
Netbook powered by 8 AA batteries - vaksel
http://www.norhtec.com/products/gecko/index.html
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cmos
What they are trying to do is build the 'ibm pc' of laptops. If they use
enough off the shelf parts that are somewhat standardized (or open enough to
make into a new standard) it could be a platform that takes off.

(though the market demand for such a platform is probably more aligned with
people having to maintain large numbers of laptops than the casual consumer)

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DTrejo
I'd say it is also more aligned with people in poor areas who find it cheaper
to upgrade, rather than replace.

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blasdel
I have a 15-year-old Gateway Handbook 486 that only takes 5~6v at well under
1A (with a hard drive, much less with a CF card). It can run forever on 4 AA
NiMH batteries, or from a USB port!

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_Handbook>

Unfortunately, the screen is total crap -- I don't mind that it's grayscale,
but that it's an ancient bottom-barrel passive screen.

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nazgulnarsil
of interest in the modularity of the chipset itself. why throw away the screen
and power supply when you can upgrade by replacing the main board?

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aristus
Ah, NorhTec! Quirky little Asian/Canadian company. They do lots of interesting
simplifications like this. A few years ago I was seriously looking at filling
a datacenter cabinet with 200 of their 5W microservers.

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wooby
It's nice when traveling to have electronics that all runs from AAs.

AAs can be found all over the world. And, if all your stuff runs the same
battery, you can swap them between devices in a pinch. This computer looks
awesome.

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chanux
Not really sure why some one would choose to use AA batteries on a netbook.

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axod
Same reason you buy a digital camera that takes AA's. So as when they run out,
and you're away from home, you can pick some new ones up from _any_ shop.

I bought a netbook lately, Asus Aspire One. It cost £179, and a new/spare
battery for it costs £80. That's just obscene.

edit: _ACER_ Aspire One.

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chanux
I think your machine is _Acer_ Aspire one :)

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axod
hah that's the one. Always get those mixed up, surprising they didn't choose
more distinct names.

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brfox
It looks exactly like an Asus eee PC. Is this some sort of retrofit or
something?

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TweedHeads
If history taught us a lesson, next step will be solar powered netbooks.

In order to do that all you need is to get rid of power consuming devices like
HD, DVD etc and just leave a motherboard, memory, SSD and a low consuming
display.

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ryanwaggoner
I must have missed that history lesson...what consumer electronics are solar
powered, other than perhaps those cheap calculators?

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DenisM
Also watches? I'm skeptical on the idea but the math seems to be reasonably
close as to justify hope.

Suppose the notebook's lid is 20cm x 30cm, direct sun light is 1000wt/m^2, so
we're getting 60 watts of energy per lid. Best solar cell efficiency available
today is 20%, with 40% in the works (it takes very long time to make stride
though). So, we're looking at 12w today and 24w in the future.

This is not entirely outlandish. Moving parts can be removed and silicon parts
can be optimized for smart power management (e.g. sleep some regions of RAM,
some parts (cores) of CPU, shutdown some SSD controllers while keeping others
etc).

The only big thing left is the screen. Latest 2.2" OLED screen works at 100mw.
[http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/08/tmdisplay-oled-
scree...](http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/08/tmdisplay-oled-screen-world-
best-efficiency-lifetime.php) So this screen is, (2.2 * 2.54)^2 * sqrt(3)/4 =
13.5 cm^2 and to cover a big 20x30cm screen we need 600/13.5 = 44 such small
screens, and they should consume 4.4watts total. So the screen problem is
manageable in the long run.

This can be made to work, at least in sunnier climates.

I would probably expect cell phones to get there first, however. the
technology is expensive (both OLEDs and solar cells) and ARM&cell phone
companies have better expertise in deep power management.

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ryanwaggoner
But this assumes you're letting this thing sit in direct sunlight for hours at
a time...who does that? I really doubt that cell phones or laptops will ever
be solar powered, at least as their primary power source, because if they're
not in use, they sit in a bag or a pocket.

~~~
DenisM
Hey, take a look at this!

<http://www.voltaicsystems.com/bag_generator.shtml>

15w solar laptop briefcase.

~~~
netsp
On a slightly more serious note, a good playground for developing thses kinds
of things might be products for developing countries. Specifically, those
parts that are not on grids.

A lot of things you make must be cheap, must have own power source & must be
useful enough to (a) justify spending money in a place without much (b) worth
the hassle of putting panels on your roof or whatever.

What seems relatively sensible is a solar powered desktop to start with.

