Mafia-style Briefcase Charges Your Notebook For Free

Taipei (Taiwan) - One of main qualities of Taiwanese companies is the fact that they can rapidly adapt to new trends and quickly change their focus when a new technology is gaining traction. In this case that would be green technology.

We are hearing something about Green IT at least once a day. This year’s Computex tradeshow follow that trend aggressively and we especially noticed solar power cells popping up everywhere. It is not particularly surprising that there is some potential for the solar market in notebook peripherals and we are likely to see interesting solutions in the months to come.

Opti is mainly known for its optical drive business (and sound cards quite some time ago). However, the changing market environment prompted the company top found OPTI-Solar, a subsidiary that is set to bring solar products to market and aims to quickly capture market share.

One of its first products is a case that can charge several laptop batteries, cellphones and other portable electronics. The Metal briefcase consist of two main parts : The top cover integrates solar panel, while the base includes Li-ion batteries and chargers.

The briefcase will make its way to North America in the third quarter of this year (late summer). The price of the briefcase, which will provide juice for up to 75 watts is $1499. By Computex 2009, we should this price to be cut in half.