There Oughta Be a Standard: Laptop Power Supplies

Esther Schindler writes "Every mobile device you own has its own power supply and its own proprietary plug. There oughta be a better way, says Alfred Poor. Fortunately, he reports, the IEEE is coming to the rescue. "Their Universal Power Adapter for Mobile Devices (UPAMD) Working Group is developing a new standard that will not just address the needs of laptops and tablets, but will be intended to work with just about any electronics device that required between 10 and 240 watts of power," Poor writes. It's about darned time." If there's one thing I wish for all laptop power supplies, it's that they would license from Apple (or work around, patent-wise) the magnet attachment system that makes cable-tripping far less dangerous to man or beast, compared to a few years ago.

or...

[Taibhsear]

If there's one thing I wish for all laptop power supplies, it's that they would license from Apple (or work around, patent-wise) the magnet attachment system that makes cable--tripping far less dangerous to man or beast,

Or you could, you know, not put your power cable in an area that people walk through...

Re:Mod summary up!

[poodlehat]

I've been on the mailing list for this working group for about a year now (I am an IEEE-SA member but you don't have to be to be on a WG), and one of the first things I brought up is my tendency to drop my electronics :) A bit more detail, the current thinking is that it will use CAN 2.0 for the link layer but the physical layer is still being hashed out. The device needs communication to negotiate between the power adapter and the device to be powered. The device and power supply will communicate things like if it sourcing or sinking current (or capable of doing both), whether it is a battery, an intermittent supply like wind or solar, etc. It sounds pretty cool if manufacturers go along with it.

Re:Mod summary up!

[Albanach]

Why is there a patent on MagSafe? I had a deep fat fryer with a magnetic power cable in 2004. Apple's patent was filed on Christmas Day 2007.