IT market to pull through

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com


China's IT (information technology) market, which has been Presario NX9010 slowing down in recent years, appears poised for a mild recovery.


However, most IT products and service vendors are still encountering difficulties, as their profit margins continue declining amid red-hot competition.

China's IT market grew 23.7 per cent, year-on-year, in the year's first half, indicates Beijing-based data tracking firm CCW Research.

For all of 2003, the IT market grew 11 per cent.


In the second half of the 1990s, the annual growth of China's IT market Presario NX9000 hovered between 20 and 30 per cent.


However, the hike in this year's first half was partly the result of a marked slowdown in IT spending in the first half of last year, after SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) broke out in China, CCW said in a report.

During SARS, consumers avoided shopping, except when absolutely necessary, which put a big dent in IT vendors' businesses.

CCW predicts the IT market, in the second half of this year, will maintain a high growth rate, but that full-year growth will slip below 23.7 per cent.

Foreign giants are stepping up their marketing efforts in key IT product markets, and they are ready to continue cutting into domestic manufacturers' shares of the market, CCW warned.

Hardware


The PC market, plagued by lacklustre growth over the past three years, has steered itself Hp F2299A away from the gloom, CCW said.


PC shipments in the year's first half reached 6.363 million units, up 21.9 per cent year-on-year.

Desktop PC shipments grew 16 per cent to 5.245 million units during the period.

Business desktop shipments reached 2.935 million, up 19.4 per cent year-on-year.

Major business PC vendors - such as Lenovo, Founder, Dell, Tongfang and IBM - are focusing, in terms of competition, on costs and services.

Fewer firms are replacing their business desktops, due to the lack of new applications.

Consumer desktop shipments reached 2.31 million units in the year's first half, up 14.7 per cent.


Continuing price drops, in addition to the Hp F3172A sales boom of digital cameras and MP3 players, will boost the growth of the consumer desktop market, CCW said.


The research house predicts 11.4 million units of desktops will be sold in China this year, up 12.5 per cent year-on-year.

For the past three years, the growth rates were 16.7 per cent, 11.6 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively.

Laptops remain the shining light in China's PC market.

Notebook PC sales reached 980,900 units in the year's first half, up 53.3 per cent. Revenues hit 9.71 billion yuan (US$1.17 billion).

The competitive landscape remained largely unchanged, with big names such as IBM, Lenovo, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Founder holding a combined 68-per-cent share.

CCW predicts, for all of 2004, laptop shipments will exceed 2.1 million units, up 50.3 per cent year-on-year.

For the past three years, the growth of laptop shipments hit 59.6 per cent, 56.2 per cent and 50.1 per cent, respectively.

In the first half of this year, shipments of servers grew 21.6 per cent, year-on-year, to reach 137,000 units.

Revenues hit 7.14 billion yuan (US$860.2 million), CCW said.

Business demands, brought on by online games, short messaging service (SMS) and video on Hp Laptop Battery demand (VOD) will boost the server market growth.


IT spending by some industries including steel, oil, engineering and non-ferrous metals - will likely decrease in the year's second half, due to the Chinese Government's recent moves to cool down the overheated economy.

However, the decrease is unlikely to have a major impact on the server market, as those sectors are not major buyers of servers, CCW said.

Falling prices have sparked a sales boom in digital cameras.

The average price of digital cameras dropped about 15 per cent compared with last year, CCW said.

For some high-end digital cameras, the drop was nearly 30 per cent.


Shipments of digital cameras more than Hp F2019B tripled during the year's first half to reach 1.055 million units, while sales hit 2.65 billion yuan (US$319.2 million).


Compared with the second half of last year, growth in shipments and sales soared 80 per cent and 61.6 per cent, respectively.

The digital-camera buying spree boosted other sectors, such as the battery, storage product and printing and filming markets.

CCW predicts the size of China's market for digital-camera-related products will amount to 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) within three years.

Yet, digital camera manufacturers face strong competition from mobile phone makers.

Global giants such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson have launched mega-pixel camera phones in China.


And numerous domestic manufacturers are also planning to launch OmniBook 6000 such phones. Some will be enabled with three-mega-pixel built-in cameras.


That would apply great pressure on low-pixel digital camera manufacturers, CCW said.

The MP3 player market maintained its high growth in the year's first half, with shipments hitting 1.41 million, up 277.6 per cent year-on-year.

Sales totalled 1.13 billion yuan (US$136 million) during the period.

Major global players, such as Samsung, JNC, Sony and Creative, dominated the high-end market.

Falling prices of flash memory cards sparked price drops of MP3 players.

The average price of an MP3 player fell from 1,100 yuan (US$133) to 700 yuan (US$84).

MP3 players that can hold up to 128 megabytes are being phased out of the market.

In the second half of this year, 256-megabyte MP3 players will be the mainstream, CCW said.


The firm predicts sales of MP3 players will Hp F1739A reach 3 million units this year.


Big risks lurk, however, for makers of MP3 players, CCW warned.

Enhancements to handsets' functions and capacity expansion have already posed big threats to manufacturers of MP3 players.

Besides, the MP3 player market has become overcrowded, which will unavoidably batter profit margins.

The growth of China's network equipment market maintained steam in the year's first half.

Network gear sales - including routers, switches, ADSL (asymmetrical digital subscriber) lines and WLAN (wireless local area network) equipment - increased 24.2 per cent, year-on-year, to reach 11.3 billion yuan (US$1.36 billion).

Sales of routers hit 2.55 billion yuan (US$307.2 million), while sales of switches amounted to 3.52 billion yuan (US$424 million).

Sales of WLAN equipment hit 380 million yuan (US$45.78 million).


An increasing number of small and medium-sized businesses and households are buying Omnibook XE WLAN equipment, CCW said.


The firm predicts the size of the network equipment market will reach 12.5 billion yuan (US$1.506 billion) in the year's second half.

Software

China's software market grew 28.1 per cent, year-on-year, in the first half of this year, to reach 25.1 billion yuan (US$3.024 billion).

Finance-management software, collaboration software and middleware were the three brightest spots, CCW said.

The management software market recorded 32-per-cent growth, year-on-year, in the first half of this year.

The size of China's ERP (enterprise resource planning) market reached 1.19 billion yuan (US$143.3 million) in the period, up 29 per cent.

The HR (human resource) software market recorded an 80.4-per-cent increase.

The CRM (customer relations management) market sputtered: Its year-on-year growth stood at 2.2 per cent.


It will take more than five years for China's CRM F2024B market to mature, CCW said.


The middleware market grew 32 per cent, year-on-year, to reach 690 million yuan (US$83.13 million).

Middleware made by domestic companies is growing in popularity.

A survey conducted by CCW indicated only 11.5 per cent of users think the stability of home-grown middleware must be improved.

CCW said home-grown middleware makers are likely to gain a breakthrough this year.

The research house predicts, for the full year, China's middleware market will grow 35 per cent.

Over the next three years, the growth will be even faster.

The open-source Linux market grew 34 per cent, year-on-year, in the first half of this year, to reach 34.5 million yuan (US$4.156 million).

That represented a slight slowdown compared with last year.


TurboLinux and Red Flag Linux performed the Laptop battery best in the Linux software market.

Apple's music player wins following

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com


Two years ago, software designer Ian McFarland Hp Laptop Battery bought a Sony Vaio Music Clip, but after finding it slow to download music and ``no fun to use,'' he returned it.


He then tried a CD MP3 player, but rejected it as too ''clunky'' and listened to music on his laptop, until one day in a store, he found the iPod.

In December, McFarland decided to buy Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod MP3 player, which he now takes with him everywhere.

Among the reasons: In contrast to the one-hour capacity of Music Clip, McFarland estimates his iPod holds up to 20 hours of music, just over 600 songs, leaving him with 1.3 Gigabytes of storage space free.

``I love having my whole record collection with me while I'm driving,'' said McFarland, who makes regular trips to Los Angeles from his home in San Francisco, where he works as a consultant and is writing a book about Java.

At a retail price of $399, the iPod is pricier than other MP3 players, but its 1,000-song, 5-Gigabyte capacity, convenient size and sleek interface are attracting music lovers and geeks alike.


Following Apple tradition, the industrial design of the iPod is nothing short of cool and easy to use. But it Hp F2024A carries the same baggage that many Apple products before it have labored under -- its relatively high price tag and a technology that works only with the MacIntosh operating system, not the much more universal Windows. That threatens to keep the iPod inside the ``Apple ghetto,'' even though Apple sees it as a breakthrough product for the masses.


As ever for Apple, the design wins kudos. The white lucite and stainless Omnibook XE3 steel device -- the size of a deck of cards -- stands out from the generic black-box look of most other consumer electronics.


The iPod has few buttons and no knobs. A touch wheel allows users to scroll quickly through the music content, which can be categorized by artist, song or album title, or user-created playlist. Information is easy to read on a backlit two-inch diagonal LCD screen.

``I love the retro touches, the Chicago font. It's got this very early Macintosh (news - web sites) feel,'' McFarland said. ``It's got few controls, but they do everything you need. And I love the feel of the little wheel.''

SMALL SIZE, LARGE STORAGE

IPod buyers are willing to pay a premium for a small form factor and large storage capacity, analysts said. There is no other digital audio MP3 player available that holds as much music and is as small as the iPod.

Flash memory-based MP3 players are small, but don't hold many songs, while other hard drive-based players tend to be much bigger.

For example, the Rio Sonicblue 800, which sells for $225 to $300, is slightly smaller but has only 128-Megabyte flash memory and holds only four hours of music. Both the Rio Sonicblue 800 and the iPod feature batteries that last 10 hours.

Meanwhile, the 6-Gigabyte Nomad Jukebox from Creative Technology Ltd., priced from $200 to $300, has more storage, but weighs more than twice as much as the 6.5-ounce iPod and is about four times as big, according to Stan Ng, product line manager for the iPod. The Nomad's battery lasts about four hours.


``The iPod is less expensive on a per-megabyte basis,'' said Susan Kevorkian, a research analyst at International Hp 346970-001 Data Corp. in Mountain View, California. She predicted iPod prices will drop as more hard drive makers enter the growing market.


Only iPod uses Firewire technology allowing for download rates of up to 30 times the speed of other devices. Users can download 1000 songs in less than 10 minutes, while simultaneously recharging the battery, Ng said.

The iPod works with Apple's iTunes music jukebox technology, automatically transferring new songs onto the device when the iPod is connected to the computer.

Apple has skirted the piracy problem by giving the iPod only one-way transfer capability. Users can download songs to their iPod from only one machine and cannot transfer them from the iPod to any other device.

``Everything on here (iPod) I have a license for,'' McFarland said. ``I don't listen to anything directly off the CD anymore.''

MACINTOSH ONLY -- FOR NOW


For now, the iPod works only with computers running the Macintosh operating HSTNN-DB02 system, limiting its market to the 7 million people running Mac OS 9 or OS X, roughly 5 percent of the U.S. personal computer market, analysts said.


``The Mac community is backing it as their MP3 player,'' said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies in San Jose, California.

But at least one company, Mediafour Corp., is developing software that will allow iPod to work with Windows machines. Even without Windows compatibility, there's enough of a market to sustain sales.

``The iPod has been selling faster than we ever would have expected,'' said Thomas Armes, president and chief executive of Elite Computers & Software, California's largest Mac-only reseller. ``It's probably the fastest selling Apple product we've ever carried.''

Armes, whose offices are directly across the street from Apple's in Cupertino, California, said he sold out of the first shipment of 250 iPods in two weeks and has moved more than 700 since they hit the shelves Nov. 10.

In his keynote at Macworld on Monday, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs (news - web sites) said the company has sold about 125,000 iPods.

Other unique features of the iPod are its linguistic capabiliti4es -- it can display words in Japanese, French, German, Italian and Dutch -- and the fact that it can be used as a portable hard drive to store data and transfer it to another computer, Ng said.

In addition, the iPod features 20-minute skip protection, versus the usual 10 seconds CD players have, and high-fidelity head phones for good sound quality, he added.


``It's not going to change the world -- it's just an MP3 player,'' McFarland said. ``But it's such a big evolutionary HSTNN-UB02 step that it's significant.''

Mobile operator rings changes

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com

In a sign of the steep hurdles facing third-generation (3G) Hp Laptop Battery wireless technology, Japan's top mobile operator NTT DoCoMo Inc said last Friday it will replace all of its 1,400 3G mobile handsets.


"We are replacing handsets to improve their function, not because of technical problems," said Takumi Suzuki, a DoCoMo spokesman.

He did not say when the handsets, the N2001 model made by NEC Corp and distributed to users when trial 3G services began in Tokyo's 23 wards on May 30, would be replaced.


The move, effectively a recall, highlights Hp DP390A the difficulty DoCoMo is having with super-fast 3G technology, which allows quick Internet access and video and music downloads.


The 1,400 handsets were distributed at the launch along with 1,900 separate data transmission cards for laptop computers. DoCoMo has promised to deliver a delayed allotment of 1,200 handsets capable of video transmission by the end of June.

Analysts said DoCoMo's decision had been expected.

"The purpose of the trial service is to improve their handsets," said Kate Lye, a telecoms analyst at UBS Warburg.

"We (UBS) have one of those handsets here... It needs a lot of improvement. It's not a great handset. So it's good that they are making improvements," Lye added.

Users had been warned of the possibility of a recall or replacement.

Japanese newspapers reported that users would be given replacements starting in early July.


Users have reported to the media various glitches with the phones, including a hp PP2100 that ran out within a day, going out of range within the service area, dropped calls and the occasional freeze, whereby the phone stops functioning and has to be turned off then on again.


DoCoMo admitted there have been such claims but stressed the main reason for the replacement was to upgrade the phones.

"We are adding new features," such as the capability to connect handsets to a personal computer, DoCoMo's Suzuki said.

E-mail services on 3G and DoCoMo's i-Mode Internet-capable phones were disrupted a day after the launch but DoCoMo said this had nothing to do with 3G technology and blamed it on the computer servers handling Internet e-mail.

Analysts said, however, such glitches made it too early to tell whether plans to launch commercial 3G services on October 1 would be disrupted.

"I think it's far too early to judge that things could be difficult for October," said Lye, adding that the replacement costs would be minimal and have little impact on earnings.

"The biggest impact on DoCoMo for this rather than earnings is image and perception," she said. "As long as they manage that, I see little impact on earnings."

DoCoMo's President and Chief Executive Keiji Tachikawa said recently that its 3G service would be nationwide in a year, have 6 million users in three years and be profitable in four.


Managing its image will be a challenge for DoCoMo, after reports Presario R3000 this week that it plans to list its shares in New York and possibly London.

Steps to maximize the life of your battery

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com

There are actions you can take to make your battery last longer during each Hp zv5000 battery cycle and live longer over many cycles. HP always recommends following the instructions for charging and storage that came with the battery or notebook. On this page we offer additional suggestions to help you get the most from your portable power supply.

Manage battery power more effectively in Windows

Make sure your battery gives the power you need, when you need it. Power Options in Windows XP allow you to control the power management features of your notebook PC.


Learn more about the Power Options in Windows by visiting Microsoft's support site:

» Microsoft: Power Management in Windows XP

Tips for conserving Pavilion ZV6000 power on notebook PCs

You can manually change the power consumption of your notebook PC and conserve battery power.



•Reduce the brightness of the screen to the minimum readable level. Use the Fn and F7 or F8 keys to adjust the brightness.

•Remove peripherals when not in use. External hard drives, CD-ROMs, Zip drives, PC cards, and other peripheral devices can draw power from your battery even when they are not in active use. Disconnect them when you have finished using them.

•Reduce the speed of your processor. The faster your computer works, the more quickly it uses up the supply of power. By (Hp zv6000 battery )cutting down on processor speed, you can extend the charge of your battery. Methods to reduce processor speed vary from model to model, and your manual should provide instructions for doing so.

•Turn off the Wireless On-Off button when it is not in use. If your notebook has one, press the Wireless On-Off button so that the light turns off.



Battery care practices

Battery cells suffer gradual, irreversible capacity loss over time. Such aging occurs more rapidly as temperature and discharge loads increase. Here are some suggested ways to minimize the capacity loss for your Laptop battery.

Store Li-Ion batteries between 20°C and 25°C (68°F and 77°F) with 30% to 50% charge.

Do not leave batteries exposed to high temperatures for extended periods. Prolonged exposure to heat (for example, inside a hot car) will accelerate the deterioration of Li-Ion cells.


Remove the battery if the notebook will be stored (turned off and not Pavilion DV1000 plugged into AC power) for more than 2 weeks.


Remove the battery if the notebook will be plugged into AC power continuously (via a wall adapter or docking station) for more than 2 weeks.

Note: Recommendations for battery use and storage are covered in the HP User Guides for each model.



Calibrate the notebook PC battery

Short discharges and recharges do not fully synchronize the Hp dv1000 battery's fuel gauge with the battery's state-of-charge. This can result in the amount of power available in one cycle being less than expected or the battery meter being inaccurate.

Under normal usage, batteries should be calibrated a minimum of once every 3 months. Your battery can be calibrated by following these steps:

Step 1 - Disable the Windows Power Management

1.In Windows, right-click the Desktop and select Properties in the menu list.

2.Click the Screen Saver tab and then click the Power button.

3.Under Power schemes, select Always On in the drop down menu.

4.Under Settings for Always Hp PF723A On power scheme, select Never in each of the drop down menus.

5.Click OK on the Power Options Properties window and then click OK on the Display Properties window.

Step 2 - Fully charge the battery



1.Connect the AC adapter to the notebook.

2.Charge the battery until the Windows battery meter is at 100%.

Step 3 - Fully discharge the battery

1.Remove the AC adapter.

2.Keep the notebook on until the battery has completely drained and the notebook automatically turns off.

3.Connect the AC adapter to the notebook.

4.Keep the AC adapter connected to the notebook until the battery has completely charged.

Step 4 - Enable the Windows Power Management


1.In Windows, right-click the Desktop and select Hp 367759-001 Properties in the menu list.

2.Click the Screen Saver tab and then click the Power button.

3.Under Power schemes, select Portable/Laptop in the drop down menu.

4.Click OK on the Power Options Properties window and then click OK on the Display Properties window.

PC makers embark on a rural journey

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com

China's rural populace had never been taken seriously by the technology Hp PM579A firms. But it is the same rural populace that is now offering hope for computer makers as sales in the urban markets have declined due to the global financial crisis.


The government's decision to offer a 13 percent subsidy for rural consumers to buy home appliances, has recently been extended to computers also. Chinese farmers have shown an unprecedented enthusiasm for computers, opening up new vistas for PC makers beset by flat and stagnant PC sales in urban markets.


Zhai Jianshe, a 48-year-old farmer from Wuji county, Hebei province, had charted plans to buy a computer last November when his Hp Laptop Battery son got married, but gave up the idea as prices were too high at that time. Last month, soon after the government extended the subsidy to computer buyers, he bought a Lenovo desktop from a local dealer so that he could get connected and check local market information for his produce.


"I sold my corn at 0.64 yuan (per 500 g) a few months ago but now the price has risen to 0.7 yuan," Zhai said. "And now I can check market information through my PC and also choose the best time to sell products."


According to the National Bureau of Statistics, China had 727.5 million rural residents last year. But their annual average net income was only 4,761 yuan. The low income had greatly limited rural consumers' capability to purchase computers, as even the cheapest products Laptop battery would cost nearly half their annual incomes.


However, computer makers believe that rural consumes are ready to buy the products that they had till now regarded as a useless luxury as it not only fulfils their unique demand but also helps them earn more money. China's huge number of migrant workers, who account for nearly 2.6 percent of the Internet users, are also helping fuel the PC demand.

"Computers for rural consumers must be different from those sold in urban areas as the demands are diversified," said Chi Hai, product manager, Lenovo. "According to our research, entertainment, children's education and agriculture information are the major reasons that rural consumers would buy a computer. So we have developed three different product lines to meet these demands."

In order to lure rural consumers, Lenovo has partnered with telephone operator China Telecom to provide a one-year service of streaming online movies and soap operas for free for its users. The company has also joined hands with domestic online education service providers to provide free online courses for children via its products. It has even teamed up with China's Ministry of Agriculture, to enable access for Lenovo users to the government's database to check agricultural data and local market information for free.


Chi said Lenovo's rural products save power to the extent of 30 to 50 percent and have Pavilion DV4000(Hp dv4000 battery) also been specially designed to withstand voltage fluctuations and the humid environment. The company expects rural buyers to account for 30 percent of its desktop sales and 5 to 10 percent of its laptop sales in China this year, said Liu Jie, vice-president, Lenovo.


Distribution network

However, developing proper products for rural consumers alone is not enough to guarantee a success for PC makers. China's rural population is widely scattered, hence establishing a nationwide distribution network and after-sale service network is vital for a robust PC market.

Domestic home appliance maker Haier said earlier this year that it plans to set up 10,000 sales outlets and 5,000 service depots in rural areas. Lenovo also announced this month that it plans to establish 700 county-level stores and 7,800 sales and service outlets over the next three years.

"Our plan is to make sure that rural consumers in China can reach our sales people within an hour," said Liu from Lenovo, adding that the company plans to hire sales staff in over 320,000 villages across the country.

Companies like Hewlett Packard, Dell and other domestic PC vendors have also announced their plans to build more outlets in China's rural areas.


However, building up a national network that covers most of the rural areas could prove to be Pavilion ZE2000 costly. As rural consumers have lower purchasing power and often lack basic computer knowledge, it would be difficult for computer makers to get favorable returns on investment in these areas.


HP, for example, has long been limited its distribution network in China's eastern coastal regions, where farmers have better revenue than their peers in western areas. Last month, the company launched a program that aims to establish 100 computer centers in western rural areas, a wary step to expand into rural inland China.


Isaiah Cheung, general manager of HP's computer business in Hp ze2000 battery China, said he hopes the revenue from small and remote areas could account for 40 percent of HP's business in China after the harvest plan in the next three years.


Liu Jie from Lenovo said as long as the distribution network is well organized, it would bring in revenue continuously. He said the company has signed contracts with local distribution partners and would continuously check their performances. "Our aggressive expansion in rural areas will not put much pressure on our profit margins," he said.

Rural marketing

Compared with developing products and establishing distribution network, marketing in rural areas is also an art that the major computer makers are not familiar with.

Different from their urban peers, consumers in rural areas are more easily influenced by promotional events and almost always buy the same products as their neighbors and friends. Many rural consumers also choose to buy a computer as a part of the "must-have" appliances when a new couple gets married, forcing many PC vendors to change their product colors from traditional black to red, an auspicious color in Chinese culture.


Since 2006, Lenovo has been conducting an annual campaign titled "Lenovo Olympic Activities in 1,000 Presario M2000 Counties" to reach out to rural consumers. As part of this campaign, the company has invited many well-known Chinese athletes to participate in county tournaments.


HP has also joined forces with China Telecom to offer a "Computer + Broadband" service in areas like Taizhou and Nantong of Jiangsu Province, where users are being offered an HP Compaq desktop computer free of charge when they sign up with China Telecom's Broadband access and pay 198 yuan per month for 27 months for the Broadband Internet access.

Jiang Dekun, marketing director of Lenovo's consumer business group, said the company has started to adopt more localized tactics such as painting the Lenovo logo on village walls and advertising and promotion events in village broadcast stations and local fairs. She said Lenovo has even signed several contracts with village heads to help organize promotional events in local communities.

"Compared with our traditional marketing campaign, these tactics are much more inexpensive but very effective for rural consumers, as they are more close to their daily lives," said Jiang.


She said Lenovo has also shifted most of its rural advertising spending since conpaq m2000 battery last year from mass media to over 300 county-level television stations.

IT market to pull through

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com


China's IT (information technology) market, which has been Presario NX9010 slowing down in recent years, appears poised for a mild recovery.


However, most IT products and service vendors are still encountering difficulties, as their profit margins continue declining amid red-hot competition.

China's IT market grew 23.7 per cent, year-on-year, in the year's first half, indicates Beijing-based data tracking firm CCW Research.

For all of 2003, the IT market grew 11 per cent.


In the second half of the 1990s, the annual growth of China's IT market Presario NX9000 hovered between 20 and 30 per cent.


However, the hike in this year's first half was partly the result of a marked slowdown in IT spending in the first half of last year, after SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) broke out in China, CCW said in a report.

During SARS, consumers avoided shopping, except when absolutely necessary, which put a big dent in IT vendors' businesses.

CCW predicts the IT market, in the second half of this year, will maintain a high growth rate, but that full-year growth will slip below 23.7 per cent.

Foreign giants are stepping up their marketing efforts in key IT product markets, and they are ready to continue cutting into domestic manufacturers' shares of the market, CCW warned.

Hardware


The PC market, plagued by lacklustre growth over the past three years, has steered itself Hp F2299A away from the gloom, CCW said.


PC shipments in the year's first half reached 6.363 million units, up 21.9 per cent year-on-year.

Desktop PC shipments grew 16 per cent to 5.245 million units during the period.

Business desktop shipments reached 2.935 million, up 19.4 per cent year-on-year.

Major business PC vendors - such as Lenovo, Founder, Dell, Tongfang and IBM - are focusing, in terms of competition, on costs and services.

Fewer firms are replacing their business desktops, due to the lack of new applications.

Consumer desktop shipments reached 2.31 million units in the year's first half, up 14.7 per cent.


Continuing price drops, in addition to the Hp F3172A sales boom of digital cameras and MP3 players, will boost the growth of the consumer desktop market, CCW said.


The research house predicts 11.4 million units of desktops will be sold in China this year, up 12.5 per cent year-on-year.

For the past three years, the growth rates were 16.7 per cent, 11.6 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively.

Laptops remain the shining light in China's PC market.

Notebook PC sales reached 980,900 units in the year's first half, up 53.3 per cent. Revenues hit 9.71 billion yuan (US$1.17 billion).

The competitive landscape remained largely unchanged, with big names such as IBM, Lenovo, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Founder holding a combined 68-per-cent share.

CCW predicts, for all of 2004, laptop shipments will exceed 2.1 million units, up 50.3 per cent year-on-year.

For the past three years, the growth of laptop shipments hit 59.6 per cent, 56.2 per cent and 50.1 per cent, respectively.

In the first half of this year, shipments of servers grew 21.6 per cent, year-on-year, to reach 137,000 units.

Revenues hit 7.14 billion yuan (US$860.2 million), CCW said.

Business demands, brought on by online games, short messaging service (SMS) and video on Hp Laptop Battery demand (VOD) will boost the server market growth.


IT spending by some industries including steel, oil, engineering and non-ferrous metals - will likely decrease in the year's second half, due to the Chinese Government's recent moves to cool down the overheated economy.

However, the decrease is unlikely to have a major impact on the server market, as those sectors are not major buyers of servers, CCW said.

Falling prices have sparked a sales boom in digital cameras.

The average price of digital cameras dropped about 15 per cent compared with last year, CCW said.

For some high-end digital cameras, the drop was nearly 30 per cent.


Shipments of digital cameras more than Hp F2019B tripled during the year's first half to reach 1.055 million units, while sales hit 2.65 billion yuan (US$319.2 million).


Compared with the second half of last year, growth in shipments and sales soared 80 per cent and 61.6 per cent, respectively.

The digital-camera buying spree boosted other sectors, such as the battery, storage product and printing and filming markets.

CCW predicts the size of China's market for digital-camera-related products will amount to 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) within three years.

Yet, digital camera manufacturers face strong competition from mobile phone makers.

Global giants such as Nokia and Sony Ericsson have launched mega-pixel camera phones in China.


And numerous domestic manufacturers are also planning to launch OmniBook 6000 such phones. Some will be enabled with three-mega-pixel built-in cameras.


That would apply great pressure on low-pixel digital camera manufacturers, CCW said.

The MP3 player market maintained its high growth in the year's first half, with shipments hitting 1.41 million, up 277.6 per cent year-on-year.

Sales totalled 1.13 billion yuan (US$136 million) during the period.

Major global players, such as Samsung, JNC, Sony and Creative, dominated the high-end market.

Falling prices of flash memory cards sparked price drops of MP3 players.

The average price of an MP3 player fell from 1,100 yuan (US$133) to 700 yuan (US$84).

MP3 players that can hold up to 128 megabytes are being phased out of the market.

In the second half of this year, 256-megabyte MP3 players will be the mainstream, CCW said.


The firm predicts sales of MP3 players will Hp F1739A reach 3 million units this year.


Big risks lurk, however, for makers of MP3 players, CCW warned.

Enhancements to handsets' functions and capacity expansion have already posed big threats to manufacturers of MP3 players.

Besides, the MP3 player market has become overcrowded, which will unavoidably batter profit margins.

The growth of China's network equipment market maintained steam in the year's first half.

Network gear sales - including routers, switches, ADSL (asymmetrical digital subscriber) lines and WLAN (wireless local area network) equipment - increased 24.2 per cent, year-on-year, to reach 11.3 billion yuan (US$1.36 billion).

Sales of routers hit 2.55 billion yuan (US$307.2 million), while sales of switches amounted to 3.52 billion yuan (US$424 million).

Sales of WLAN equipment hit 380 million yuan (US$45.78 million).


An increasing number of small and medium-sized businesses and households are buying Omnibook XE WLAN equipment, CCW said.


The firm predicts the size of the network equipment market will reach 12.5 billion yuan (US$1.506 billion) in the year's second half.

Software

China's software market grew 28.1 per cent, year-on-year, in the first half of this year, to reach 25.1 billion yuan (US$3.024 billion).

Finance-management software, collaboration software and middleware were the three brightest spots, CCW said.

The management software market recorded 32-per-cent growth, year-on-year, in the first half of this year.

The size of China's ERP (enterprise resource planning) market reached 1.19 billion yuan (US$143.3 million) in the period, up 29 per cent.

The HR (human resource) software market recorded an 80.4-per-cent increase.

The CRM (customer relations management) market sputtered: Its year-on-year growth stood at 2.2 per cent.


It will take more than five years for China's CRM F2024B market to mature, CCW said.


The middleware market grew 32 per cent, year-on-year, to reach 690 million yuan (US$83.13 million).

Middleware made by domestic companies is growing in popularity.

A survey conducted by CCW indicated only 11.5 per cent of users think the stability of home-grown middleware must be improved.

CCW said home-grown middleware makers are likely to gain a breakthrough this year.

The research house predicts, for the full year, China's middleware market will grow 35 per cent.

Over the next three years, the growth will be even faster.

The open-source Linux market grew 34 per cent, year-on-year, in the first half of this year, to reach 34.5 million yuan (US$4.156 million).

That represented a slight slowdown compared with last year.


TurboLinux and Red Flag Linux performed the Laptop battery best in the Linux software market.

Apple's music player wins following

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com


Two years ago, software designer Ian McFarland Hp Laptop Battery bought a Sony Vaio Music Clip, but after finding it slow to download music and ``no fun to use,'' he returned it.


He then tried a CD MP3 player, but rejected it as too ''clunky'' and listened to music on his laptop, until one day in a store, he found the iPod.

In December, McFarland decided to buy Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod MP3 player, which he now takes with him everywhere.

Among the reasons: In contrast to the one-hour capacity of Music Clip, McFarland estimates his iPod holds up to 20 hours of music, just over 600 songs, leaving him with 1.3 Gigabytes of storage space free.

``I love having my whole record collection with me while I'm driving,'' said McFarland, who makes regular trips to Los Angeles from his home in San Francisco, where he works as a consultant and is writing a book about Java.

At a retail price of $399, the iPod is pricier than other MP3 players, but its 1,000-song, 5-Gigabyte capacity, convenient size and sleek interface are attracting music lovers and geeks alike.


Following Apple tradition, the industrial design of the iPod is nothing short of cool and easy to use. But it Hp F2024A carries the same baggage that many Apple products before it have labored under -- its relatively high price tag and a technology that works only with the MacIntosh operating system, not the much more universal Windows. That threatens to keep the iPod inside the ``Apple ghetto,'' even though Apple sees it as a breakthrough product for the masses.


As ever for Apple, the design wins kudos. The white lucite and stainless Omnibook XE3 steel device -- the size of a deck of cards -- stands out from the generic black-box look of most other consumer electronics.


The iPod has few buttons and no knobs. A touch wheel allows users to scroll quickly through the music content, which can be categorized by artist, song or album title, or user-created playlist. Information is easy to read on a backlit two-inch diagonal LCD screen.

``I love the retro touches, the Chicago font. It's got this very early Macintosh (news - web sites) feel,'' McFarland said. ``It's got few controls, but they do everything you need. And I love the feel of the little wheel.''

SMALL SIZE, LARGE STORAGE

IPod buyers are willing to pay a premium for a small form factor and large storage capacity, analysts said. There is no other digital audio MP3 player available that holds as much music and is as small as the iPod.

Flash memory-based MP3 players are small, but don't hold many songs, while other hard drive-based players tend to be much bigger.

For example, the Rio Sonicblue 800, which sells for $225 to $300, is slightly smaller but has only 128-Megabyte flash memory and holds only four hours of music. Both the Rio Sonicblue 800 and the iPod feature batteries that last 10 hours.

Meanwhile, the 6-Gigabyte Nomad Jukebox from Creative Technology Ltd., priced from $200 to $300, has more storage, but weighs more than twice as much as the 6.5-ounce iPod and is about four times as big, according to Stan Ng, product line manager for the iPod. The Nomad's battery lasts about four hours.


``The iPod is less expensive on a per-megabyte basis,'' said Susan Kevorkian, a research analyst at International Hp 346970-001 Data Corp. in Mountain View, California. She predicted iPod prices will drop as more hard drive makers enter the growing market.


Only iPod uses Firewire technology allowing for download rates of up to 30 times the speed of other devices. Users can download 1000 songs in less than 10 minutes, while simultaneously recharging the battery, Ng said.

The iPod works with Apple's iTunes music jukebox technology, automatically transferring new songs onto the device when the iPod is connected to the computer.

Apple has skirted the piracy problem by giving the iPod only one-way transfer capability. Users can download songs to their iPod from only one machine and cannot transfer them from the iPod to any other device.

``Everything on here (iPod) I have a license for,'' McFarland said. ``I don't listen to anything directly off the CD anymore.''

MACINTOSH ONLY -- FOR NOW


For now, the iPod works only with computers running the Macintosh operating HSTNN-DB02 system, limiting its market to the 7 million people running Mac OS 9 or OS X, roughly 5 percent of the U.S. personal computer market, analysts said.


``The Mac community is backing it as their MP3 player,'' said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies in San Jose, California.

But at least one company, Mediafour Corp., is developing software that will allow iPod to work with Windows machines. Even without Windows compatibility, there's enough of a market to sustain sales.

``The iPod has been selling faster than we ever would have expected,'' said Thomas Armes, president and chief executive of Elite Computers & Software, California's largest Mac-only reseller. ``It's probably the fastest selling Apple product we've ever carried.''

Armes, whose offices are directly across the street from Apple's in Cupertino, California, said he sold out of the first shipment of 250 iPods in two weeks and has moved more than 700 since they hit the shelves Nov. 10.

In his keynote at Macworld on Monday, Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs (news - web sites) said the company has sold about 125,000 iPods.

Other unique features of the iPod are its linguistic capabiliti4es -- it can display words in Japanese, French, German, Italian and Dutch -- and the fact that it can be used as a portable hard drive to store data and transfer it to another computer, Ng said.

In addition, the iPod features 20-minute skip protection, versus the usual 10 seconds CD players have, and high-fidelity head phones for good sound quality, he added.


``It's not going to change the world -- it's just an MP3 player,'' McFarland said. ``But it's such a big evolutionary HSTNN-UB02 step that it's significant.''

Mobile operator rings changes

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com

In a sign of the steep hurdles facing third-generation (3G) Hp Laptop Battery wireless technology, Japan's top mobile operator NTT DoCoMo Inc said last Friday it will replace all of its 1,400 3G mobile handsets.


"We are replacing handsets to improve their function, not because of technical problems," said Takumi Suzuki, a DoCoMo spokesman.

He did not say when the handsets, the N2001 model made by NEC Corp and distributed to users when trial 3G services began in Tokyo's 23 wards on May 30, would be replaced.


The move, effectively a recall, highlights Hp DP390A the difficulty DoCoMo is having with super-fast 3G technology, which allows quick Internet access and video and music downloads.


The 1,400 handsets were distributed at the launch along with 1,900 separate data transmission cards for laptop computers. DoCoMo has promised to deliver a delayed allotment of 1,200 handsets capable of video transmission by the end of June.

Analysts said DoCoMo's decision had been expected.

"The purpose of the trial service is to improve their handsets," said Kate Lye, a telecoms analyst at UBS Warburg.

"We (UBS) have one of those handsets here... It needs a lot of improvement. It's not a great handset. So it's good that they are making improvements," Lye added.

Users had been warned of the possibility of a recall or replacement.

Japanese newspapers reported that users would be given replacements starting in early July.


Users have reported to the media various glitches with the phones, including a hp PP2100 that ran out within a day, going out of range within the service area, dropped calls and the occasional freeze, whereby the phone stops functioning and has to be turned off then on again.


DoCoMo admitted there have been such claims but stressed the main reason for the replacement was to upgrade the phones.

"We are adding new features," such as the capability to connect handsets to a personal computer, DoCoMo's Suzuki said.

E-mail services on 3G and DoCoMo's i-Mode Internet-capable phones were disrupted a day after the launch but DoCoMo said this had nothing to do with 3G technology and blamed it on the computer servers handling Internet e-mail.

Analysts said, however, such glitches made it too early to tell whether plans to launch commercial 3G services on October 1 would be disrupted.

"I think it's far too early to judge that things could be difficult for October," said Lye, adding that the replacement costs would be minimal and have little impact on earnings.

"The biggest impact on DoCoMo for this rather than earnings is image and perception," she said. "As long as they manage that, I see little impact on earnings."

DoCoMo's President and Chief Executive Keiji Tachikawa said recently that its 3G service would be nationwide in a year, have 6 million users in three years and be profitable in four.


Managing its image will be a challenge for DoCoMo, after reports Presario R3000 this week that it plans to list its shares in New York and possibly London.

Toshiba recalls 340,000 HP batteries for laptops

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com

Toshiba is recalling worldwide 340,000 Hp Laptop Battery batteries made by HP Corp. for its laptops because of problems in recharging them, the latest in a series of embarrassing battery problems for long-respected HP.


A Toshiba notebooA Toshiba notebook. Japanese electronics giant Toshiba is to recall 340,000 laptop computers worldwide due to defective batteries made by rival HP, which is already facing woes over its batteries. [AFP]

The batteries sometimes stop recharging or run out of power, but no injuries or other accidents have been reported, Toshiba Corp. spokesman Keisuke Omori said Tuesday, while declining to give the number for reported problems.

The defect is not directly related to the problem behind last month's recall of Laptop battery by Dell and Apple, which cited concerns that the batteries could overheat and catch fire.


Dell Inc. asked customers to return 4.1 million faulty laptop batteries, while Apple Computer Inc. recalled 1.8 million batteries worldwide.

In both those cases, the troubled lithium-ion batteries were made by HP Energy Devices Corp., a Japan-based subsidiary of HP Corp.

Tuesday's recall affects 100,000 laptop batteries in the U.S., 45,000 in Japan, and the rest in other parts of the world, Omori said.

The problems are found in some of the Hp F4098A packs for Dynabook and Satellite laptop models manufactured by Tokyo-based Toshiba from March through May this year, and they will be replaced for free, he said.


The series of production problems at HP comes at a crucial time when the Tokyo-based electronics and entertainment company behind the Walkman portable player and PlayStation video game machines has been trying to bolster its brand image under the leadership of its first foreign executive, Welsh-born Howard Stringer.

Earlier this month, HP said it would postpone the European launch of its PlayStation 3 by four months to March over problems with producing a component in the Blu-ray disc part of the machine.

The much-awaited upgrade console is set to hit stores in November in the United States and Japan as planned, but fewer units will be available, according to Ken Kutaragi, the executive in charge of the project.


Last week, HP said it will postpone by a week until September 23 the Japanese Hp F4809A launch of its new digital Walkman because of a malfunction of an unspecified part of the portable music player.


HP has been fighting to make a comeback after falling behind Apple in portable music players and other rivals, including Samsung Electronics Co. of South Korea, in flat-panel TVs _ both hit electronics products in recent years. HP has been successful in selling slimmed down TVs lately with panels made in a joint venture with Samsung.

HP shares edged down 0.8 percent to close at 4,930 yen (US$42; euro33) in Tokyo, while Toshiba shares climbed 0.5 percent to 796 yen (US$6.70; euro5.30).

leading 64-bit thin and light era

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com


With the advent of mobile era, the "business responding" anytime anywhere and "mobile office" have become a trendy thing, putting forward much higher requirement on the speed and mobility of laptop PC products. Nevertheless, this also indicates a new development opportunity for Laptop battery PC vendors: those who act earlier will win the advantages in the future competition.


On November 15, Asus held a releasing ceremony entitled "my way, my speed"---Asus laptop PC takes the lead of 64-bit thin and light era. On the announcement ceremony, the company launched the first model of 64-bit thin and light laptop PC with 14" screen---W3Z. As the main product released by Asus this time, W3Z incorporated AMD TurionTM 64 mobile computing technology with Asus elegant design of "thin and light expert" on notebook PC, expanding its advantages into the 64-bit tech and make W3Z the very first 64-bit thin and light laptop PC in real sense on the market that offers a reliable option for users who are sensitive on speed and mobility.


Positioned as a mainstream business product, W3Z carries on with the representative Hp F4812A styles of Asus W3 series in design, combining the ancient Yunmen dance with Chinese bamboo culture in the designing concept: one battery in the shape of bamboo is naturally connected with the display and the main body, adding more beauty to the spindle which is going to move around in a much smooth manner. In the meantime, the buckle-free design makes the product show much stronger oneness feature in the outlook, combining the display with product's main body in a more natural way. The case of the laptop uses carbon-fiber alloy that is strong in quality but looks quite gentle.


In the configurations, W3Z incorporates AMD TurionTM 64 mobile computing technology with its memory of 512MB being able to scale up to 2GB，the optional hard-drives Hp 319411-001 range from 40 to 100GB while the 14" wide screen will vividly illustrate the real-life pictures and the shocking speed of 64 bit. AMD TurionTM 64 mobile computing tech features an optimization in the areas of laptop PC's thin and light body, long battery life, security, the compatibility of wireless and graphical technology. ATI RS480M is an ideal chipset in the combination with AMD TurionTM 64, whose built-in Radeon Xpress 200M graphics-processing unit has very good 3D processing capability that will meet the needs of ordinary business applications and home entertainment.


Moreover, it supports both 32 bit and 64-bit Hp Laptop Battery computation, saving users' additional investment to enjoy the benefits brought by the 64-bit technology. W3Z is equipped with optional built-in blue-tooth 2.0 module and wireless network module and its data transmission speed is 3 times the ordinary blue-tooth 1.2 protocol, offering full and immediate support to business users for communications anytime anywhere. With the 5-in-1 Card Reader as well as the diversified interfaces of IEEE1394, SPDIF and VGA, W3Z can be connected with almost all digital devices, helping users to merge into the digital tide. The built-in CD-ROM can be replaced with a second HDD at any moment, which is quite easy for data backup or enable the second battery to have longer mobile usage life.


Furthermore, W3Z is also equipped with multiple Asus patented proprietary technologies like AUDIO DJ, NB PC Probe 3.0 intelligent diagnosis tech, ADTDII dynamic heat dissipation tech, Power 4 Gear+ smart power-saving tech, etc., providing complete and strong support for users' mobile digital life in terms of entertainment, system stability, heat dissipation and power saving.


Asus' AUDIO DJ tech makes it possible to play music without having to turn on the machine, enabling business users to enjoy amusing digital life amid busy work. In addition, it features better power saving that is compliant with the trend of energy-saving and environmental friendly of laptop PC. The NB PC Probe 3.0 intelligent diagnosis tech is able to monitor the system's temperature online, displaying the temperature changes of major heating components like CPU, forwarding the accurate temperature status to the host through Presario 2100(Compaq 2100 battery) temperature sensor on the motherboard. Meanwhile, it will automatically fix the fan's operational condition with the monitor, setting up the functions of temperature alarm, system shutdown, etc. so as to prevent the host from being damaged due to over-use or mal-operation, offering users with ease-of-mind in applications.


The convergence of Asus proprietary ADTDII dynamic heat dissipation tech and Power4 Gear+ intelligent power-saving tech with AMD TurionTM 64 mobile computing tech creates the outstanding performance of W3Z in speed and thin size： the ADTDII dynamic heat dissipation tech successfully solves the heat dissipation issue of laptop PC within limited space, providing solid technical support for W3Z to fully demonstrate its high performance of 64-bit, making it a very stable and thin and light working and amusement Presario 2500 platform. Moreover, by incorporating the Power 4 Gear+ smart power-saving tech, W3Z's dual-battery life is extended up to seven hours that offers long-effective power support for businessmen in their 64-bit digital trip. All these unique features work to make W3Z an outstanding product out of the identical peers made by other vendors.


The marketing specialists think that the era of 64-bit is approaching rapidly with thin and light outlook and good portability being the ever-lasting trend of notebook PC. With the two most notable characteristics of 64-bit speed and light weight, Asus W3Z laptop PC not just provides users with much faster and lighter mobile life experiences, but also drives Asus notebook PC to move ahead of its peers in the era of 64-bit featuring thin and light.

For more detailed information, please visit Asus website: www.asus.com.

About Asus?


Asus PC is a leading international-level 3C solution provider in IT industry, whose products range from motherboard, notebook PC, graphic cards, server, wide-frequency communication, cable modem to optical storage devices. It has a total headcount of 58,000 worldwide in addition to a world-level engineering tech R&D team. Its annual business turnover is Compaq 2500 battery over US$7.7 billion. The company's mission is to provide consumers and corporate clients with the most innovative technological solutions. Between 1998-2005, Asus is listed by America's Business Week as one of the Top 100 IT companies for eight years in succession.

Wires, batteries will soon be things of past

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com

No more batteries, no more chargers and no more wire spaghetti. This is the future promised by "wireless power", a means of broadcasting electricity through the air to Latitude X300, iPods and other gadgets without the need for cables and sockets.


Untethered lighting, audio speakers and digital dell W0465 picture frames are expected to be among the first commercial products demonstrated in Las Vegas this week at the International Consumer Electronics Show, the world's biggest gadgets tradeshow.


Experts believe this is just the beginning and that eventually wireless electricity - dubbed "WiTricity" by some - could do for battery life what WiFi did for the Internet. In a world without wires, laptop users in cafes and airport terminals would be inside an "electricity hotspot" and no longer have to delve past legs, bags and furniture in search of an awkwardly located Inspiron 2000 socket.


"You'd be able to buy a desk that charged any gadget placed on it, or power any PC you put on top," said James Holland, editor of gadgets website Electricpig.co.uk.

"If each room had wireless power, you'd know that once you walked through the front door your mobile would start charging up - even while still in your bag or pocket. You'd never need to hunt for the right charger again."

Among the companies showcasing the ambitious technology at CES is PowerBeam. Its system turns electricity into an invisible laser, then literally beams it, as heat, across the room to a solar cell that converts it back into electricity.

David Graham, the co-founder of PowerBeam, said: "We're going to delete the word 'recharge' from the English dictionary. If your cell phone is recharging on your desk all day, you won't be thinking about it."


The Silicon Valley company can currently use a laser Latitude LS to generate about 1.5 watts of power to a solar cell 10 meters away. This would be enough to power an electronic speaker or small LED lights, but not enough to operate a laptop, which requires an estimated 30 to 50 watts. However, Graham said that the technology could dell 2834T comfortably be scaled up.


PowerBeam insists its laser does not pose a risk to users' health because it is simply moving heat from one place to another. Graham said that, if someone walked through the beam, it would shut down within a thousandth of a second, then restart once the path is clear. The technology also promises energy 4834T efficiency because it would only power products when needed.

Smaller batteries will pack more power

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com

Think of an electric car that can accelerate swiftly to cruising Inspiron 2200 speed, laptop computers that can recharge in a couple of minutes rather than hours and a generation of super-miniature mobile phones.


That's the vision sketched yesterday by a pair of scientists in the United States, unveiling an invention that they say could lead to a smaller, lighter and more power-packed lithium battery than anything available today.

Current batteries made of lithium iron phosphate (LiFePO4) are good at storing large amounts of electricity but stumble at releasing it.


They are better at dispensing the dell 312-0292 power in a steady flow than at discharging it or gaining it in a sudden burst.


As a result, electric cars perform best when traveling along the motorway at a constant speed rather than when they are accelerating, and their batteries take hours to recharge when they run down.

Until now, the finger of blame has pointed at charged lithium atoms. These ions, along with electrons, move too sluggishly through the battery material before arriving at the terminal to deliver their charge - or so it was thought.


But a pair of materials experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say the problem lies not with the ions but rather at how the ions gain access to nano-scale tunnels that riddle the material INSPIRON 2600 and transport the electrons to their destination.


Their solution was a lithium phosphate coating that, like a system of feeder roads, nudges the ions towards the tunnels. The ions then zip instantly down the tunnel entrance and to the terminal.

A small cell phone battery can be recharged in just 10 seconds thanks to the improved ion flow, they report in the British journal Nature.


In theory, a large battery that would be used to power a plug-in hybrid electric car could be recharged in just five INSPIRON 2650 minutes, compared to up to six or eight hours at present. But this would only be possible if a beefed-up electricity supply were available.


Unlike other battery materials, the tweaked LiFePO4 does not degrade as much when repeatedly charged and recharged. This opens the way to smaller and lighter batteries, which will not need such heft to deliver the same power, MIT said in a press release.

The invention, which was supported by US government funds, has already been licensed by two companies, MIT said.


Because the material involved is not new - the difference is the way it is dell 1G222 made - "the work could make it into the marketplace within two to three years," it said.


The invention is the latest claimed advance in the quest to replace conventional electro-chemical batteries, which are heavy, lack energy density and take time to recharge.


Research in this field ranges from updated lithium-ion technology to hydrogen dell BAT3151L8 and combinations of a battery with so-called ultracapacitors that harness exotic materials such as barium titanate to deliver a jolt.

Small and beautiful

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com

With digital products becoming ever smaller, Beijing Weekend Guide zeroes in on two of the smallest hi-tech dell KD476 widgets you can find in town.


Apple released its new iPod shuffle in the middle of March, but Beijing consumers saw it on sale at the Apple Sanlitun Store only last month. This is the third generation of iPod shuffle MP3 players, which is smaller than an AA size battery. Priced at 608 yuan, it comes in two colors - silver and black.


All the controls are located on the earphone cord. The iPod dell TD347 shuffle does not disappoint. It is the first MP3 player which can actually talk to you. The new VoiceOver function enables it spell out your song titles, artists and playlists. It is also multi-lingual and automatically selects the best language for your songs. The small shuffle can "speak" 14 languages including Polish, Greek, Italian, Japanese and French.


Though Apple has the thinnest laptop Mac Air, the credit for the smallest one goes to Sony Vaio P. You can put the 1.4-pound device into your jean pocket. Though the keyboards are so small that you may even feel a little uncomfortable while typing, its WiFi is a big Inspiron 1000 plus. It even has Windows Vista installed, and comes with a disc space of 60GB or 128GB. It is more like an all-function mobile disc. So, no worries if your boss suddenly asks you to send him an e-mail while you are out having fun in Sanlitun. All you need is Vaio P.

Sudden fuel price hike ruled out

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com

The government ruled out any immediate increase in fuel prices Inspiron 8600 on Friday despite increasing market speculation about a possible hike, top pricing officials said.


Officials at the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said the recent oil price rise on the global market indicated that the domestic fuel prices should be raised.


But Xu Kunlin, deputy director of NDRC's pricing department, told a news briefing on Friday that the authorities would only Inspiron 6400 increase prices after further careful consideration.


According to the fuel pricing mechanism announced on Friday, China will adjust its fuel prices when global crude oil costs fluctuate more than 4 percent over 22 straight working days.


The global crude oil price has been increasing Inspiron E1505 since March, rising from $35 a barrel to around $58 on Thursday.


This was the first time the government made public its fuel pricing mechanism since it announced last December that it would link domestic gasoline and diesel prices to the international market.

Xu said many oil traders had engaged in speculative dealing in recent days amid rumors of a price hike. "To prevent speculative trading, we will not adjust oil prices exactly in line with the benchmarks set in the regulation."

"And of course, we will not increase the prices today (Friday) so that they can profit from speculation," Xu said.


The government raised the benchmark retail price of gasoline by 290 yuan ($42) per ton, or 5 percent, and diesel dell Laptop Battery by 180 yuan per ton, or 3.7 percent, on March 25.


Xu said the price revisions show the new pricing mechanism that took effect on Jan 1 means the government can respond accordingly to international oil price changes.

He said the government would take the global economic situation into account when deciding the adjustment of oil prices. "For example, if the US economy continues to worsen and oil prices come down, we will not increase prices in the short term."


To prevent speculation, Xu ruled out announcing the timing of dell GD761 oil price adjustment in advance. "I don't think we need transparency in this regard."


Cao Changqing, director of the NDRC pricing department, said the Chinese government has tracked the trend of several oil markets worldwide.

China only monitored the oil price in Singapore in the 1990s. "We've learnt a lesson from that because that created many massive profit-making opportunities for speculators," he said.

PetroChina said on its website that China's ex-factory gasoline and diesel prices are linked to the prices of Brent, Dubai and Cinta crude oil, and it will also take into account transportation, processing, tax and refining costs.

Futuristic Laptop From Microsoft

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com

I have heard and seen enough of Origami, the futuristic laptop from Microsoft. I went Latitude D620 through the apparently secret video of product advertisement, I have seen numerous pictures of origami and I have decided. I hate it.

Origami is yet another monstrosity from Microsoft (with due regards to Windows). It is a clumsy product to carry in your hand. The ultralight tablet computer is several things rolled into one case. It is a laptop, a tablet pc, a media player among others. However it simply isn't something I would fancy to carry with me. It doesn't look robust for me to sit upon (yes I am fat) or use as food tray.

Neither is it going to be a conversation starter. It is easy to slip 312-0386 from your hands, doesn't fit in your pocket nor can it function as an effective weapon. I am serious. I am happy with my IBM laptop 600$ laptop cum tablet PC. It fits nicely in airplane seat tray, even when the passenger in front is reclining in full. I can use the attached notepad to scribble and it copies it to the computer. I can write my todo list in plan text and have numerous other goodies. If I ever want to switch it should be for something better or nicer looking, not a flat ugly product.

Microsoft should send its visual designers to Apple for rigorous training PC764 in the art of nice design. They may decide to leave but that is a risk they will have to take. Microsoft simply doesn't know how to design nice looking functional products, TD175 does.

Free Linux Software From Dell

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com

DKMS - Dynamic Kernel Module Support provides a framework where Inspiron 640m kernel dependent module source can reside so that it is very easy to rebuild modules as you upgrade kernels. This will allow Linux vendors to provide driver drops without having to wait for new kernel releases while also taking out the guesswork for customers attempting to recompile modules for new kernels.

EDD - BIOS Enhanced Disk Drive Services 3.0 (EDD) is mechanism to match x86 BIOS device names (e.g. int13 device 80h) to Linux device names (e.g. /dev/sda, /dev/hda). EDD implements the EDD specification under Linux.

Devlabel - Devlabel dynamically Y9943 creates symbolic links to disk / partition names. It uses the disk's and/or partition's unique identifiers to keep the symlink pointed to the correct location even if the underlying partition's name has changed.

Efibootmgr - The efibootmgr can create and destroy boot entries, change the boot order, change the next running boot option etc.

BIOSdisk - It simplifies the process of flashing system BIOS under Linux on Dell desktops and laptops.

DVD Store - The DVD Store Version 2 (DS2) is a complete online e-commerce test application, with a backend database component, a web application RC107 layer, and driver programs.

libsmbios - Libsmbios is a cross OS library intended to be used to dell Laptop Battery obtain common information available in BIOS using a unified API. Currently, it can programmatically access any information in the SMBIOS tables. It also has the ability to obtain Dell system-specific information. Future plans include APIs for $PIR, and mptable mapping.

published a story about how much better..

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com

A few days ago, we published a story about how much better Latitude D820 our Eee PC 1000H performed when we swapped the system’s 5,400rpm Seagate Momentus hard drive out for a Samsung SATA II SSD drive. Not only did the system boot faster and all apps load faster, but we got 20 more minutes of battery life with the SSD.


However, when we posted our story, we heard from users that Tom’s Hardware, a site we admire a great deal, recently published an Latitude D830 article which claims that SSDs use more power than traditional hard drives. The Tom’s Hardware story got some major attention from sites like Engadget and even got a responses from SSD-makers Super Talent and Micron, who both claim that the drives used in the dell MM165 Tom’s test are “early generation” and therefore more power hungry than newer models.


Is Tom’s Hardware right? We don’t think so.

Some Engadget commenters found some serious flaws in Tom’s testing. A user named Basic made a point we totally agree with:


What we need is a battery-loading benchmark which is dell YD626 representative of REAL-WORLD USE. For example: boot up the machine with maximum charge at a controlled temperature and sit it on 5-6 auto-refreshing controlled content web pages. Reduce all the other power outlays to the minimum - Vista power saver mode, turn down the brightness, but maybe keep the wireless network connection just to keep it close to a real use-case.


Toms didn’t do that - they ran a benchmark designed to “keep the notebook busy” and surprise, surprise the SSD’s died faster under load - disproportionately to the power they consumed (perhaps NOT disproportionately to the work achieved in that time… but Tom’s doesn’t tell us how much “work” was achieved relative to the drive’s performance… they don’t even mention the power-saving dell 312-0393 settings.


At LAPTOP, we actually just developed a battery life test very similar to the one Basic mentions. Our Web surfing test is a simple Windows shell script that cycles through a series of 60 popular Web sites, loading each page and then pausing for 30 seconds to simulate a user reading the page. The browser cache in Firefox is disabled so that the entire page must be downloaded each time. Meanwhile, the script writes to a timelog file every 5 seconds. The test is conducted at the laptop’s default power saving settings, except that nothing — not the hard drive, the screen, or the CPU is set to go to sleep, and all battery alerts are disabled.


Where we ran our Web surfing test on an Eee PC 1000H before, we decided we’d try it on a regular notebook. So we took a Gateway T-6828 with Vista Home Premimum SP1 and ran our test with its default Western Digital Scorpio WD2500BEVS 5,400rpm drive, a Samsung SATA II 64GB SSD, and a SanDisk SATA 5000 32GB SSD. Our Latitude D800 results are below.


As you can see, both SSDs lasted 3:23, exactly 10 minutes longer than the default hard drive. While 10 minutes out three hours is not a significant gain, it’s certainly not a loss. In other words, the SSDs we tested don’t use more battery life than traditional hard drives, at least not during Web surfing.

To be fair to Tom’s Hardware, most of the drives they tested were different than ours. They used a Crucial, an Mtron, a MemoRight, and a SanDisk SATA 5000. We also used the SanDisk SATA 5000 as one of our test drives, but that’s the only one our tests have in common.


It’s noteworthy that, in the Tom’s Hardware Mobile Mark test, the Inspiron 8500 SanDisk SATA 5000 drive got only one minute less battery life than the traditional hard drive, while others like the Crucial got as much as an hour less. As Basic noted, it looks like the higher performance drives were penalized by Mobile Mark because they managed to do more work. The SanDisk drive actually has poor transfer rates in compared to the other drives in Tom’s test so no wonder it got better battery life. Because our test is not performance intensive and involves an equal amount of work for all drives, both SSDs lasted the same amount of time.


Our conclusion is that, in real-world use, SSDs offer a small improvement in battery life. While this tiny improvement may not be enough to sell users on SSDs as power-saving devices, it is certainly enough to say that upgrading to SSD will not cost you any battery life and may provide you with more productive minutes as you wait shorter periods of time for programs to load or for your system to boot.


Update: Bar graph reformatted to start at an X axis of 0:00. Previous version of graph showed same exact numbers, but was a “zoom in” that showed from 3:07 to 3:28. After reading some user comments that this was dell 8N544 confusing, we decided to change the axis lines to start at 0:00.

What YOU should look for when buy laptop battery?

  First post by: www.itsbattery.com

So, your battery isn't what is used to be. Most everyone has been there. You can remember spending long C1295 summer's eves, laying on a lounger in your yard or patio, perusing eBay and looking for that next special treasure. Your battery would dutifully carry you on through the night, and you had exhausted your own energy long before it had.


But, alas, no longer.

So here you are, reading my first blog post about dell Laptop Battery. Chances are, you found it because you ran into exactly the same scenario I described above, albeit perhaps replacing "yard" for "balcony" or "patio" for "porch." You're looking for a new battery, and you've seen the bazillion different listings on eBay for your model alone. There's all sorts of different terms. Watt-hour? More like "WHAT? Hour??" am I right?


Well, let me clue you in on some common things you'll see in listings, and you should be looking for.

1. "SAME DAY SHIP!!"

The seller ships on the same day. Nice, right? Thing is, though, they pretty much ALL say this. So, what should you look for? Location, of course! EBay requires that items are listed exactly where they ship from. Some sellers try to get around this by listing an ambiguous location. Ambiguous location = BAD. It's probably being drop-shipped from China. Not to toot my own horn here, but my listings say "Voorhees, NJ." Why do they say Voorhees, NJ? Well, because that's where they are. That's where I am. When I print a label, stick it on the Inspiron 1100's package, and hand it to my mailman, that's where it happens. Right here in my little warehouse in Voorhees NJ. Any reputable seller with quality products would be the same (and there are a few, in addition to me *grin* )



2. "WATT-HOURS, OHMS, and SO MANY VOLTS!"

The rule of thumb here is to look at the battery you already have, and compare what it says to the specs on the listing. These should be pretty much the same. If the listing is for a high-capacity Inspiron 5100, the watt-hours could be higher. Some laptops can take different voltage batteries, and if the listing shows your model computer, but the voltage is different, ask the seller. Always better safe then sorry (and without power!). If you find a listing with radically different values than the battery you already have, your best bet is to leave. Either the seller made a typo, in which case who knows how much of the listing is accurate, or the seller doesn't know what they're doing, in which case again, who knows.



3. "High-Capacity! Long-Life! Extended Life!"

These things generally mean that the battery has more cells inside than your original 6T473 has. These batteries will give you a much longer run-time than a standard battery, but they will also most likely do something else - stick out a bit. The benefit far outweighs the consequence for people who want this type of battery, which many times are frequent travelers, mobile users such as claims adjusters, campers addicted to eBay (that's me!), and the like. Rule of thumb here: look at the pictures! If it looks different than your battery, then the above will be the case. If it looks the same as your battery, then the seller has it wrong, and it is a standard-capacity battery.



4. "Original OEM! Factory DELL BATTERY!"

If this is true, then either the battery is listed for quite a lot of money compared to after-market replacements, or the battery is used. DO NOT BUY A USED BATTERY! You will not be happy. Make sure you buy a brand-new, never-used, unopened battery from a reseller you can trust. If you can't tell from the listing, ASK! Make sure you find out exactly what you are buying. If you buy a used Inspiron 630m, it will go bad. Much sooner than you'd like. I promise.


 


Well, that's it for now folks. Thank you for reading my blog entry! I've worked with computers for many years, and I know the laptop battery business from the inside-out. I've recently branched out into eBay sales of batteries I used to sell in-house when doing service work for clients. My batteries are, of course, very high quality and warranted both through my company and through the manufacturer. If you'd like to check out my store, it's at http://www.itsbattery.com


Even if you don't buy from me, I hope you've found this little guide useful!