OK...this is strange

Squiggy

Squiggy

ThunderDick
Damn...the tank is empty.... :crap:


NEC Unveils Methanol-Fueled Laptop

Japanese computer giant NEC Corp. Monday revealed a prototype of a laptop computer that runs on a methanol fuel cell instead of a rechargeable battery, and said it will start selling it next year.

A number of other companies are developing similar fuel cells, which promise to power electronics ten times longer than the lithium-ion batteries currently in use.

Also, users will be able to keep operating their computers by replacing the fuel cartridge or refilling with methanol fuel, instead of recharging the battery.

NEC initially plans to introduce a computer with a fuel-cell system able to run for five consecutive hours on a single cartridge of methanol fuel, but also plans to make a PC within two years that can run continuously for as long as 40 hours.

Fuel cells produce electricity without generating pollutants, through an electrochemical reaction that uses oxygen and hydrogen.

Japanese companies are shaping up to be pioneers in fuel-cell technology. NEC rival Toshiba Corp. said in March it developed the world's first prototype of a methanol-type fuel cell system to run notebook PCs. It also plans to commercialize its product in 2004.

Among other leading Japanese micro fuel cell developers are Sony Corp., Casio Computer Co. and Hitachi Ltd.
 
i guess if the computer starts pissing you off it also makes a handy pick me up :D
 
Methanol, wouldn't that be some pretty flammable stuff? I'm not sure I'd be wanting a tank of that sitting on my lap in a machine that gets hot anyway.
 
Methanol, wouldn't that be some pretty flammable stuff? I'm not sure I'd be wanting a tank of that sitting on my lap in a machine that gets hot anyway.
Click to expand...
I was just thinking the same thing. :lol:
 
When I was in high school, my school district had four or five buses that ran on methanol instead of diesel, for cleaner air. They were underpowered and unreliable, and they got half the gas mileage of a diesel bus. As soon as the pilot program expired, they converted the buses to diesel.
 
We used to run F-USA bikes on methanol. They wouldn't idle at all, but when you launched, you understood why they call it that. A fuel cell is really not related to an internal combustion engine though. Aw fuel cell fuel it's probably fairly good.
 
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