Standardized Laptop Charger Approved By IEC

Posted by timothy on Tuesday December 17, 2013 @03:09AM from the best-news-all-month dept.

Sockatume writes "The IEC, the standards body which wrote the phone charger specification used in the EU, has approved a standardised laptop charger. While the 'DC Power Supply for Portable Personal Computer' doesn't have a legal mandate behind it, the IEC is still optimistic that it will lead to a reduction in electronics waste and make it easier to find a replacement charger. Unfortunately the technical documentation does not seem to be available yet, but previous comments indicate that it will be a barrel plug of some kind." I wish they'd push a yank-resistant and positive-connecting plug along the lines of Apple's MagSafe.

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Re:There's probably patents involved by kelemvor4 · 2013-12-17 04:22 · Score: 1, Troll

In 2001 UL created and released to market - as a standard enforced by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission - a magnetic reversible plug for use on electric fryers that would disconnect if pulled.
Emphasis mine. Yep, our patent system is that bad.

Until people start cooking with their apple computers I suspect apple is going to be okay.