Laptop battery shortage should end by Q3

After a fire at LG Chem, li-on batteries have been hard to come by for companies like Asus and Quanta. But fear not, laptop lovers, because it looks like the battery plant is getting things back in order. According to Sung Fu-hsang at Simplo -- a battery manufacturer that relies on LG Chem -- the li-on supply will return to normal by Q3 2008. So how bad is the current shortage? Asus CEO Jerry Shen noted that his company could have sold a lot more than 5 million Eee PCs were it not for the problem.

[Fusion @ May 5th 2008 5:59AM]

is that why the asus eeepc has useless battery life of 1hr 30mins?

FUSION

[cit9 @ May 5th 2008 6:14AM]

No...

CIT9

[JAmerican @ May 5th 2008 11:28AM]

Mine has useless battery life as well and I got the 5200mAh battery. Damn Power hog Celeron

[Juaquin @ May 5th 2008 11:46AM]

3.5 hours on a tiny little battery is useless? IDK how you came up with 1.5 hours but you're doing it wrong (insert applicable lolcat).

[Steve Jones @ May 5th 2008 6:00AM]

(In an Oldham accent) Several people were heard chanting, and I quote, "The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire."

[tekdroid @ May 5th 2008 6:18AM]

No article I've seen goes into the cause of the fire.

Could competitors who have been burned with recalls and quality problems be behind LG Chem's fire, in an effort to rebound their business?

Have they found out what caused the fire?

[Jah @ May 5th 2008 7:30AM]

Well in the UK EEE 701 prices as now UKP250 while they were UKP220 last year - normally prices go down over time not up! Also the price of the EEE 900 should go down. Probably best to wait until Q3 and see what effect the battery supply has on EEE supply. Hopefully, ASUS will learn from this and organise back-ups for their supply chain. Also it seems odd that Apple can supply 2 million iPhones a quarter while ASUS can't even supply 1 million 701s.

[db2 @ May 5th 2008 7:33AM]

Wait, what's li-on? Lithium On?

[Kerrick @ May 5th 2008 8:42AM]

haha I didn't even catch that one reading it. NIIIICE! (P.S. Engadget: It's li-ion for Lithium Ion)

[CJ @ May 5th 2008 9:19AM]

Clearly they are the batteries they put in the electric car

Because JESUS CHRIST, you have to get in it.

[sam @ May 10th 2008 8:14PM]

We offer genuine factory direct and 3rd party replacement laptop batteries, or you can also select from our inventory of pre-owned laptop or notebook batteries. Place an order before 2:30PM EST and your laptop battery or notebook battery will usually ship the same day. We also carry a large inventory of laptop parts and accessories. Click here to browse our laptop parts inventory.
http://www.batterylaptoppower.com

[sam @ May 10th 2008 8:14PM]

We offer genuine factory direct and 3rd party replacement laptop batteries, or you can also select from our inventory of pre-owned laptop or notebook batteries. Place an order before 2:30PM EST and your laptop battery or notebook battery will usually ship the same day. We also carry a large inventory of laptop parts and accessories. Click here to browse our laptop parts inventory.
http://www.batterylaptoppower.com