HP Laptops Get Long-Lasting Batteries

Boston-Power's quick-charging, long-lasting Sonata batteries went on sale today as HP's Enviro Series

By Sean Captain Posted 03.16.2009 at 11:32 am 3 Comments

Sonata Laptop Batteries Courtesy HP

Making good on a promise from December, start-up battery maker Boston-Power announced today that its almost-too-good-to-be-true Sonata lithium-ion batteries are now for sale, as upgrades for HP laptops.

Boston-Power's claims are impressive: A Sonata cell promises to charge to 40 percent capacity in just 10 minutes (say, the airport wait time from when they start boarding first class until they get to your steerage section). And they reach 80 percent capacity in just 30 minutes.

Speaking of 80 percent, Boston-Power claims that a Sonata will retain that much charging capacity after 3 years, when regular Li-ion cells are down to just half capacity.

The company is very secretive about what, exactly, the magic sauce is, saying only that they have made a lot of little tweaks. So they could well be using unobtanium and unicorn blood. But as long as it works, that's fine with us.

The replacement batteries sell as part of HP's Enviro Series for $150.

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3 Comments

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xlndr

03/18/09 at 2:08 pm

It's a shame that they only went HP. My experience with there products is dime a dozen rip-offs at a high price. Aside from my obvious bias the move seems short sited and limits there potential for income.
I tried going to Boston power website and looking in the product section before making this remark. What I found in the product section was indeed not product but a lot of sales pitch.

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Laptop Bags

03/20/09 at 9:35 pm

Why don't they just make them all last longer? Come on people!

www.careerbags.com

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electrodynamic

03/26/09 at 12:32 am

This reads more like an advertisement than an article from popular science.Wheres the science.I like HP personally they have very good customer service,and My hp pavilion has been a pleasure to own.