Toshiba has unveiled a prototype fuel cell that it hopes will become the power source for laptops in the future, BBC News reported Saturday. The fuel cell breaks down methanol (alcohol) to generate power, and Toshiba claims, that it will provide enough juice to run a laptop for about five hours. Future versions of the fuel cell should be able to power a laptop for about 10 hours.
The methanol cartridges are about the size of a computer mouse. The prototype of the fuel cell is larger -- about the size of a house brick. Average power output is 12W and maximum is 20W. Unused energy is stored in the fuel cell. The commercial versions will be slightly larger than existing lithium-ion batteries and use the same power interfaces so they should work with older laptops.