Toshiba May Release Super Fast Charging Laptop

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://jkontherun.com/2010/05/08/toshiba-laptop-with-10-minute-battery-charging/' target='_blank'>http://jkontherun.com/2010/05/08/to...ttery-charging/</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"I have been following the rumors of a new Toshiba ultra-portable laptop with great interest. Not because it is super thin and light &mdash; what has me excited is the Super Charge Ion Battery (SCiB) it&rsquo;s reported to use. This is significant as these batteries supposedly can be 90% charged in a mere 10 minutes. Think about that for a moment. If you could charge your notebook battery in 10 minutes it could change the way you work while mobile."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1273353314.usr20447.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>A laptop that could be charged in ten minutes is great.&nbsp; However, I think it could have some other consequences.&nbsp; First, it would probably encourage people to deep drain their batteries more, meaning that batteries will need to be replaced more often.&nbsp; Second, I am positive that people will complain that 10 minutes is still too long.&nbsp; That being said, I would really like to see this technology applied to cell phones.&nbsp; In my experience, I have seen friends and colleagues have their phones run out of power much more often.</p>

[Jason Dunn]

I'd be interested in knowing if this battery technology includes any updates related to charging cycles. Boston Power in particular was working on some stuff for HP batteries that would push the charging cycles up past 1000 charges before there was any loss of run-time. I think a 10 minute battery charge is awesome, but not if the battery can only be recharged 200 times before it starts to tank.

Hell, I'm just excited to finally see a battery announcement actually make it to market - we've seen so much vapourware in this space... :rolleyes:

[Hooch Tan]

I'd like an easier way to charge. The induction based charging pads are interesting, but I don't think they can effectively handle high drain devices. I'm paranoid about running out of power, so my laptop is plugged in almost all the time. Even with my phone, I charge it at work and at home. Maybe when we're talking an active battery life of 24 hours, I'll change my habits. I do know that if I'm walking out the door, 10 minutes will still seem like 3 hours.

[Jason Dunn]

I'd like an easier way to charge. The induction based charging pads are interesting, but I don't think they can effectively handle high drain devices.

I'd like to see this as well, though if not induction charging, I don't know what other method would be easy - it's either got to be put it down in a special place and it will charge, or it's going to be a plug. Maybe there's a third option someone more creative than me can figure out. :D