News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:How the iPhone 16's electrically-released adhesive works by moffkalast on Monday September 23, 2024 @09:12AM (#41625703)
Most laptops use cylindrical cells for their battery pack, each one with a valve. I really doubt this is any kind of actual problem, more like an excuse given to reduce costs at the expense of the consumer.

Standard lead acid batteries in every car and UPS also release H2S in vast quantities when old and charged, and nobody seems to care.

> accasionally rupturing

You know this is most likely results in a fire right? There is no case where even a slight chance of it happening is safer.

Re:How the iPhone 16's electrically-released adhesive works by wtallis on Monday September 23, 2024 @11:40AM (#41627292)
Can you name any current laptop model that uses cylindrical cells? I haven't encountered any cylindrical cells when opening a laptop in well over a decade.
Re:How the iPhone 16's electrically-released adhesive works by moffkalast on Monday September 23, 2024 @12:01PM (#41627509)
My old G771 definitely has them, though that one is like 8 years old or so now? Yeah they mostly do lipos these days for thinness and weight reduction, I'm sure some gamer laptops still run on 18650s. I wouldn't really ever buy a laptop with a lipo myself, shit's just gonna inflate and split it in half.

It's not just laptops anyway, EVs, power tools, flashlights, power banks, li-ion drop in replacement car/ups batteries. Anything that has a lipo has at some point had a cylindrical model too.

Re:How the iPhone 16's electrically-released adhesive works by wtallis on Monday September 23, 2024 @12:28PM (#41627833)
I'm not questioning whether cylindrical cells used to be popular for laptops; they were an iconic part of old ThinkPads. But I've opened up plenty of chunky gaming laptops in recent years from Asus, Dell/Alienware, MSI, Razer and have seen nothing but LiPo batteries. I think cylindrical cells may have genuinely disappeared from the laptop market at this point, unless they're still around in some niche that's significantly more obscure than big heavy gaming laptops. Most laptops these days that opt for a thick enclosure are doing it for the sake of the cooling system, not for the sake of fitting in a thick battery.

Edit: I looked at the Gigabyte A5 and agree that it's probably using cylindrical cells. It appears to be a Clevo system, so there were probably other brands reselling as well. But it's not quite a current model (3 year old processor), and the reviews seem to agree that the battery is one of the worst things about the machine, because the capacity is way too small for that class of machine.