Hewlett-Packard offers new notebook batteries that last three times longer

Hewlett Packard USA has started offering notebooks that come with "green" Sonata batteries that offer better performance and last longer than "normal" batteries. These come with a three-year warranty -generally the life span of those notebooks they power.

The Enviro Series of batteries use certified environment-friendly technology from Boston Power. In addition to being long-lasting, they have rather low recharge time. These can be charged to 80 per cent capacity in just 30 minutes.

For start-up company Boston Power, the product release is a significant milestone. Company founders started three years ago with a fresh design to improve the performance and environmental sustainability of laptop batteries.

While typical laptop batteries start to lose performance after 100 or 150 charges, Boston Power says that its batteries can be charged 1,000 times and get "like new" performance. Boston Power also sought to use the environmentally conscious materials, eliminating the use PVC plastic and heavy metals cadmium, arsenic, or mercury in the manufacturing process.

"The Enviro Series program gives PC users longer-lasting batteries that improve their computing experience while reducing the number of batteries that need to be recycled," says Jonathan Kaye, director of consumer notebooks marketing at HP.

The new HP battery is available as a $149.99 accessory for 18 existing notebook models, representing approximately 70 per cent of HP's consumer notebook PC portfolio. Later this month it can be purchased as a point-of-sale option at an HP Web site. The battery's "drop-in" form factor enables it to be used with existing computers - including models in the HP Pavilion, HP HDX, Compaq Presario and HP G series.