Dell's decision to use NiMH (nickel metal hydride) batteries in its recently launched Inspiron 1000 notebooks reflects the vendor's new pricing strategy of lowering the unit costs for the notebooks, according to sources at Taiwanese notebook makers. Rival Hewlett-Packard (HP) is expected to follow suit by the end of this year, the sources noted. The Inspiron 1000 has an 8-cell NiMH battery as its primary power source, with an 8-cell lithium ion (LiON) battery as an additional option. The 8-cell NiMH battery is about 15% cheaper than the LiON, priced at around US$30, allowing Dell to lower the unit cost of the Inspiron 1000 by US$4-5, the sources claimed.
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News source: DigiTimes
