HP to offer long-life laptop batteries

 

Gallery

By Barry Collins

Posted on 10 Dec 2008 at 12:22

HP is to offer laptop owners the option to upgrade to long-life batteries that offer "like-new" performance for three years.

The Sonata batteries, which are manufactured by Boston Power, are based on a refined version of the lithium-ion technology found in today's laptop cells.

Boston claims the Sonata battery will keep 80% of its initial charge for 1,000 charge cycles, after which performance will start to wane. Typical laptop batteries tend to start falling away after only a few hundred charges.

What's more, Boston says the batteries are able to recharge to 80% capacity after only 30 minutes.

The batteries are fully recyclable and don't contain any PVC or heavy metals.

HP will begin offering the batteries to customers at the beginning of next year, although there's no word yet on whether they will be available in the UK.