Projects: Rebuilding a Lithium-Ion Laptop Battery

If you have been getting less than stellar performance out of your laptop’s Lithium-Ion battery, have a background in electronics (or like to think you do) and like do-it-yourself projects, Electronics Lab may have just the project for you – rebuilding a Li-Ion battery. Basically, for a lot less than the cost of buying a replacement battery, you can replace the cells inside of your existing battery pack.

Announced: Toshiba Tecra M6

Along with the Toshiba Satellite U200 series announced this week, Toshiba has also announced the availability of another Intel Centrino/Core Duo-powered ultraportable notebook, the Toshiba Tecra M6. The Tecra M6 also has a 12.1-inch widescreen display and weighs in at a just over 4 pounds. Basically, the Tecra M6 is the business version of the U200 series – the M6 has additional security options as well as configuration options.

It starts at around $1059 for the baseline model (40GB harddrive, 256MB of memory, no wireless, Intel Celeron), but you are better off going up a bit to get the Core Duo and wireless – there is no point in buying last year’s laptop.

Video Review: Apple MacBook (CNET)

CNET has a video review of the new Apple MacBook – Apple’s Intel Core Duo-powered replacement for the 12- and 14-inch iBook, as well as the 12-inch PowerBook. As you know, it has a 13.3-inch widescreen display and starts at around $1099.

The CNET Editors have also published their take of the MacBook, saying that the value gap between Apple laptops and the PC competition has narrowed significantly (i.e. that Apple products are not nearly as expensive as they are sometimes portrayed).

Laptop Battery Drain Problem with Windows XP SP2

Back in February, it was reported that there was a bug in Windows XP SP2 concerning battery life and laptops. Originally it was attributed to the Intel Core Duo/Centrino platform, however that turned out not to be the case – it was simply a problem with Windows XP SP2 and USB controllers (particularly those that stayed on for some reason). This fix is for 32-Bit Windows XP only (both Home and Professional versions). It’s highly recommended that you take a look at this fix if you have a laptop and Windows XP SP2 and think there maybe something funny with your battery life.

Dell Latitude 420 – More Information

Back at the end of March, I mentioned an article from CNET about rumors of a Dell Latitude D420. I also mentioned that the X1 appeared close to being replaced (since then, the X1 was replaced by the XPS M1210), and with the 710M already available, and with Intel’s new Core Duo/Centrino platform becoming widely available, it would only be a matter of time before Dell upgraded the ultraportable Latitude (other Latitude notebooks have already been upgrade).