The standby time of a laptop is pretty solid for most devices, while some high-end options can still track their battery life with real world usage in a matter of hours.
Eventually that will change, and Apple’s latest patent application could hint at where the future of portable battery life for laptops could be going. Today, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office published a patent app from the Cupertino-based company for a fuel cell system that could let a MacBook run without being plugged into an external power source “for days or even weeks.”
Interestingly enough, this particular patent is similar to the hydrogen battery technology that British firm Intelligent Energy has been working on, and was recently reported onin August of this year to power an iPhone 6 for up to a week on just a single charge.
The patent application, however, does make specific mention of a MagSafe adapter, so it would seem, at the very least, that this specific use case is meant for MacBooks, even if the application covers “portable computing device.”
The immediate difference between a fuel cell system and a traditional battery is recharging the machine, where the fuel cell system requires cartridges that need to be replaced. For what it’s worth, Apple is apparently including a wide berth of options for its fuel used in the forward-thinking idea:
“The fuel source comprises at least one of: sodium borohydride and water; sodium silicate and water; lithium hydride and water; magnesium hydride and water; lithium borohydride and water; lithium aluminum hydride and water; aluminum hydride; an amine borane complex; a hydrocarbon; lithium aluminum hydride; magnesium borohydride; a magnesium borohydride-amine complex; compressed hydrogen gas; and liquid hydrogen.”
As 9to5Mac suggests, the likeliest methodology that Apple would implement would be a fuel cell system in conjunction with a standard battery operation, so that the MacBook could be charged as it normally would, but with the fuel cell system in place to keep the portable device running after the rechargeable battery empties.
[via 9to5Mac]
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