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There Oughta Be a Standard: Laptop Power Supplies
Esther Schindler writes "Every mobile device you own has its own power supply and its own proprietary plug. There oughta be a better way, says Alfred Poor. Fortunately, he reports, the IEEE is coming to the rescue. "Their Universal Power Adapter for Mobile Devices (UPAMD) Working Group is developing a new standard that will not just address the needs of laptops and tablets, but will be intended to work with just about any electronics device that required between 10 and 240 watts of power," Poor writes. It's about darned time." If there's one thing I wish for all laptop power supplies, it's that they would license from Apple (or work around, patent-wise) the magnet attachment system that makes cable-tripping far less dangerous to man or beast, compared to a few years ago.
Just hope it doesn't end up costing more than a proprietary power supply, especially since you'll most likely only be able to use it with one device at a time.
My wife used to knock over her iBook all the time. When we got a dog, it fell off the coffee table twice as often. We replaced it with a MacBook some time back, and it's only hit the ground once in like five years. With a kid having been added to the mix since then, that number would have been a lot worse without the magnetic plug.
Of course, the kid has come pretty close to doing some other things. He went through a phase of being fascinated by watching water pour over different things.
The CB App. What's your 20?
It's a common flaw with most laptops that they eventually stop working when not plugged in.
how does this increase consumption?
if I take my 19 volt 4 amp power supply into one laptop that draws 2 amps, it still draws 2 amps
It can't. USB specification is (I believe) 5 watts maximum, at around 5 volts (so 5v at a max of 1 amp). Most notebook adapters are in the area of 20v and 6 amps or so (around 120 watts). Also, can you imagine someone plugging their laptop into itself to charge. You know it would happen :-)
To be honest, this isn't like cell phones where standardizing around micro USB was enough. Laptops use different amounts of power and making it so that the same charger will work on a netbook as a desktop replacement is hardly a wise idea.
There are certain things that can relatively easily be standardized, such as the polarity of the connector, but when it comes down to voltage and amperage, you're better off setting it up so that there's a small assortment of connectors available, and one combination of voltage and amperage per connector. So that if it fits it's not going to damage the machine.
Also, WTF is up with manufacturers that don't bother to label their power supplies? I really appreciate that Epson and Creative bother to put their names directly on the transformer so that I have that many fewer I have to check to determine if it's the one I want. I just wish I had realized years ago that I need to label the power bricks before I waste a lot of time looking for the one with the correct output and connector.
I could imagine that efficiency will improve. Right now, a laptop manufacturer that includes their own power brick has not much incentive to make it really efficient. It's easier just to make a bigger one with a cheaper design.
With a standard connector, there will be 3rd party vendors that offer standard bricks, and some vendors will aim for the highest efficiency as a selling point.
What happened to the days of old when some laptops came with built in power supplies and you just needed an AC cable? I liked those.
Laptops got smaller.
I really liked the MagSafe(tm) concept when Apple first came out with it, but Apple has been such a fucking prick about the damned things. They don't offer any significant range of options to use the plug, and they actively stymie all attempts of the marketplace to fill that void. Want a piggy-back battery to supply power to the laptop? Apple doesn't make one. Want to tie in with a docking station? Apple doesn't make one. At first, when asked about third party adoption of the plugs, they were "oh, well, I guess they'll start coming out any time now." Then it was "oh, well, guess nobody's trying to license them." Then when manufacturers tried to license them, they were refused. So one manufacturer decided to eat the waste and rely on the doctrine of First Sale. They BOUGHT Apple(tm) adapters, chopped off the white wallwart transformer, and soldered the MagSafe(tm) pigtail to their own battery packs, and they were still attacked by Apple's lawyers. WTF, Apple. People have varying needs to make use of your products. Step up to offer the solution, or get out of the way.
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...and this is why we need patent reform, but in the form of accepting fewer patents and for a shorter period of time.
Look, it isn't as though Apple has gained nothing from their "innovation" (assuming they actually invented it) of this magnetic plug. But having this as yet another thing which only works on Macs, which everyone else is legally forbidden from adding with or without Apple's help...
I want to make a case for how harmful this is to inventors, or even everyday coders. It's pretty much impossible now to do any software development without infringing on patents, and even if you somehow manage not to, it's impossible to know without your own legal army to research it.
Instead, I'm going to make a simpler, easier case: I want a laptop which is not a Mac (never had Linux run well on a Mac, I don't like OS X, and I don't really want to pay the premium), but I want it to have that kind of power cord. Call it a "sense of entitlement" if you like, but this isn't just me being cheap -- I want that power cord, with a machine that runs Linux and Win7 reasonably well, and there's no technological reason I can't have that, not even anything like DRM in the way, just raw legal force.
Don't thank God, thank a doctor!
Make it symmetrical, and make them test it with a sight impaired person. USB dropped the ball on this big-time.
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
Yes. I too enjoy redesigning workspaces to meet the design limitations of gadgets.
I get it, it is a clever idea and just about everyone who owns an apple laptop has to bring up how they would be willing to pay an extra $100 just for the magnet plug.
I don't like it, I have tripped over cables and such but its no big deal, usually the cable pops right out. I have even had computers come to me that had the power socket almost ripped out from tripping stories. But it has never happened to me, what has happened to me is the constant unplugging of the magnetic plug when working on macs. Multiple models and always the same annoyance of any little tug from moving the laptop unplugging it.
I know its nothing to worry about, apple would never let people work around their patents to develop a similar on for pc's but man would that suck if the new standard was those weak little magnetic chargers.
ok rant complete
"They just copied an existing design used in many household electric devices."
Okay. Just out of curiosity, would you care to point me to a half dozen or so? I've bought and used "many" household electric devices, and I've yet to own a single one that used a bi-directional magnetic power connector.
Any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so.
The IEEE will probably introduce a really good standard for power bricks that will be patent-free, universal and adaptable to different models and country power connector standards. This is exactly why electronics manufacturers won't adopt it. Think HP or Samsung doesn't like charging you $100 for a replacement charging adapter? You think that Dell doesn't just absolutely love it when they discontinue manufacturing on a particular laptop model and their once-device-only charge plugs become unavailable, forcing you to buy a new laptop if you ever want to see power again? The IEEE will draft the standard and release it to manufacturers, and the manufacturers will go "Whelp, that's really nice guys, but you see our laptops are speshul and wouldn't work with that standard, so no thank you."
I'll be honest, we're throwing science against the wall to see what sticks. -Cave Johnson
My MacBook Pro is powered by my ego. It's been four years without needing a single charge.
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It seems to be a permanent magnet, but no they don't appear to pick up crap over time. I've got one a couple of years old, and another probably five years old. Neither connector looks anything other than brand new (not counting the scratched plastic shells that is).
Both still work perfectly.
Some people use their laptops at home. With kids. They could have the power cords up on the ceiling and the kids would still trip over them.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
Then you could just plug your laptop into it's own USB port and you're all set!
That would be cool, I could power my laptop from its own USB port while I am busy copying my mp3s onto itself via USB! It has to work with USB2, though, because the volume of stuff I have to copy is too large and would take longer that one charging cycle otherwise.
Of course, I could always just turn the volume down and get done copying faster. I should have thought of that before.
The milled aluminum cases are pretty nice, too. As are the oversized touch pads. In fact, there are lots of things apple does that I wish their competitors would imitate. But instead, they imitate the trivial crap, like the "black keys on grey" and ignore the important stuff like "don't make a case that will off-gas the plasticizers in six months and crack on all the hinges."
Can you be Even More Awesome?!