battery

Microsoft is reportedly working on a brand new edition of Windows specially designed specifically for tablet devices. The goal would be to overcome battery life problems with existing portable Windows machines. The key to the new edition would be ... how it interacts with the processor. The CPU (or "processor") is the the chip in any computing device that carries out calculations and processes information. There are two main types of processors in common use for portable devices: Intel's x86 architecture and the ARM chip. The two chips are very different inside, which means that the ... (view more)

With over 30 years in computing experience, I'm often asked my opinion about computer hardware. Questions like, "What can I do to speed up my computer?", or "What type of laptop should I buy?" and things of that nature. Like anyone else, I love a ... good deal. In order to find the best deal possible, sometimes I spend an entire day shopping online to compare prices and features of similar components. Unfortunately, many of the "recommendations" I've read recently appear to be forged for the sake of making a sale, which means there's an awful lot of time wasted wading through ... (view more)

Last week Microsoft promised several new Windows 7 tablet computers would be available to home and business consumers prior to Christmas. For those of you who simply can't wait, take note: there's a Windows 7 tablet PC available right now, so long ... as you don't mind a relatively short battery life. CTL 2goPAD: Hardware Specifications Tech company CTL recently released their 2goPAD, a device featuring a 10.1-inch display with 1,024 x 600 pixels, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 (single core, 2 threads) processor and 2GB of RAM. Internal storage of the 2goPAD is listed at 250GB, while boasting a 1.3 ... (view more)

Late last week, a number of Windows 7 users lit up Microsoft's TechNet forums with complaints that they were experiencing a dramatic decline in the battery lives of their laptop computers after upgrading from XP or Vista to Windows 7. In a recent ... statement, however, Microsoft denies the charge and has stressed that these issues are strictly hardware-related. Windows 7 Not Poisoning Batteries In some cases, un-tethered notebook PCs were going into hibernation or shutdown mode after an incredibly short period of time, leaving recent Windows 7 adopters wondering if the operating system (OS) was ... (view more)

Laptop owners who upgrade their Windows XP and Windows Vista machines to Windows 7 are complaining that Microsoft's new operating system (OS) is severely reducing their available battery life. Many users are voicing complaints on Microsoft's TechNet ... forums that after upgrading their notebooks, battery life is dropping from two hours to a half hour. (Source: microsoft.com ) The problem appears to be caused by a new tool Microsoft designed to alert users when their battery needs to be replaced. According to some of the TechNet posts, the alert appears time and time again, even as a battery ... (view more)

When Windows 7 first launched back in late October, Microsoft touted the system as more efficient from the ground up -- making for, it said, longer PC battery lives compared to Vista. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem Windows 7 is quite so generous to ... netbook batteries, particularly when compared to its own, decade-old operating system (OS), XP. Just prior to Halloween, Microsoft had some not-so-scary news for prospective PC buyers: Windows 7 will let you get more out of your laptop battery. That wasn't surprising news, considering Vista, the company's much-maligned 2007 OS, was a veritable ... (view more)

Unless you've been sleeping in a cave this past week, you're aware that Microsoft's Windows 7 is now available . And, of course, everyone is asking the question, "is it worth the upgrade?" For those of you who frequently rely on your laptop battery, ... the answer might be yes. It's a problem PC makers have yet to completely overcome: short laptop battery lives. Even as computers get lighter, thinner, and faster, the amount of time they can survive "off the cord," so to speak, is rarely over a few hours. Win 7 Cuts Power Usage by 20% Giving that short life a boost in the arm is Windows 7, which ... (view more)

Tired of your wimpy laptop battery kicking out too early? I, for one, have just about had it with my two-year-old Vista-equipped HP laptop, which practically laughs at me every time I attempt more than twenty-five minutes of work sans power cord. In ... an attempt to help ramp up excitement for its upcoming Windows 7, Microsoft has now promised that their new Windows 7 Operating System (OS) could help improve the battery life of your PC. If a recent Microsoft demo is to be believed, the improvements could be dramatic. When the company used two identical laptops running the same DVD in a ... (view more)

A new mobile WiFi hotspot device about the size of a credit card is threatening to make USB cellular modems look primitive. One such devices is the Novatel Wireless MiFi 2200 Intelligent Mobile Hotspot. It works by tapping into the Verizon 3G Mobile ... broadband network to create a personalized WiFi ' cloud ' for a fixed number of devices within a 50 foot area. USB-based modems boast similar features in allowing users to connect to the Internet while in motion or from a remote location. However, the biggest drawback of using a USB modem is that they are exclusive to only one device. (Source: ... (view more)

The solution to the age-old problem of weakening battery capacity may soon emerge thanks to tech wizzes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT. Scientists there have discovered an efficient way of powering electronic devices using ... bacteria-infused batteries. No, this isn't a late April Fool's joke or a long-lost X-Files plot. It's true; the new batteries use a kind of bacteria that can construct an anode after being protected by a layer of cobalt oxide and gold. Once this process is complete, the bacteria batteries can be formed into a nanowire . This makes them drastically ... (view more)