Application skills of the laptop battery Cost Analysis Method

With the growing popularity of notebook computers, notebook batteries Acer TravelMate 4000 Battery by the majority of the growing importance of consumer attention. A good laptop battery is not only give the user's mobile commerce and digital lives of great convenience, but also can eliminate future use of insecurity. Do a notebook battery, for the user in addition unable to meet their mobile digital life, it will also bring about the use of hidden dangers, especially security issues. A battery explosion caused the destruction of a notebook, or even to lead to more serious consequences.

So choose a good laptop battery laptop battery is significant. However, the battery update the original price of the hundreds of thousand dollars, so that many users faced with the choice and better cost-effective replacement product market. However, two maintenance market price of the replacement products from 100 - 800 range, making it difficult for consumers to judge its quality from the price of the good or bad.

In this article the author by analyzing the composition and laptop batteries are designed to help people from the current market in the notebook battery business of price and other considerations to choose the best laptop batteries.

Laptop battery is a lithium-ion 18650 batteries with protection circuit board and PVC plastic shell composed of the following items on an analysis Acer TravelMate 290 Battery of their costs:

1.18650 lithium-ion battery is divided into three kinds of 2200,2400,2600 mah, a typical laptop battery with eight cells to assemble (4 strings and 2). If it is a genuine original batteries, typically Japan and South Korea or domestic manufacturers A regular grade 18650 batteries, these batteries have the quality assurance and safety through rigorous testing, the cost is usually different in the U.S. according to the capacity of 3 yuan between about 1, a normal laptop battery (8) costs around 24 U.S. dollars, equivalent to RMB: 170 or so.

If B grade, or disassemble batteries Acer BATCL50L Battery (installed after a good quality of the batteries, Japan and South Korea have quality and even safety issues batteries, often in China, dumping) their cost price of between 10-15 yuan Such batteries assembly or re-assembled after an eight batteries of notebook batteries cost 80-120 yuan. In addition, even worse, some manufacturers with more poor illegal 18650, often have security problems, it is easy to blast away with your notebook assembly of low-quality products, its eight batteries in laptop battery costs can be 50 yuan .

2. Laptop battery on the PCB control panel, a good control panel, you can extend laptop battery life to protect the safety, its cost is usually 80 yuan; if it is bad dysfunction PCB battery Acer BTP-73E1 Battery control panel, or disassemble board, the cost of 30 yuan,

3. With regard to PVC plastic shell, the cost of a good plastic shell of 30 yuan, a bad low-quality goods, at 10 yuan.

Integrated on the complaint, there is a good quality assurance by the notebook battery Acer BTP-550P Battery (8) costs should be around 280, so a good non-first wife laptop batteries (8 batteries) and a lower price, including operations cost and profit to reach the end consumer's hands should be 350-550 yuan; if it is low-quality goods, B laptop battery (8) costs 120 yuan, the price for 200-300; if it is the lowest quality of laptop battery (8) costs for 80 or so, its price is usually between 100-200.

Sony, Toshiba laptop batteries renewed crisis in the United Kingdom fire

Guigudongli from the foreign media was informed by: a Toshiba laptop Acer LCBTP03003 Battery caught fire last month in the UK, this used Sony laptop battery recall in the company but not the replacement of the column .

It is understood that this is already the third cause of the fire is alleged to Taiwan issue with Sony batteries on Toshiba notebooks. Last year, Sony announced the recall of overheating and fire risks exist notebook lithium batteries, the global total of more than 1000 million batteries affected, including Dell, Lenovo, Apple and Acer top PC makers, including both affected in varying Acer TravelMate 4500 Battery degrees.

Affected by the fire incident, Toshiba will take steps to find all the batteries may have problems notebook users. Toshiba spokeswoman Yuko Sugahara said that day, May 25 this year, a Toshiba notebook computer users to office on fire and burned a table, but caused no casualties, Toshiba is currently working with the Sony laptop recall cost of consultations on the , but the spokesman refused to disclose details. Toshiba also said that in December last year and this year in April, Brazil and Acer Aspire 1410 Battery Japan, respectively, the incident took place in notebook computers caught fire. Previously, Sony said the problem batteries into the fire was due to metal particles caused by short circuit caused by the internal battery.

Currently, Toshiba has announced on its Web site problems battery products catalog, concurrent e-mail to users who may have these products. At the same time, the company Acer Aspire 1680 Battery will contact by e-mail to other users in the form of a list of the products in question in order to carry out repairs and maintenance. Toshiba spokesman said, and we are doing our best efforts to us about the repair and maintenance as much as possible to pass messages to each user.

It is understood that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has also recorded a number of reports of lithium-ion batteries overheated and caught fire. Large-scale Sony battery recall incident makes very "embarrassed" because at that time Sony had just turn around and to some extent, enhanced corporate image. Sony said the company Acer TravelMate 2300 Battery has improved through the design and manufacture of new batteries to prevent overheating and fire

Dell: Sony battery manufacturing process, there were flaws in

Dell announced the recall of 4.1 million to the global market laptop batteries Asus A42-A3 Battery , these batteries may overheat, creating a potential fire hazard. Dell said the laptop computer caught fire incident was due to Sony battery manufacturing process missteps. In response, Sony China PR relevant person in charge was explained yesterday, Dell's recall of events does not mean that the notebook will be equipped with Sony's battery caught fire, "fire was caused by internal short-circuit the battery could catch fire, there may be an external short-circuit sparked a fire in other parts .

Sony will be the financial support for Dell's recall. "

Sony: Technology has been improved to reduce risks

Dell believes that Dell laptop computer Acer BTP-ARJ1 Battery caught fire incident was due to Sony in the manufacturing process of batteries due to existence of mistakes, but the battery problem is not present in the Dell. It is learned that this Sony lithium battery to include Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba, Lenovo and Apple, including all the major notebook vendors supply. So, other brands in the Sony batteries do a security risk?

In response, Sony China Limited relevant parties to accept the Shanghai Oriental Morning Post reporter, said that not all lithium batteries manufactured by Sony have security issues. The source explained that the metal particles generated inside the battery only in a specific configuration, as well as extreme conditions will cause smoke, fire and so on. Using this Sony notebook computer batteries Acer BTP-AQJ1 Battery because of safety design has its own technology, with Dell charging system is also different, so there is no fire risks. In addition, Sony has not yet received the report of other notebook computer makers battery fire, smoke event. August 14, Dell CEO Michael Dell in Sydney, announced the global recall of 4.1 million lithium-ion laptop batteries, these batteries may overheat and catch fire there is the problem. Xinhua News Agency Map

So whether it will suspend sales of Sony's batteries do these problems? Sony official said, Sony has been carried out on the battery production process improvements, in a specific configuration to reduce the production of metal particles in order to reduce Acer BTP-APJ1 Battery security risks. However, Sony did not stop the production and sale of such cells remains to continue to supply Gejia computer makers. For the hidden safety problems of the battery model and the specific quantity, the person refused to disclose commercial secrets.

Toshiba Computer Shanghai branch-related sources, the question whether the recall of Sony batteries have to wait before responding to the investigation headquarters in Japan.

Dell: This recall does not affect the operation

Chinese companies, according to Dell stakeholders introduced in December last year, so far, Dell has received six incidents of batteries overheating or fire, respectively, in the United Acer Aspire 1300 Battery States, Japan and Singapore, etc. At present, China has not received a similar fire incidents.

It is reported that the recall is Dell in the past five years, the third recall of laptop batteries. Dell in December 2005 issue had caught fire because of the battery recall laptop batteries 35000, 2001 have been recalled 284,000 notebook computer batteries.

Dell does not expect this recall to the Acer LCBTP03003 Battery company's operations, financial position and cash flows, etc., causing substantial impact.

The recall of Dell notebook include:

LatitudeD410, D500, D505, D510, D520, D600, D610, D620, D800, D810; Inspiron6000, 8500,8600,9100,9200,9300,500 m, 510m, 600m, 6400,700,710 m, 9400; PrecisionM20, M60, M70 and M90 mobile workstations, as well as XPSM1710 notebook. In addition, the recall also includes the separate sale of batteries, these batteries are marked "Dell" and one of the following words: "MadeinJapan" or "MadeinChina" or "BatteryCellMadeinJapanAssembledinChina".

In order for your beloved laptop laptop battery to play a better role, so that notebook laptop battery armed to the teeth is what we need to do. We need a co-hand easy to use an external mouse and keyboard, to make up for laptop touch pad, and the so-called full-size keyboard, the inconvenience; a USB HUB to avoid the embarrassment of a small notebook interface; a cooling base allows you to The notebook can be a long time stability and avoid overheating; a pair of cute little speakers also allows you to relax when tired, it is not wasting the money, notebook laptop battery sound system largely unsatisfactory.

All hand mouse

Today, we are only from the laptop hardware maintenance, introduced a number of tips, when we will also introduce you to software maintenance Acer BTP-42C1 Battery skills, we also hope to have experience in this area of the wing of Internet users.

Notebook computers due to small size, powerful, and the need for frequent moving around, so its manufacturing laptop battery quality and standards of more than desktop machines, since it is precision instruments, it must also be in the use of special attention. Good quality does not mean that no problems will not be damaged in normal use there are some people are not paying attention to the problem, which may have a direct impact on the operation of the machine.

The latest computer technology used in notebook computers Acer BTP-63D1 Battery are always on top of the first, which makes notebook computers can replace all the functionality of desktop and portable. As a powerful notebook computers, small size, is a light, magnetic, electrical integration, precision instruments, precision instruments, since it is, it must also be in the use of special attention. Such as using a desktop when we often encounter such a situation, that is, after the mobile host (such as moving the time), and then the boot will be problems, need to charge some time before they can set a good, and occasionally need to shoot two under, or internal parts to re-install it again in order to properly boot. However, the notebook computer is the so-called "mobile computer", often there will be four opportunities for moving, so the greater the chance problems, and there are problems when they can not film or two, or apart to re-install. This is why the quality and standard notebook computer laptop battery manufacturer in excess of the reasons for the desktop, but also must be a Acer BTP-52EW Battery good vendor can do this.

Is not that people pay attention to the problem

But the quality is not good does not mean that problems will not be damaged, even the best laptop battery machines should also be noted for its use. In everyday use there are some people are not paying attention to the problem, which may have a direct impact on the operation of the machine, the following will address the five points to show you.

EMI

Good quality desktop chassis that can mask themselves and external electromagnetic interference, so the work does not interfere with the outside world when the electronic equipment, is not easy by other electromagnetic interference. By contrast notebook computer is little more than "thin" more, not as tough as the desktop shell, although the advanced circuit design and manufacturing process can make the outside world that she will not interfere with equipment, but it Acer TravelMate 240 Battery also can not avoid the foreign "invasion by ": subject to laptop battery external electromagnetic interference. Daily work, the most common source of interference is a cell phone, and if the phone is placed in the notebook computer is in operation above the call when you can easily enable the computer to crash or automatically shut down, it should be careful not to put your phone is running the notebook the computer on top, especially the keyboard parts.

Keyboard water

The physical structure of a notebook computer, the keyboard is the most prone to laptop battery water thing, the keyboard, after water, because the keyboard is a keyboard passive (no power supply), does not cause the circuit of the direct damage, but easily lead to the internal keyboard loss of electrical conductivity of the metamorphic role of the printed circuit so that failure of the keyboard BTP-60A1 Battery scrapped, this time can only replace the keyboard, so when in normal use must pay attention to prevent such from happening. If that water, keyboard failure, something on the trouble Luo better to contact a computer service center bar. On this point, we have to mention fast repair center Asustek Computer, ASUS notebook users with a 2 hours faster repair service, they have enough spare parts, can be completed within 2 hours the computer repair work, replacing the keyboard of time but we are using less than 2 hours.

Thermal

Notebook computer cooling has always Acer BTP-58A1 Battery been a very important issue is the vendor, either active or passive thermal heat dissipation, are subject to heat transfer in accordance with * the flow of air, manufacturers are using various forms of active cooling technology will be in notebook computers a part of the fuselage leaving ventilation holes, some of these holes in the fuselage side, some at the bottom a little observation will find them. The stable operation of the computer on all * they are, the most important thing is to not block the cooling holes. As the notebook PC body is small, easy to carry, we often pay no attention will be placed in holding it a soft things, such as his own legs, bed, *, thereby blocking the cooling holes, for some time after Users laptop battery will feel hot, even when the machines. Therefore, in daily use for Acer TravelMate 220 Battery more than a little to avoid the scenarios can solve this problem.

Comparing small and portable notebook computers laptop battery have become indispensable partners in a family laptop battery to go to work. However, if everyone wants their computer to play a better role, routine maintenance can not be ignored.

The proposed use of the environment

Notebook computers more sophisticated internal structure, the general civil notebook should be avoided in harsh environments. Daily we should try to avoid direct sunlight notebook, so that chassis and internal component aging prematurely because of high temperature damage.

Many places to avoid dust using a laptop computer, desktop computers often laptop battery use friends may understand this very well. After the computer is turned on will have the phenomenon Acer TravelMate 290 Battery of static vacuum, the internal inhaled too much dust can cause the system unstable or even collapse. Notebook disassembly is much more trouble than the desktop computer, but also the internal structure more closely, the air circulation space for smaller, more vulnerable to the impact of dust, so we try to dust environment in the use of a relatively small laptop.

Many places to avoid dust using a laptop

In the thunderstorm days and should Acer BATCL50L Battery avoid the use of laptop, notebook in general built-in modem, wireless network cards and other equipment, more vulnerable to the impact of lightning, so minimize the use of laptops during a lightning storm to avoid dangerous place.

Thunderstorm days to avoid the use of laptop

Battery tips

Notebook computer battery is an integral part of mobile work, but a more systematic understanding of laptop users rarely use the battery.

Bought a new computer, the battery has to go through activation process. In fact, most manufacturers of batteries in the factory have been carried out prior to activation Acer BTP-73E1 Battery treatment, but we still recommend that consumers around during the three full-filled discharge the battery laptop battery activation, in general, the first charge to charge 12 to shut down a state 14 hours, only the battery case to the Windows system tray under a yellow triangle warning when battery charge. Need to remind everyone is to try not to consume the battery power completely dry, the battery will fully discharge the battery itself has a certain damage

 

Laptop Batteries

The use of batteries Acer BTP-550P Battery placed on the bed, let alone the computer laptop battery , etc. to make the computer part of the base of the battery used in poorly ventilated areas, in order to avoid the battery fire or explosion and other serious consequences.

The use of an external power supply, try to take off the battery. If more than one month without the battery, it should be battery charge to 60% to 70%, placed in a cool well-ventilated place to save.

Notebook cleaning

Notebook computer casings for cleaning to avoid using organic solvents, we can buy some special notebook clean package, you can also use BTP-44A3 Battery lens cleaning cloth dipped in a small amount of pure water instead. In the wipe when the LCD screen, should not push as hard, dip a small amount of laptop battery detergent can be from four weeks to the middle of gently wipe.

Battery explosion of a chance of things that occur. However, is not absolute does not, lithium-ion batteries which are lithium batteries Asus A42-A3 Battery, a control circuit between them and the management board to complete the charge and discharge, if the control circuit to lose some of the features of the sensitivity of the original or direct failure, you can not be effectively control the current, internal batteries temperatures cause the explosion. Or the battery short-circuit inside the batteries will explode. But a good point is that notebooks are now available in the market of high-quality products are based on foreign batteries or directly to buy other people's batteries, the quality is relatively better. While the domestic part of the lithium-ion battery manufacturers are also more imports of foreign manufactured batteries then. So is this old saying, in the selection of notebooks, when as many as possible to prepare some budget to consider the laptop battery maker of the product, correct.

C, the battery usage time did not meet the official standards, definitely the battery problem

All friends are worried about buying notebooks this problem. Indeed, with the birth of Centrino technology makes the laptop battery for longer standby time possible. Even some manufacturers of notebook computers even more marked for 10-hour "battery life standard." In fact, this is just an advertisement to attract the attention of consumers only. Most laptop batteries can not meet the so-called "official standard", perhaps my friends will recall that Asus's patented power-saving technology, Power 4 Gear Technology (an updated version of the Power 4 Gear +), known as the M6 series of books battery extended to 5.5 hours, but Asus's sales staff told the author of the books of the time, battery life, also about 3 hours. Of course, having said that, battery manufacturing process there is the problem is not that we consumers can be resolved. So when faced battery Acer BTP-ARJ1 Battery there is no "official battery life standards" when friends do not surprised, because not so long to use up time is normal (if your books battery time to reach the official standards, then please do not Paizhuan, I said that most of the books).

If a friend who has reached the battery standby time less than "official battery using the standard," then we can still be extended through a number of ways: the

1,25 ¡æ ~ 40 ¡æ using a standard external environment, the use of lithium-ion batteries can reach the best condition, if the temperature is too high, not only run the notebook computer itself to slow down or even crash, but the battery in such an environment is also under the will affect its efficiency. So, as far as possible under the indoor environment using a laptop.

2, the less frequently Acer BTP-AQJ1 Battery used device is disabled. Usually when using the battery-powered best to temporarily disable the swap the unwanted interfaces, such as wireless network card, printer port, infrared port, 1394 Firewire port, etc., or would waste a lot of battery power, the specific method is in the " Control Panel "-" System "-" hardware "-" Device Manager "to find their own want to disable the device, and then click on" disabled "can be, and need to use the time to be" enabled devices ", is very simple. After disabling the use of results have been very obvious, you can save a lot of power.

3, reduce internal power consumption of devices. More and more CPU-frequency, high-speed hard drives will bring a lot of energy consumption and increased heat dissipation. Therefore, no special requirement, then the best use within the system or a third-party software to control the drive speed, do not open too many windows and programs in order to avoid CPU overload of work, so not only Acer BTP-APJ1 Battery can reduce the battery power consumption, another can also reduce the bulk heat, in the "autumn tiger" there is the season, this is still a little benefit.

D, start charging the battery of the notebook is very harmful to

Start charging in the end there any disadvantages? Once I have a buddy to see my phone is start charging, and then over that one: wow! How dare you start charging, you are not afraid of the battery exploded! ? Although a joke, it reflects a lot of friends of the use of errors. In the notebook, the previous design of some models is that if the use of battery-powered, then even if the plug AC adapter, books, or the use of battery-powered, which means "can not be recharged into the" phenomenon of today's notebook computers are not so The design of the dangerous, and when the plug when the AC adapter immediately shifted to an external power supply and began to charge the battery. So now there is no need for shutdown recharge.

E, long-term without batteries not leave your side

The issues are often ignored users. But this Acer Aspire 1300 Battery problem from time small, and I talk to the laptop engineer told this writer, many notebook manufacturers on the proposed user to control the battery power more than about 5%, this approach is to eliminate electrode passivation, since the laptop battery at the factory the time has already begun the slow self-discharge (to activate the battery thing has been accomplished in the workshop, and do not need us to worry about), a laptop is likely to be consumers at the factory six months after purchase, but the battery has discharged half a year a. And then here is my suggestion that my friends is that if long-term without the battery while using AC adapter, power supply, it is best left to the laptop battery for at least 40% - 50% of the electricity I let the self-discharge, if there is no electricity, then let the battery self-discharge , it is easy to problems or even scrapped. You want to, ah, self-discharge is certainly to be put, but which no power anything you put it, ah, no problem will be Acer LCBTP03003 Battery strange!

There is also a need to pay attention to the question: If you do not have a long-term battery-powered and powered by AC adapter (such as students), put the battery in a cool dry place such as cabinets. Such an approach is to avoid the humid environment, while if the machine do not, it is best separated from the battery and the books you do not believe we bought a time when attention to cell phones and books look at businesses are not separated from the battery and the machine placed?

F, Death of, but there is no way to pull the battery

I have seen some friends before the machine does not properly shut down phenomenon, and even illegal shutdown is not useful, Blame the great "fainted dead" system bar! Older brother who directly come to the final one-two with eyes closed, foot-stomping three to pull the battery Acer TravelMate 4500 Battery , only to hear the books Yishengcanjiao to shut. In fact, this approach has been very harmful, because in the standby state, the memory is powered and working, if the rash direct access to the battery down, data loss is inevitable, but do not get inserted when the AC adapter, battery , such an approach can only be a hundred harm than good.

Not long ago, this site has published an article entitled "Thinking out of misunderstanding, notebook battery laptop battery maintenance repair serial 1" In that manuscript, we have done on the laptop battery maintenance of the shallow introduction. However, in any case, laptop battery life is always there, and the other, there are a lot of the quality of the battery is rubbish. This time, we will face a problem, when the battery is damaged, we in the end is the repair or exchange?

User is estimated that some think this is nonsense, still in warranty, of course, is to find a manufacturer. If this is so, it is really not see the manuscript, and because it is only manufacturers to deal with, possession of him.

However, most of the battery Acer Aspire 1410 Battery is not necessarily bad during the warranty period, not to mention, there are many parallel notebook. If this time the battery is broken, it may trouble. So today, we are the first on to the next, if your laptop battery is broken, and there is no factory pipe, this time in the how to do?

Nothing on the two kinds of solutions, either repair or exchange. Us on to the next, the benefits of changing what is there repair What are the Acer Aspire 1680 Battery advantages.

To re-purchase a battery, the biggest advantage is less to deal. Here Xiaobian not recommend you go to the brand notebook sale center, the high price of the scary people. Zhongguancun, there are a lot of dealers in selling the battery, the price is also good, but is to take risks. Shoddy phenomenon is very common, and everyone polished eyes.

By the way, on one can be regarded as free advertising it, the current Zhongguancun's largest seller of notebook batteries called the Friends of benefits, although the Xiaobian never contacted them, but many dealers are looking for their village Acer TravelMate 2300 Battery shipment. However, if you are retail, it is estimated to the post, small business people may not necessarily Dali, or at least was not exactly enthusiastic.

To re-purchase of the battery there is a bad place, Xiaobian eyes can see, a Mac notebook users, the battery is broken, bought a new, Zhuang Shangqu a look, not the color, texture and the texture is not right, but there is no way to , Apple where the technological level of this machine is the small factory can achieve. Looks ugly, that can be user Acer TravelMate 4000 Battery Mozhe.

Google's Android operating system is a remarkable G5260 laptop battery concept in itself: an open-source OS for portable devices built on Linux. The benefit? Developers don't have to pay for the software development kit, for one. (Currently, the price is $99 for the iPhone SDK.) This offers the consumer the potential to have some truly excellent apps from creative developers on college campuses everywhere.

Now, there are many free applications out there already, like Gmote. Gmote is a cool app that turns your phone into a remote control for your computer. Is this useful? You tell me. But it sure D5318 laptop battery is nifty.

Another application that caught my eye is Orienteer, written by a group called Deafcode, LLC. Apparently, they are a consortium of hearing-impared developers. Neat! Their application turns your phone into a compass. Double Neat!

There are pay apps, too. And being the 310-6322 laptop battery curmudgeon that I am, I want to know if this is kosher. Somehow, in the back of my mind, I think that these apps should also be open source, or at the very least, free to use. Being a developer myself, I'm very aware of the need to make an income. But there's also a part of me that remembers why I enjoy doing it: to create new and (hopefully) interesting code. A kind of knowledge for knowledge's sake thing.
Having an open-source SDK is a great way to lure talent (see my opening remarks). Perhaps it is because I am not one of these genius developers that I ponder the 310-6321 laptop battery chivalry of it all.

Mark my words: This point won't be lost on the open source community. Android may now be a minor presence in the handset world. But this is changing. Samsung announced plans to launch three of their new phones with Android in 2009. T-Mobile is even putting Inspiron 9400 laptop battery Android on non-mobile gadgets, such as a tablet computer.

I'd like to think that this is a good trend we're seeing. I'd like to have different OS options available for my BlackBerry. I doubt we'll ever see Android on iPhones, but perhaps something new and better will come along. And it will be built by the people, for the people Inspiron 9300 laptop battery (apologies to A. Lincoln).

New laptops, netbooks...and hints of a competitor to iTunes? Asus has a lot up its sleeve these days, but let's start with the netbook laptop battery that some folks in the press circles are comparing to a MacBook: the Eee PC 1008HA.

It's thin, sleek, and light. I had a chance to play with one, and I'll tell you one thing: Asus may be spitting out more revisions of its netbook line than I can count, but at least its designers are continuing to look at ways to refine the machine. The proof is in this new $420 netbook.
Though I couldn't steal the 1008HA away Latitude CPX laptop battery from its PR handlers to lock away in our labs, I did get a few minutes for a quick test-drive. So consider this a hands-on teaser of what's in store for when the unit ships.

Under its frosty exterior, the system sports current netbook innards: an Intel Atom N280 CPU, 1GB RAM, a 160GB hard drive, Bluetooth, 802.11n, and a three-cell battery (just don't ask me about the battery life yet).

The 92-percent full-size keyboard is big and comfortable, with a good layout. The buttons felt firm and large enough to type up a quick story. Even the metallic mouse-button Inspiron 2500 laptop battery bar was reasonably secure. That said, I'm a little concerned about the touchpad. On the device that I tried, I found little indication between where the touch area ends and where the wrist rest begins. But the spokesperson on hand assured me that the final unit will have bigger grooves so that users can feel their way around without having to eyeball the strike zone.

To accommodate its thin-and-light design, the creators of the Inspiron 4100 laptop battery 1008HA dropped a few ports--and made an interesting design move in the process. In a hidden compartment on the netbook's bottom sits a VGA adapter dongle. When you need it, you simply pop it out and plug it into the mini-USB port on one side of the machine. It's a pretty smart move that keeps the functionality while cutting down the size, and it minimizes the chance of losing dongles. (I also have to give props to Sony's VAIO P netbook, which sneaks the VGA dongle onto its power supply...but I digress.) Otherwise, on the 1008HA you'll find hiding behind flaps the usual retinue--an ethernet hookup, two USB ports, an SD Card reader, and headphone and microphone jacks.
One last thing that I need to mention is the sneak peek I had at the software that Asus plans to bring to its future machines. My contact at the company let me smuggle out these Inspiron 4000 laptop battery pictures, though he isn't certain whether the 1008HA will actually ship with the software. Here's hoping that it will.
The interface gives quick access to a host of shortcuts for useful features. The more interesting ones fall under tabs called 'Eee Arena' and 'Eee Sharing'. The Arena is basically Asus's attempt at creating an online download site for songs, videos, and (my favorite) games. My insider can't talk business model or pricing for downloads yet, but he did mention the term "iTunes-like" to me in a recent phone call.That's one heck of a tease, but it's all I have to go on for now. The Eee Sharing feature simplifies syncing Inspiron 8100 laptop battery documents between the Eee PC and other computers (as well as uploading files to online storage).

Though I can't give you WorldBench 6 scores--or a final rating--just yet, I can honestly tell you that the Eee PC 1008HA has a lot to like, based on my initial glance. Once I've had a chance to lay my mitts on this little beaut in its final iteration, I'll be able to give you a definitive call. Stay tuned.

Yes, Asus Makes 'Regular' Laptops, Too

With all the rapid releases on the netbook front, you might forget that Asus also has a reasonably large Inspiron 6000 laptop battery stable of standard laptops. I got a quick hands-on look at a couple other eye-catchers, the UX50 and the U80V.

As you can see in the pictures here (hands not included), these machines are made to be pretty spry, considering their all-purpose size.

The UX50 makes a few nods to luxury design by incorporating a backlit Chiclet-style keyboard (think MacBook Air). It also utilizes an AI light sensor to automatically Inspiron 8000 laptop battery adjust the brightness of the display and keyboard to make it more usable wherever you set up shop. (Don't worry, I'll put that one to the test the first chance I get with a final unit.)

Packing an Intel Core 2 Solo SU3300 1.2GHz CPU, the UX50 is shooting for low-end performance but long battery life, though we can't confirm yet what kind of battery life you should expect. With 4GB of RAM and a modest, discrete nVidia GPU, the system can handle Vista Home Premium with little problems, Asus claims.

The 15.6-inch display and slot-loading DVD burner Inspiron 8200 laptop battery will allow for decent on-the-go movie viewing, while the 802.11n and Bluetooth support means you'll be able to connect with ease.The UX50 is set to sell for about $1199.
As for the other new laptop, the U80V has a couple of unique, flashy features of its own. This 14-inch notebook sports the same backlit Chiclet-style keyboard and ambient light-sensing tech that you find on the UX50, but in addition it has a wacky light vapor trail on the touchpad that actually traces where your fingertip moves. Who the heck ordered up the Pink Floyd planetarium laser show Latitude CPi laptop battery for my laptop? Yeah, it's more of a style/status effect, but if you want to impress the cute barista you've had your eye on, now you have your "move"--even if it'll reduce the battery life of the laptop. (Asus claims that this machine will last for 6 hours. We'll see about that after one shows up for proper lab tests.)

As for the stuff that really matters, namely performance, this machine rolls along with a Core 2 Duo T9550 2.66GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a decent 512MB ATI Mobility Radeon HD4750 GPU. Throw in the 14-inch screen and built-in DVD-R drive, and I can't help but wonder how Asus plans to hit the $899 asking price. Honestly, the U80V looks like a pretty solid mobility choice that I'd like to get my hands on for further testing. We're stuck waiting until "sometime this summer" before any of these machines ship, though. Hurry, Asus: The baristas are G5266laptop battery waiting

In my quest to test all of the latest high-capacity consumer solid-state disk (SSD) drives, I came upon OCZ Technology's Apex SATA II SSD Inspiron 500m laptop battery and was impressed not so much with its performance -- though you will see a boost when using it -- as with its price.

OCZ describes the Apex laptop SSD series drive as a "midrange offering for system builders and mainstream computer users." It's available in 60GB, 120GB and 250GB capacities. I tested the 2.5-in., 120GB version, since drives of that capacity and larger tend to be faster when writing data than 60GB models.

You can buy the 120GB version -- the one I tested -- for US$295 at Newegg.com and the 250GB model for $675. For those of you who are bad at math, that's between $2.46 and $2.70 a gigabyte, which is pretty good for SSD. For comparison purposes, the 256GB Samsung SATA II SSD that I recently reviewed has a retail price of $500.

Using a Dell Latitude D830 312-0305 laptop battery with a 2.4-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor running Windows XP Professional SP2, I connected the drive using an adapter in my laptop's optical drive bay. I then tested it using ATTO Technology's ATTO Disk Benchmark v2.34, and Simpli Software's HD Tach v3.0.4 benchmarking utilities. While I was able to successfully test both read and write performance with the ATTO app, HD Tach had problems properly measuring write performance. So, I only have read performance measurements from that utility.

ATTO indicated the OCZ drive had a 233MB/sec. average read speed and a 153MB/sec. average write speed -- not far from OCZ's claims of 230MB/sec. read and 160MB/sec. write speeds.

Next, I tested the drive using HD Tach. Normally, the results are similar to those reported by ATTO; in this case, they were way off. I tested and retested and got virtually the same 312-0306 laptop battery results every time. The average read time was around 156MB/sec., the burst speed was around 230MB/sec. and random access time was an excellent 2 milliseconds. CPU utilization was a respectable 7%.
Boot time for Windows XP was excellent: From a cold start, it took just 22 seconds; with a restart, it took 25 seconds. (Normal boot time with a 7,200-rpm laptop drive is 70 seconds.) And for Mac users, the same drive boots Mac OS X 10.5.6 on a late model MacBook in 23 seconds from start-up chime to desktop.

When comparing 2.5-in. consumer SSDs, I consider Intel's fast X25-M SSD to be the gold standard. The 80GB X25-M has so far beaten the competition when it comes to performance because its more sophisticated, 10-channel architecture and F5136 laptop battery firmware that takes advantage of Native Command Queuing (NCQ). That allows the controller to prefetch data in order to access it more quickly from inactive NAND flash chips. (It's analogous to having a grocery list before going to shop.) The drawback to the X25-M is its much higher price -- $595 retail, $365 on sites such as Pricegrabber.com -- despite the comparatively lower 80GB capacity.

Like Intel, OCZ's SSD is based on multilayer cell NAND flash memory, which means it packs two or more bits per cell vs. the more efficient, but lower-capacity, single-layer cell Inspiron 710m laptop battery memory, which only lays down one bit per cell.

I also compared SSDs with one of the fastest hard disk drives going: Western Digital's 10,000-rpm Velociraptor, which has a 250.2MB/sec. burst speed and 105.6MB/sec. average read through HD Tach.

Like most SSDs, OCZ's drive is lightweight. It weighs just 2.7 ounces, and the factory-stated meantime between failure is 1.5 million hours. OCZs Apex comes with a two-year warranty.

Overall, the drive is a pretty good performer at a very Inspiron 700m laptop battery attractive price. If you're not looking to break I/O barriers, but still want the many benefits of SSD -- such as improved read/write performance, lower power consumption and greater durability -- this drive is a solid choice.