New Laptop Charger Technology
New Laptop Charger Technology
Laptop chargers are designed to charge your battery at the maximum rate while the computer is off. When your computer is on, the charging current is usually reduced to a low rate to avoid overloading your AC adapter.
Anyone that has replaced an AC adapter for your laptop knows that these items aren’t exactly cheap. Usually pushing or exceeding the $100 mark.
Linear Technology has developed a new charger that maximizes the charging rate even while the computer is on. They say they can do this without increasing the size to capacity of the AC power source.
Instead of simply reducing the charging current to a really low level, the charger actually monitors the current drawn from the adapter and reduces the current only when necessary to avoid overloading the AC adapter. The rest of the time the charger can send the maximum current needed to charge the battery, provided the battery needs it.
Since average laptop power consumption is a lot lower than during peak demand, the battery can be charged in approximately the same amount of time whether your laptop is on or off.