grinthock.com – A World Of Opinionation

Airport Laptop Power Still Not Abundant…

Posted on December 23rd, 2008 by grinthock.
Categories: Air Travel, Department of rant services..

So recently on a trip to Calgary, I was stuck (today infact) in the airport for several hours – over 5 to be exact.  Even with the new battery in my IBM laptop, and power saving turned on, there is simply no way I could possibly run for 5 hours (and then on the aircraft for 3 hours).   I started searching for the life juice that is AC power for my laptop.

Sure these airports have power, but they tend to be near signage, near equipment, nowhere near a seating area.     I did find a few people  plopped either on the floor, or in corridors utilizing the power outlets.     This isn’t a familiar sight in many airport.

However these types of activities are short lived, a search will show you many have been told (this writer included) to “unplug” from power plugs due to various reasons “Fire hazzard” is ususally the excuse used, the LiON battery pack is probably more of a fire hazzard than my lenovo power adapter.

So after wandering for 30 minutes, I found a plug, in a wall, behind a row of chairs, plugged in and I was good to go, for now, however then I had to get through security and near my gate.  In that area I found 4 of these…  Not actual photo, you get the idea, but there were 4 of them available for over 40 gates and with thousands of people here during the holidays, getting one was wishful thinking – but I did.

All over the airport here (which for the record is Calgary YYC), there are the following signs…

First — the internet was pretty slow, 500K Up and Down, no matter what I did, it’s also trasparently proxied with various sites being filtered (although TOR project does work to get you around it).   Second — what’s the point of Wifi in an airport, without power!   Nobody wants to board an aircraft with a dead laptop,  people need to charge cell phones, and various devices such as this.  I am sure at the prices they charge they can afford it, so let’s look at it.

Making an assumption that 5,000 people per day, utilize power for 4 hours each, on a laptop that uses a 100W supply (most are 75-90 max), it would cost the airport $6402 per month (assuming a 10.67 cents / KW hour and tax)

That’s nothing!  I hardly beleive 5,000 per day, 4 hrs each and 100W is even realistic, it must be way out to lunch as well.

Bottom line is, the costs are so low, it’s crazy, i’d be willing to drop a twoonie (that’s a 2 dollar coin for non canadians) into a slot to get 4 hours of power, even if that $2 is worth way more than that!

Many airport have added power, but it’s far from enough, there is a nice Wiki where people are adding info the “Air Power Wiki”      this resource is growing, and I would recommend bookmarking it on your mobile device so you can look up info while at the airport.

Good luck and stay safe, and don’t forget to leave those gel’s liquids and aerosol’s behind, because 3oz of gel’s couldn’t possibly be a security risk.

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