|>Hello Jim,
|>
|>
|>> I rarely travel with Laptop anymore... no room to drop the tray and
|>> actually get fingers onto keyboard :-(
|>>
|>
|>I don't either but for me it's because of the paltry battery runtimes of
|>'modern' laptops. From 5hrs in 90's to 1.5hrs in the new millenium. What
|>a progress.
|>
|>Regards, Joerg
|>
|>
<Zadoc comment starts>
I don't have a laptop, so have never considered the problem of
short battery life. Can see why it could be a problem, though.
Presume that "X" is a US businessman flying to Australia. I
don't know the current flight time offhand, but say 16 hours,
which seems well beyond the battery capacity of most portables.
Now lets presume for a moment that most would run from a plug in
adapter off mains voltage of 120 VAC 60 Hz or 240 VAC 50 Hz.
The international airline business is pretty competitive. The
fares are regulated by IATA but there is more flexibility on the
services provided.
So how much trouble would it be for an airline to provide power
to each seat position so they could advertise that a businessman
could use his portable all the way without draining the
batteries?
I would think this might be a good selling point.
Of course, providing mains voltage to each seat position might be
inconvienent or even risky. It would be better to provide the
proper DC voltage at the proper polarity for any computer, or for
that matter, or for that matter, any personal entertainment
device.
Computers and entertainment devices take different input voltages
at different polarities, so, as an intellectual excercise, what
would be the best and cheapest way for an airline to implement
such a service?
Now, sure each seat position could have a wide range of plugs and
sockets, but if the passenger plugs his computer into the wrong
one and fries it, he or she won't be happy.
How can this be made idiot-proof to the point that the passenger
booking a seat could be asked if he will be bringing a portable
computer, and if so, its details.
I would think that all he should have to do is to say that he had
a brand "XYZ" model "1234" and when he boarded the proper DC
power cord would be waiting to serve him.
Same for his wife and kids, perhaps, if they are going on a
holiday. Each seat position should be able to accomodate a wide
variety of entertainment devices.
Perhaps one of you engineering types can pick up the concept and
sell it to an airline?
</ Zadoc comment ends>
An American in Australia, posting to misc.survivalism
Cheers,
[email protected]