i was upset today because a tech journalist on fedi called MNT Reform's battery runtime "awful" (only almost 5 hours of playing a video fullscreen on youtube). not only because of the mean choice of words but because the runtime is the consequence of a conscious choice: LiFePO4 cells over LiIon. with LiIon we could almost double the runtime, but they are more dangerous (thermal runaway), worse for the environment (cobalt) and don't last as long (less charging cycles).
@mntmn So this is both environmentally friendly and runs longer than the Lenovo T14 (AMD Gen 1) I got for work. What should I say? You achieved more than a decades old, large OEM.
@mntmn If the runtime is not enough... you can swap them. Not even a proprietary format or connector. Sometimes one wants to ask certain people "who puts your shoes on in the morning?".
@mntmn if anything I think your devices could let consumers do more, by reducing the battery capacity onboard more, and by letting folks use external packs via usb-pd.
The idea that laptops need large integrated and dedicated battery is actually not obvious, imo.
@mntmn Wow, didn't know you used LifePO4, that's a bonus in my book and 5h is good enough!
@mntmn
Don't sweat the haters. I'd take the LFP tradeoff any day.
Thanks for designing a cool laptop that I use all the time.
@mntmn hey Lukas, keep your spirit up, there is always people who don't get the idea of the reform. You need an open mindset to see the beauty in a fresh idea. You need to be able to question the things that you are used to. In my experience every day, there are not many people who are able to achieve that. But finding these and spending time with them is a treasure.
@mntmn 5 hourswas like the average for most laptops though I thought... So that's pretty good.
@mntmn don't let the haters get you down. You're the one actually making cool stuff that your fans are excited about. Your values show in your products and it's great. They're not everyone's values, but that's ok: we're here for it.
@mntmn idk man 5 hours of continuous streaming video playback sounds pretty… good? Maybe this is why I’m not a tech journalist but I feel like five hours of doing the battery life torture test is super good enough. Since when are we holding all-day teleconferencing sessions in the park??
Well, as far as I see it, Reform is not about battery life. Not about CPUs being super powerful. Not about huge GPU performance.
So, why do you care about what this journalist wannabe wrote ?
Also, bare in mind that you didn't pay for this "review". So what did you expect ? :)
@mntmn
I definitely think you guys made the right choice.
@mntmn i found that chinese manufactured 18650 sodium ion cells are things you can actually buy now and it made me think about a reform powered (they probably need to be tested and vetted on performance but some preliminary searching suggests they are actually sodium ion based)
Such a narrow view of runtime! #LifePO4 cells are going to maintain much longer runtimes over the useful span of the battery!
I also mostly plug the #MNTReform into a ~24V 40AH battery which lasts for days ... weeks ... no idea actually! Becase as the sun shines, so does the MNT Reform!
It accepts a wide voltage range (~12-28v?). You can plug it into nearly any DC power source without needing a voltage regulating adapter. I heard someone charges directly off of 12v solar panels!
@vagrantc whoa, pretty sure I ran into you like 15 years ago (!) at Free Geek for 2 minutes. always cool to bump into ppl I've met irl on fedi.
@mntmn don’t let the bastards get you down
Yeah but "tech journalist"
Tell 'em to get a real job.
@mntmn Some of us really appreciate that these are the choices you make.
Out of curiosity, are LiFePO4 cells interchangeable with LiIon, or do they require different charging circuitry? (I like the idea of switching another bit of electronics I have over to LiFePO4.)
@jbmorley @mntmn not interchangeable unfortunately. However, they are darn close and as a result it doesn't actually cost much more than lithium ion. I dare to say it costs the exact same. You do need to make a conscious design choice to implement it's use though so it's great to see people doing this now. For a price bump it's possible to design a device that treats the two chemistries as interchangeable but again, conscious decisions.
They are wicked cool batteries that can power 3.3v microcontrollers without needing any buck/boost circuitry in-between which is just neat. I also feel 100% okay with strapping a 10440 or 14500 to most animals as the risk of fire from a protected battery is very very very low. They can burn and will burn but it takes a lot of work to get them to burn, unlike lithium ion which I've taken to calling fire batteries as I nerd out more and more with LiFePO4.
If you are interested in mucking about, "Soshine Official Store" on AliExpress has the best deals I've seen on protected single cell LiFePO4 yet. All prices are CAD and seem to change a bit constantly. There is a big sale going on right now so these prices are probably a bit more expensive than this normally. They claim big savings but I don't actually know. Here are the following prices for the LiFePO4 single cells Soshine is selling on AliExpress. The single astrix * is to represent unprotected cells. The 18650 seems to only be in stock for unprotected cells. The rest are protected.
20 x 10440 280mAh cells is $32
20 x 14500 700mAh cells is $36
12 x 18650* 1600mAh cells is $36
10 x 26650 3500mAh cells is $63
8 x 26650 cells + 4 bay slow charger (would take approximately 7 hours to charge 3500mAh) is $68.
10 x 32650 6500mAh cells is $90
8 x 32650 cells + 4 bay slow charger (would take 14hrs to charge 6500mAh) is $84.
Pretty nuts. AliExpress is having their anniversary sale till the 28th of March so check the front page for your coupon codes. In Canada the two relevant coupons are for $15 off $120 and for $30 off $250.
For reference, you can get at least 8 of every kind of size for around that, with 2 chargers.
@mntmn
May I humbly assume that guy did not find the LiFe statements that you put on your website not catchy enough and just ignored them?
@mntmn "tech journalist" cannot compute international trade-off's. Whatever.
@mntmn good job! blasted reviewers are often one-track
@mntmn any weird looks from airport security at the LiFePO4s? I thought they might think it’s weird when they xray lol.
@mntmn youtube video watching is killing my Thinkpad like nothing (both power and fan/heat).
With youtube-dl and molayer, though, I can run an X40 on MirBSD underclocked to 500 MHz and play downloaded videos scaled to fullscreen no problem, CPU way below 100%.
Browsers are the problem.
@mntmn it’s worth way more to me that I can easily replace the batteries, it won’t end up being spicy, and the lack of cobalt never hurts either.
Fun fact: I was once involved in a startup that was working to build technology to help clean up the nasty biz of cobalt and lithium mining (particularly focusing on reducing child labor). I ended up severing connections when it became clear it was actually a front for illegal diamond and gold trade