We are thrilled to announce that Voltaic, our favorite solar bag company, has just debuted a sleek new laptop bag that actually charges laptops! Whereas Voltaic’s previous solar bags only generate enough power to charge smaller gadgets like phones, cameras and mp3 players, the new Generator, is a super-powered solar tote that will charge your laptop along with all of your other green gadgets. It uses a single solar panel (which you can order with different color trims) to produce up to 14.7 watts of power, enough to fully charge a typical laptop, along with your iPod and cell phone.
The bag includes a battery pack to store the solar energy, so even on a cloudy day, the bag can use stored energy to charge up your laptop on the go. Just connect using the included adapters or USB plug.
Aside from the energy benefits, we love the simple styling of the bag and the sustainable fabric, made from recycled soda bottles (PET). And if you’re worried about dropping the bag and destroying your laptop, don’t fret, Generator has a protective frame. The Generator will begin shipping Spring of 2008. We can’t wait!
+ Voltaic Generator Bag – $599 from Voltaic
The geek in me is loving this. The price ruins it though. For that price you could just carry around a few extra batteries.
Of course this is a lot more effective if you can get us pasty white skinned folks to go outside.
I love the look of the bag and everything it can do! I was all set to order one, until I saw the price….it’s too much for me. If a typical black computer bag runs $50-100, how much more would I fork over to buy a solar generator bag? What would be my payback time?
This would only be useful for some very limited situations. Firstly, the advertised 14.7 watt output is about 1/3 of what a laptop uses. This means if your laptop runs its batter down in say 4 hours, it will take about 12 hours minimum to recharge it, in bright sunlight.
In reality, it will add very little power to your laptop’s battery in the course of normal usage of the average user. It would be beneficial to someone who has no access the electrical power otherwise, such as people out in the sticks somewhere far from civilization doing research.
Well, if you travel to hot sunny third world countries where electricity is not always reliable/available, this could be more valuable than carrying several batteries. It takes a whole day to charge an average laptop though – that’s a little long.
14.5 V for a normal laptop your jokeing right?
But will you be able to take it on an airplane?
Wow! It´s an awesome invention, but the price makes me forget everything.
Impressive indeed!
Interesting concept. Thanks for sharing this.for
Um… Why wouldn’t I just buy a regular laptop bag for, at most, $100… And $50 on a small solar panel and maybe another $50 for a 12V adapter for my laptop?
Link to eBay for a Solar Briefcase: http://tinyurl.com/yrljo7
hmm thanks for the information.. interesting
how do you keep the bag in daylight? and the price.. for a third of that money just buy an extra battery or two
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Amazing bag there are more stylish bags on
elaptopbag.com
cool bag is it waterproof
i found more on elaptopbag.com