Taipei, Taiwan — (press release excerpt) — In an effort to deliver all-day battery life for Intel-based laptop computers, Intel today announced the formation of the Mobile PC Extended Battery Life Working Group. The goal of the group is to address challenges in achieving all-day notebook computing on a single battery charge.

The working group is comprised of companies with technical expertise in notebook design and understanding of the components that consume and manage power, including the screen, graphics, hard-disk drives, the operating system, the microprocessor and chipset, and wireless devices.

The group will use its combined efforts to address regulatory and environmental concerns for the acceptance of new power-friendly technologies and power sources. Some initial exploration will focus on the use of fuel cells and display subsystems. Although considerable, the advances in the Li-Ion battery technology — the mainstay of mobile PC power sources — are not keeping up with emerging notebook usage models including digital entertainment, multimedia and wireless connectivity. Initial improvements to the battery life for Intel-based laptop computers resulting from the group's work are expected in 2004.

Current usage models for mobile PCs vary widely from a casual 'plug-to-plug' user who has limited need for mobility, to today's 'road warrior', who spends most of the time on the road, to the future-generation wireless notebooks user who needs constant connectivity to the Internet, e-mail and files any time, anywhere. The group will also define and articulate common usage models for all-day computing for mobile PCs as well as aid in the development of future mobile benchmarks. While existing benchmarks have started addressing today's usage models, there is no consensus in the industry that they accurately reflect all users.

The working group will hold its first meeting in October 2002, in conjunction with Intel Developers Forum in Taiwan. At this meeting, the group will discuss the organization's framework and its initial priorities.

 
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