Will New Blu-ray Drives Suck Your Laptop Battery Dry?

Slashdot It! Now that Sony’s Blu-ray technology has won the high-def format war, computer manufacturers must tackle its power-hungry playback performance. Watching a Blu-ray movie in all its high-definition glory on your laptop may finally become an affordable prospect this year. Just don't wander too far from a power outlet. With the Sony-backed HD format emerging victorious from a two-year showdown with Toshiba's HD DVD, many laptop manufacturers are now scrambling to add Blu-ray drives in their desktop and notebook lineups. Next month, Dell will even introduce a sub-$1,000 Blu-ray notebook, according to Brian Zucker, a technology strategist for the company. But the promise of viewing an increasing variety of HD movies on your laptop may be overshadowed by ongoing concerns over the technology's vampiric effect on battery life. Indeed, if the first generation of Blu-ray equipped laptops are any indication, you might not get more than halfway through that movie before running out of juice completely, analysts say. "Blu-ray battery life is obviously a huge concern," says Yankee Group analyst Josh Martin. "If you bought an iPhone and you couldn't watch a two-hour movie, which you barely can now, that would be a huge problem," Martin continued. Granted, batteries suck (along with other annoyances like spam filters and plastic packaging). That's largely because there is no Moore's Law for batteries. If battery power capacity improves 1 percent a year, that's considered pretty good. Batteries are more often afterthoughts for an industry obsessed with cramming as many new features into a notebook as possible. Introducing Blu-ray drives to the mobile mix certainly isn't going to help matters. For now, the laptop manufacturers that have offered Blu-ray drives have also avoided revealing the precise effects of Blu-ray playback on battery life. That's probably for a very good reason, as some claim battery life can top out at one hour in some cases. Via Wired Get Daily Updates via Email Protect your computer with Windows Onecare Get paid $7.50 for reviewing my post