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Working Toward a Universal Power Brick For Laptops
An anonymous reader links to PC Authority with some hopeful news about untangling a persistent annoyance for laptop users — namely, the myriad power supplies called for by laptop makers: "'On a PC, an ATX power supply for example will screw into certain mounting holes, have a maximum size and shape, and will take a standard 3-pin "kettle cord" for incoming power. If it complies with these standards, the PSU will be able to bolt into any manufacturer's ATX case.' Laptop design, on the other hand, involves cramming a PC into a tiny chassis, which usually has its own thermal design and power distribution requirements. This has led to the somewhat bizarre situation where every manufacturer has its own laptop power supply design. It now appears that some of the major players in laptops are getting together to work on a standardized laptop power supply design. Not only are big players involved, but the IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) has created a team to work on the power supply standard."
Its about fracking time.
Hey industry (Sony I am looking at you) repeat after me:
Open standards help EVERYBODY!
"The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men." ~Plato (427-347 BC)
The power supply is a good start. Just hope that they also can take a bite at the batteries which are incredibly expensive related to what they actually contain.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
If every PC laptop uses the same plug, I would jump for joy. If it was an Apple style "magsafe" style connector I would get down on my knees and fellate each and every member of the standards committee. I've been griping for years now how the connector conspiracy is still going strong in the laptop space and what a pain it is to keep matching power cords to laptops.
Also, a standardized connector would let third parties come in and start making accessories and replacement bricks for a lot less than the highway robbery prices that the brand names charge.
Also, while they're at it, why not spec out a standarized battery compartment? Not everybody has to use it, but if all "regular size" laptops did, that would be a huge win. A standardized modular bay connector would be nice too. Not to mention a standardized docking adapter. It's like laptop manufacturers stopped caring about standardization after PCMCIA/PC-Card/Expresscard and have been more than willing to custom engineer everything every time. It's really annoying and the standardization efforts are long long overdue.
I read the internet for the articles.
"a standard 3-pin "kettle cord" for incoming power."
Not for my Apple MacBook.
I understand the desire for a standard brick, but I do not want to give the magnetic connector on my MacBook.
Dave Barnes 9 breweries within walking distance of my house
Laptop makers have NO REASON to standardize.
The ideal consumer product is shitcanned at point of purchase by a delighted customer (toilet paper comes to mind).
Desktop PC form-factors made maintenance, part sourcing, and upgrading easy, but didn't help kill off old PCs.
Notebook makers OTOH can count on the failure of key components such as batteries to render their products "beyond economical repair". Combine that with low prices and crap build quality, and you have the recipe for repeat sales. (Good to foster performance upgrades, not so good for economy and ease of maintenance.)
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
Ugh, automotive power is nasteee. Nominally 14V, unless it's cold outside, at which point it'll be closer to 18V. The ignition system will dump spikes into the rail that regularly approach 30V. Anything connected to the automotive supply is supposed to handle long excursions to 36V, and short excursions to 72V.
Beyond that, there usually isn't much "extra" power available for non-factory devices. I recently had the displeasure of installing an AC inverter into a Chevy Venture minivan. The alternator was groaning under the load, which was less than 400W. Had to keep a foot on the throttle to increase the idle speed or we'd discharge the battery. We had about 1kW of equipment, but could only run about half at any given time (the stock alternator is only rated for 90A at 12V.)
Off the top of my head: Filter the light to transform the difference in color into a difference in intensity. E.g. if you covered the orange/green light from the extension cord with an orange semi-transparent tape, the light would be bright when the laptop is charging and dim when it's not. Should work, right?
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