Journal RobertB-DC's Journal: Ghost Article: User Review of N-Charge II Laptop Battery 2
Ghosts of Slashdot: 03/30/2005
[This is a strange one. The link gives the usual message of exorcism ("Nothing for you to see here. Please move along."), but the article is still showing up -- both on the front page and in the Hardware section. Even more strange is the article format -- normally only the first paragraph displays on the front page, but this entire article is showing up! This may be due to use of "br" tags instead of letting Slashcode do the breaking -- that also leads to some strange paragraph parsing. It's like a ghost that won't stay dead. We'll watch it and see what happens. Update: Within about 10 minutes, the article finally disappeared from both the front page and the Hardware page. Further Update: The article has returned, this time with better editing and a Slashcode-friendly paragraph structure.]
User Review of N-Charge II Laptop Battery
Posted by timothy in The Mysterious Future!
from the sometimes-they-come-back dept.
Occams Razor writes "I recently moved from using an N-Charge I (http://www.valence.com/saphion.asp) external battery to the N-Charge II external battery.
Let me first say that the series 1 battery was really handy and well designed. It let me work/use my laptop continuously for the 10+ hour flights that I end up taking with some regularity these day.
The series 1 is slim, maybe
This means it fit perfectly under my laptop.
Unfortunately, the Series 2 N-charge (Saphion) battery appears to be the worst kind of marketing spawn.
Here are the full details that I've written up in hopes that others will learn from my mistake (and who knows, maybe the company will listen?)
First and foremost, the battery simply does not last as long as the 1st generation battery did. I used both batteries on flights to Japan from the west coast of the US. That's about a 10 hour flight. The 1st gen battery lasted close to 7 hours and was consistent on showing me the strength of it's remaining charge through the whole flight.
The 2nd gen battery might have lasted 5.5 hours and the display went from showing moderate charge (two lights) to the battery dying in less than an hour. That is not at all what I expected from a display.
Secondly and only slightly less important are the changes in the form factor. The 1st gen battery was the perfect shape and size to fit under my laptop, even when I used it with laptops with a slightly different footprint, the battery was large enough (length & width) that the laptop was still stable resting on it. It was also thin enough that having a footprint mismatch wasn't a big problem (either in terms of ergonomics or in terms of stability for the laptop).
The 2nd gen battery is a horrible form factor. Just plain and simple, it doesn't appear to have been designed to take into account how people will use it. It is too tall to fit nicely under a laptop with a different footprint and the small size (length & width) ensure that any laptop resting on top of it will be completely off balance.
I don't know what their use cases were for the device but the most common ones for me are either when I am sitting somewhere with no desk or power (and hence all my devices need to be on my lap or on the floor but I have space), or when I am on an airplane and have the same scenario as the first case but also am severely limited for space in general.
If I have space but no desk then I need a long enough cord to get from my power supply to my laptop. That means that either the battery has to fit under the laptop (in which case it can have a short cord) or it needs to have a nice long cord (much longer than the short one they provide which can't be extended). They have failed to provide for either of these options.
If I am on an airplane, the battery needs to fit under the laptop. Period. I might be willing to place it in the seatback pocket but the 2nd gen battery is too thick to fit well there. I might be willing to have it in my backpack on the floor in front of me (though that is so awkward that it is almost dangerous if I have an emergency) but the cord is way too short for that.
Personally I think the change to three charge lights (instead of 5 in the first version) was pointless and that more information is better than less but I can accept it so long as they are accurate. Unfortunately, they aren't. They don't seem to represent 1/3 of the charge each, more like 1/6, 1/3 and 1/2 respectively.
The new power adapter tips are easier to lose and don't fit my laptop port as well as the 1st gen plugs. This has caused my laptop to end up being disconnected from the battery spontaneously and it appears to be slowly damaging the socket in my laptop, possibly due to wiggling.
At this point I am planning on trying to return the 2nd gen battery and add-on battery and go find someone who will sell me one of the 1st gen batteries on e-Bay.
I'm tremendously disappointed and hope that their 3rd generation shows better design."
What are the Ghosts of Slashdot?
As a Slashdot Subscriber, I get to see stories before they're posted to the general public. This means that I get to see the mistakes -- the articles that almost made it, but got sent to the cutting room floor at the last minute. They become the Ghosts of Slashdot, a URL that points to nothing.Note that this is NOT the same as whining about article submissions that didn't get accepted! These stories were accepted, posted for subscribers, and then pulled from the site. Their brief existence gives us a glimpse into the Slashdot post-submission process, for those who are interested in what's going on behind the curtain.
Other Subscribers have joined the Ghost Hunt!
Here's a partial list:more to come...
Two pending stories (Score:1)
Re:Two pending stories (Score:2)