Submitted by Netbooks are really becoming a part of the market where all sorts of companies are trying out new things. For instance, earlier this week, we had a review of a MIPS-based Loongson-2 netbook from China, last Monday we reported on Acer implementing a Vmedia drive into a netbook, a while back we had a multitouch LCD touchpad netbook, and we’ve had more. Now we have one that uses an x86 SoC that doesn’t come from AMD/Intel/VIA, and can run on… AA batteries.
While the battery aspect of this netbook will interest most, I’m personally more interested in the actual hardware that powers the device. It’s powered by an x86 system-on-chip called the Vortex86MX from Taiwanese company DMP Electronics. Its processor is an x86-compatible with ARM-like power consumption (1.2W!) which runs at 1.0Ghz.
The Gecko EduBook has other goodies too, such as an internal SD card for storage (it also has an IDE slot) as well as internal space for a Bluetooth or WiFi dongle. It has an 8.9″ 1024×600 display, and the CPU/RAM module is removable, and can carry anywhere between 256MB and 1GB of DDR2 RAM.
The cool stuff is of course that it can be powered by a set of 8 NiMH AA batteries, which can power the netbook for 4 hours; you can also buy a normal battery pack which will power it for 6 hours. This makes the machine ideal for environments where AA batteries might be all you can buy, for instance in emerging markets.
By default it comes with Ubuntu Linux, but it can also run Windows XP and Windows CE. It will become available in July for 200 USD, with an 8GB SD card and a WiFi module. Barebone models will also be available for 110-130 USD.
Hasn’t this been discussed before? I can’t remember the article though. The consensus was that alkaline batteries don’t last very long compared to regular lithium notebook batteries and it may also be somewhat hard to find them in different parts of the world (France comes to mind).
I remember that they used to be bloody expensive, when compared to other countries.
The batteries are not alkaline — they are NiMH (nickel metal hydride). NiMH batteries have a greater power density than alkaline, but the NiMH voltage is slightly lower.
However, I’m guessing that one could use alkaline AAs in an emergency, which is a plus!
Here is a set of the new, “low-discharge” NiMH AA’s: http://thomasdistributing.com/shop/delkin-aa-2300-mah-low-discharge…
Li-Ion batteries require special protection circuitry, and the Li-Ion cells are twice the voltage of other battery types. Here is an “unprotected”, 3.6V, AA Li-Ion cell: http://www.batteryjunction.com/li14reaasi38.html
Note the warning in all caps!
Here is an outfit selling NiMH AAs in France:
http://www.all-batteries.fr/1001PILES/FicheProduit.aspx?site=1001&l…
Edited 2009-05-25 15:47 UTC
when talking about low-discharge batteries you should mention sanyo eneloop
Edited 2009-05-25 19:32 UTC
If they are going to stuff that many batteries, couldn’t they have considered D size ones?
-Ad
Not really, unless they wanted the battery pack to be thicker than most netbooks. D’s are also pretty heavy by comparison to four AAs; even one D size ways about as much as four of the little ones and four AAs give a bit more power than one D, as well as being easier to find in some areas.
However, if 4 AA’s can give 4 hours of charge… imagine what 4 D’s could give if you really needed that much battery life.
The problem here is that you need 8 AA batteries not just 4. Also D size batteries are shorter in length.
-As
Reminds me of the good ‘ol Game Gear days…
…but it has to be a dog. Even running an optimized linux. Battery life of 4 to 6 hours isn’t too bad. Cure tho’.
I wonder if we could rig our Prius to run on those batteries? Maybe a few thousand of them crammed together?
If you all want to do is check your email and surf the web, this netbook will do it. Even with Firefox. Install Icewm and Firefox and off you go.
Whole point behind batteries is to have a solution that is user repairable, unlike batteries we see in notebooks. If one tries to source battery for out-of-production notebook, it usually means high price for low quality battery.
So in my opinion, battery life when using AA batteries is not that important. More important is ‘open format’ that batteries use.
never thought manufacturers would settle to using these batteries instead of the common rechargeable one’s that most portable electronics rely on now a days.
Guess you have to give emerging economies a chance.
The Nortech netbook runs on rechargeable NiMH batteries (as mentioned in the article). It also has an internal power-supply/charger.
I have some old NiMH AA batteries with 2050 mAh each (as I understand it, Alkaline AA batteries run 2750 mAh or something) so, assuming the more modern ones in this netbook are similar, or the new precharged low-drain kind… that’s 8×2000 mAh = 16000 mAh.
An Asus EeePC can supposedly get roughly 7 hours of battery life with ~8000 mAh batteries? I’m sure my figures are a bit off, but either the Eee is amazingly good or this machine has some source of massive power drain… Voltage conversions?
wrong… ohm’s law time here.
Power = Voltage * Current
And remember, you multiply current in parallel, or voltage in series, not both.
Asus battery is 4400 mAh * 7.4V = 32.56 Watt Hours.
8 AA 2000 mAh is 1.25V * 16000 mAh or 10V * 2000 mAh.
That’s 20 Watt Hours. 20 Wh/4h = 5 watts consumption or power.
If your eee gets 7 h / (8000 mAh * 7.4V) = 8.45 watts.
Though there’s lots of fudge with these numbers, you could say you had 2500 mAh batteries at 1.5V for 4 hours, then it’d be 30 Wh/4h = 7.5 watts.
So we don’t really know what the draw of this laptop is, but we can ballpark it as being less than 8W, screen on and all that, not too bad, and if it’s 5, that’s a lot better.
I think that this is a great idea. I’ve love to have a netbook that accepted standard rechargeable AA batteries. When netbooks based on the ARM processor become available (late 2009 to early 2010), you’ll probably get 10 hours (or more) running time on a single charge.
Edited 2009-05-26 05:12 UTC
‘With its 8.9-inch, 1024 x 600 keyboard, …’
Guess we will finally have a ‘Any’ key…
Now seriously, the AA rechargeable batteries are a blessing in a sense of cost and availability. We have to see how behaves in real tests, though. The only hassle I see is that if you want to have a ‘spare battery’, you’ll have to carry around 8 small ones. There are plastic containers to place them, though.
The replacement CPU/RAM board is a nice idea, also. It will depend on the cost of spare boards, if available.
The only problem that I see with this netbook is that the keyboard is too small. It seems to be exactly the same small keyboard the EeePC 70x, 900 and 900A have, meaning it’s a pain to use. Specially if you have large fingertips, like I do. A slightly larger case with a larger keyboard would have been nice, and I guess it wouldn’t add more than $5 – $10 to the final price.
Now, said that, I wouldn’t mind buying one of these.
This is the principal question 🙂
Reply to myself: yes it does, RTFA.
Right here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNQWMKxlL4c on youtube.
Edited 2009-05-26 17:18 UTC
Here is the dirty little secret of laptop batteries…..
…they are all just little packs of regular AA/AAA NiCad or Li batteries all wired up together in series/parallel anyway.
And then stuffed into a molded plastic box that will snap into the custom laptop case for that model.
So there is NO reason for them to cost more from one model to the next etc…and the difference between what someone calls a ‘4 cell’ or ‘6 cell’ battery or whatever is just how many AA’s the laptop has inside its plastic box.
See and example of a disassembled laptop battery pack here:
http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/rebuilding-laptop-battery
Edited 2009-05-26 19:53 UTC
i have to disapoint you, but they are not AA cells
the cells used in laptops are longer and thicker than AA-cells and have a voltage of 3,6V instead of 1,5V
but you are right, all packs for laptops should have approximately the same price/cell