Well, it looks like HP is no longer your only option to get Boston-Power's "game-changing" Sonata batteries -- ASUS has just announced that it will be offering the long-life lithium-ion batteries as standard equipment on its new B series laptops. Those come in both 14.1-inch and 15.6-inch versions -- the B43 and B53, respectively -- and are available with your choice of Core i5 or Core i7 processors, ATI Mobility Radeon 5470 or integrated Intel graphics, 2GB or 4GB of RAM, a standard 320GB hard drive, and ATI Eyefinity support to accommodate two additional displays. As for those Sonata batteries, while they won't last much longer in day-to-day use, they do promises to work at 80% of their capacity for three years, which is backed up by a three-year warranty. Look for the B53 to hit retailers immediately starting at $1,099, while the B43 is said to be coming "in the near future" for an unspecified price.

The deal has been done for a while, but today's the first day that Boston-Power's much-vaunted Sonata batteries are actually available from HP, where they're now officially known as the HP Enviro Series batteries. Helping them earn that moniker is a promised "sustainable performance" for a full three years (which HP backs up with a warranty), and a number of other enviro-friendly measures that helped snag the batteries the Nordic Ecolabel certification. Best of all, the batteries are available for no less than 18 different HP laptops right from the get-go and, at $149.99, they don't demand quite the premium price that you might expect. You can't yet get them as an option in a new HP laptop, however, but that's apparently on tap for later this month.

Read - Boston-Power press release
Read - HP order page

It's not exactly much of a surprise given that HP has already shown some considerable interest in the company, but Boston-Power has now finally officially announced that HP will be the first laptop manufacturer to offer its long-lasting (and less explosion-prone) Sonata batteries, which HP will sell under its new Enviro Series brand. According to Boston-Power, those batteries will be available as an optional upgrade in early 2009, and they'll be compatible with the "majority" of HP's consumer laptops. What's more, HP will also be offering a three-year warranty with the batteries, which is apparently the longest one available from a laptop manufacturer and, just as notably, this also apparently marks the first time that a US battery company has sold batteries to one of the top laptop manufacturers. One detail that hasn't been announced just yet, however, is the price, though we're guessing that little detail should be making itself known before too long.