36.2 Hardware: Power supply

Power supply

An internal battery is a type of battery which is used as a source of power for the device such as mobiles, laptops etc. There are different types of batteries like some need to be recharged to be used again, disposable batteries and batteries which you need to have plugged in. A lot of devices used rechargeable batteries as it’s about which one is most efficient and long lasting. For gaming, when the Gameboy was released it had disposable batteries and this was cost effective for the developers however the device had high processing power requirements so more power was required and this is when the power supply had changed from disposable batteries to rechargeable batteries. A drawback of a rechargeable power supply is that if it is overcharged, it can overheat which will damage its lifespan which means how long it will take till it stops functioning. However, even if you don’t overcharge it, when you keep making use of the battery, it will gradually degrade like most things do. Normal batteries function based on a chemical reaction which converts the chemical into electrical via electrodes and an anode. This is irreversible however a rechargeable battery is able to reverse the electron’s charge within the discharge process which allows it to restore its full charge when provided with more electricity. These batteries are a lot bulkier and is responsible for powering devices such as the laptop and Xbox. Laptops and computers can have batteries within them and this type of battery is called a UPS Battery. This is used as a backup to protect the computer’s data and memory from the ramifications of power cuts that’s why it is reliable. If a power cut occurs, fundamental data/information can be corrupted and lost. For gaming, UPS batteries are used for game servers just in case if the online servers go down, all the player’s stats etc. will still be saved therefore not causing much damage to the players so it’s like extra protection and reduces the risk of losing the player’s data.

An external source of a power supply would be the charger for rechargeable batteries. This is because it is the source which converts electricity from the mains power into electricity which can be stored within the battery. The external source is beneficial as it allows portability so you can charge the battery anywhere. This is also beneficial as the rechargeable battery charger uses a plug which can be found in many places to charge the battery. Most devices, whilst on charged can be utilised so if a portable device isn’t being used for portability it can be turned into a static device with an infinite amount of power. An example for this would be a laptop for the work place. Overtime, batteries will decay so plugging them in will be inevitable. For gaming, players who play for a long amount of time, it is easy to keep the device on charge for the whole time they’re playing so they don’t need to plug and unplug the device every now and then. This is another benefit of consoles are they use a constant external source as they have no battery within them. This means it is fit for purpose for a player who plays for a long time.