Windows XP flaw affects laptops
Seattle PI | at | by Mike
Microsoft's latest Windows XP operating system contains a flaw that drains the batteries in laptop computers, requiring more frequent recharges.
The problem, uncovered Monday by Web site Tom's Hardware Guide, causes laptop batteries to lose power at a faster rate when devices such as printers, mice and iPod music players are connected. Whereas Microsoft had acknowledged the problem internally and told some customers, it hadn't made the information widely known.
"Battery life is very high on the list of customers' requirements," Roger Kay, an analyst at Endpoint Technologies Associates Inc. in Wayland, Mass., said Monday in an interview. "The immediate reaction is, 'What took so long?'"