Look like my prayers for a Common Laptop Charger Standard as detailed in
my blog article
entitled “Apple
MacBook Airs and Intel UltraBooks cometh – Time for a Common Standard on Power
Adaptors” is finally coming to pass!
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This as Swiss based electronics and Electrical Standards group, the IEC (International
Electrotechnical Commission) has decided to publish a working technical
specification for a Universal Laptop Charger in early 2014 as stated in the
article “One
power cord to rule them all: Standards group pushes for universal laptop Charger”,
published Dec 18, 2013 7:25 AM by Jared Newman, PC World and “Standard
laptop Charger on the cards, just like phones”, published 17 December 2013,
1:13pm By Rich Trenholm on, CNET UK.
About damn time – One Universal
Laptop Charging Standard to rule them All
It’s a pain to have to specify to many of my computer clients that they
have to either buy a replacement Laptop Charger or a Genuine Laptop Charger
when irony of ironies, the smartphone world has already adopted the micro-USB
standard also pioneered by IEC back in 2009 as stated in the article “Apple, others agree
to universal cell phone Charger standard in Europe”, published June 29,
2009 11:22 AM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET
News - Signal Strength.
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That’s around the same time I did the
original article begging the same question and it’s the reason the article even
caught my eye. To summarize my reasons from my original August 2011 blog article
entitled “Apple
MacBook Airs and Intel UltraBooks cometh – Time for a Common Standard on Power
Adaptors”, the reasons are quite compelling for a Common Laptop Charger
standard:
1.
A Universal Power
Adaptor will fit the common port on your UltraBook, no matter which PC Maker
makes it, be it Dell, Hewlett Packard, Toshiba, Lenovo, etc.
2.
Laptop makers would
no longer have to package a Laptop Charger with their Laptop
3.
Third Party
companies would make and retail these Universal Laptop Chargers at any Best Buy
or Wal-Mart, thus reducing the cost of packaging
Granted, many Laptop makers presently like the idea of
different Laptop Chargers as making and selling Replacement Chargers is big
business. Then there’s the mess of Electrical power Requirements that such a
Universal Laptop Charger in terms of Voltage, Current and Port Standards that
all Laptop makers would have to comply with in order for this IEC led
initiative to work.
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But if anyone can do it, they can, especially after their
success with micro-USB Chargers for smartphones, albeit those were already
commonly used on Blackberries and most smartphones to begin with. My hope is
that this time around though, instead of just the development of a Universal
Laptop Charger, they should also focus on developing standards for:
1.
Wireless Charging
Technologies
2.
Solar Charging
Technologies
3.
Improved Battery
Technologies
4.
Portable Fuel Cell
Technologies
My aim personally isn’t just to get rid of the different Chargers
for Laptops and create one common Charger. Rather it’s to get rid of the idea
of charging Laptops and PC’s from Electrical Wall Sockets altogether via the
development of Technology that recycles Waste Energy to power Computers as
explained in my blog
article entitled “Powering
Gadgets by Recycling Waste Energy - Alice's Windmills in my Mind Through the
Looking Glass”.
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Just like the Apple iPad bringing about the Post-PC Era is
an ongoing project as stated my blog article
entitled “Tech
Predictions for 2014 - PC killin' Tablets and Wearable Computers, Personal
Drones and Autonomous Vehicles Hydrogen Fuelled Cars”, I envision a Post-Analog
Power Cord and Power Adaptor Era, the last vestige of Electronic Gadgets that
has YET to make the switch to Digital.
I await Innovation or even Standardization from IEC to work
its magic and set straight that which is currently a Nightmare of Wires behind
my computer!
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