According to Ars Technica, the majority of cases are traced to the iPhone’s built-in lithium-ion battery, a type of rechargeable NC6400 battery that powers everything from iPhones to laptops. So, are lithium-ion batteries inherently dangerous? Not necessarily, explains HowStuffWorks, although they can overheat, spark, and burst into flame “under the right circumstances”; just ask anyone who lived though the great laptop battery recall of 2006.

This isn’t the first time that battery fires have caused problems on airlines. In 2006, a battery fire aboard a DC-8 in Philadelphia was severe enough to prompt the National Transportation Safety Board to call for tighter oversight of these types of PA3356U-1BAS batteries and reclassification of these items as dangerous goods. “The evidence of a clear and present danger is mounting. We need an immediate ban on these dangerous goods to protect airline passengers, crews, and cargo,” said First Officer Mark Rogers, director of the pilot union’s Dangerous Goods Programs in a prepared statement.

Lithium ion batteries—the kind that both A123 and Boston-Power produce—are attractive for use in hybrid and plug-in electric vehicles in part because they have greater power density than traditional lead-acid auto batteries, meaning they can produce more kilowatt-hours of electricity per kilogram. They do cost more than lead-acid batteries, but A123 says its batteries are worth it since they deliver higher voltage than standard lithium-ions.

Boston-Power’s lithium vehicle battery, called the Swing, is priced competitively with other lithium-ion batteries, Lampe-Onnerud says. Its Swing BTP-43D1 battery is also manufactured using the same environmentally friendly techniques that have earned the company Nordic Ecolabel accreditation for its laptop batteries.

The two new MacBook Air models introduced by Apple this month are a $1499 version with a 1.86GHz processor and 120GB 4200-rpm hard drive, and a $1799 version with a 2.13GHz Core 2 Duo processor and a 128GB solid-state drive.

We run two battery life tests. For our light-use test, we run a simple timer application until the battery runs out, and for the intensive test we push the processor to its limit with our multitasking benchmark. This gives us a minimum and maximum battery life. We use the ThinkPad T60 battery settings most suited to longevity and performance. For simplicity, where laptops have dual graphics, we’ve only graphed the “stamina” times for light use and “speed” times for heavy use.

So you’re looking for what, specifically? Screen size? Battery life? Build quality? I’ve got an eeepc and a Dell(Inspiron 6000 battery) Mini, both with 10″ screens (and both at least partly hackintoshed, but that’s neither here nor there); of the two the eeepc 1000HA has much better battery life, but the Dell Mini 10V has a better screen, a better touchpad, and both looks and feels much better to use.

The remaining VGP-BPS2C battery time and charge percentage is displayed as a icon in the Windows system tray with additional information being displayed in a popup. Battery Care is an excellent laptop battery manager for the Windows operating system. It can be downloaded from the developer’s website.