook or the same power brick as a coworkers Dell.
yeah, nothing like having all that money to throw around. Who wants to use all those parts from your previous computer on your new one, just buy all new things! Of course, that's the mac way, anyway. Get an iMac! Then when the computer needs to be replaced, you can throw out that perfectly good built-in LCD as well that you spent all that money on and just buy a new computer with another built-in LCD!
testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Aug 2001
Testudio, buy a clue
08/30, 09:26am reply
"yeah, nothing like having all that money to throw around. Who wants to use all those parts from your previous computer on your new one, just buy all new things! Of course, that's the mac way, anyway. Get an iMac! Then when the computer needs to be replaced, you can throw out that perfectly good built-in LCD as well that you spent all that money on and just buy a new computer with another built-in LCD!"
Let's see here, when I was doing the PC thing, I built my own and kept it for 3 years.
Every time, I had to pretty much toss the whole thing except for the HD and monitor. PC-66->PC100->PC133->DDR->DDR2. AGP1x->8x->PCIE, different motherboards. AT->ATX->new ATX.
itguy05
Forum Regular
Joined: Apr 2005
Actually..
08/31, 12:56pm reply
Some manufacturers slide the battery in, some clip on the front or back, some have auxiliary bays that can hold a drive or a battery. Apple has the kind that clips in, but the battery has 2 parts. It has the plain old squared cell compartment, with a contoured outer housing, and then the lower shell piece with the foot is on that. Apple could very easily have a slide-in battery design, but this would force them to make one side of their portables ugly and would probably add thickness to the overall form factor. I think most people don't realize that apple uses customized internal frames and such, but built by the same folks that build the frames for alll the other manufacturers. Standardized batteries isn't the issues. It's the cells in the batteries that need to be standardized, and also their location in the computer relating to heat producing parts. Who are we, end users to argue with top notch industry leading engineers?
Fast iBook
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2003
new version
09/01, 11:40am reply
@alterbentzion: i think MacNN is missing that fact that these are new _versions_. the new free version of the player is now more like a crippled "Pro"...while you don't lose any features, it lets you sample pro features that can be unlocked when purchased.
stainboy
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2005
store being updated
09/07, 08:59am reply
looks like the announcement was made before Bare Bones' online Digital River store was updated accordingly. there's lots of broken links and error messages. might need to wait a few hours before you try ordering.
stainboy
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2005
store not yet online
09/07, 09:11am reply
as of this morning, the online store isn't updated (and is having major problems...broken links, missing pages, etc.) better wait a while before they get it all straightened out.
stainboy
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Sep 2005