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Comment by chanux | Hacker News Reader

Not really sure why some one would choose to use AA batteries on a netbook.

The AA is the closest thing to a generic battery. I often work in remote locations and more of my gear (also including cameras/sound equipment) that runs on AA, the better. A UPS style big battery with outlets is a worthy alternative, but they typically weigh 30 pounds, you have to keep track of more cables, and can attract suspicion from airport security. I'd way rather have a few hundred AAs - yes, I do recycle batteries, and use rechargeables, but in a work environment you just want to be able to grab fully charged ones, fast, even if that means recharging said few hundred after the job ends and you get home.

On a more general level, I like it that they've designed the RAM and CPU slots to allow easy upgrades. At a $200 MSRP, I would certainly get one (or even if they drifted up to $249). The specs are very good for such a small machine and I wish them every success with it.

Quote from the article: "This allows the Gecko Edubook to be easily configured to the end-user's requirements and gives the opportunity the Edubook to be assembled or retrofitted locally. These batteries can be easily sourced and replaced as required."

I think the main advantage is that these batteries are cheaper and easier to replace.

And you can get generic rechargeable batteries from a variety of manufacturers.

Edit: Or a battery pack like described in the article.

I wish more laptop manufacturers would do exactly this. Most power-packs are just pure obfuscations for the purpose of extorting money from consumers.

How about a "dustbuster" style hand-vac with replaceable batteries? That would be awesome!

When a portable phone's battery runs out, it's cheapest just to buy a new phone!

Huh? My phone cost $140, and it was a pretty cheap model. Batteries are $20.

Obviously it depends on what kind of a phone we're talking about. A cheap phone might be a Nokia 1208, i.e. about $40 new.

I meant a landline phone, not a mobile.

My Mum bought a BT cordless phone for a landline, and the batteries were 40 pounds. A new phone only cost 25 I think, so she bought a new one when it ran out.

> Edit: Or a battery pack like described in the article.

Why would you want to pay extra to get 8 cells bundled together in a pack when you could just get 8 cells individually?

Not only are you getting closer to the commodity part rather than an assembly that's specific to the device in question, you also gain the ability to replace individual cells when they go bad.

Running on AA-style cells like that is a huge plus to me; I hope other manufacturers pick up on it.

Perhaps I am wrong: I thought the battery pack mentioned in the article was basically just some AA-style cells packed together for your convenience.

Anyway, I share your sentiment.

Same reason you buy a digital camera that takes AA's. So as when they run out, and you're away from home, you can pick some new ones up from any shop.

I bought a netbook lately, Asus Aspire One. It cost £179, and a new/spare battery for it costs £80. That's just obscene.

edit: ACER Aspire One.

I think your machine is Acer Aspire one :)

hah that's the one. Always get those mixed up, surprising they didn't choose more distinct names.

And imagine you are using the machine in an industrial app and you need it to work in 5years time. How much will they charge you for batteries then when they are the only source?

That's why we pay so much for Psion handhelds now

Why wouldn't you? Most laptop batteries -- with the exception of some of the most recent ones that use LiPo packs, or some very rare designs using prismatic cells -- are just plastic cases built around commodity cylindrical cells.

Here's a photo of the inside of a Dell: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/lithium-ion-battery1.ht...

It's pretty trivial to build the charging circuit into the device and let the end user swap out the cells directly, but doing that gives up the obscene margins that manufacturers charge for replacement batteries, and (although I don't buy this as the actual reason) might conceivably lead to more damaged devices due to users swapping cells improperly, reversing the polarity, or mixing cell types.

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