Computer processor manufacturer Intel, in fact, is so bullish on the matter that it recently moved up a deadline for notebook makers by two years. It’s now asking them to produce by 2008 thin and light notebooks that can run for eight hours without the use of additional external batteries, said Mooly Eden, vice president of the Intel’s mobility group.

If everthing goes well, within three to four years, portable PCs will be expected to see battery life double from today’s four-hour stretch.

Computer makers, meanwhile, are working on making notebooks lighter to help get the most life out of whatever type of battery they use. Zinc Matrix Power has devised a way to produce batteries out of zinc alkaline that can provide more energy than conventional lithium ion batteries but don’t take up any more space inside a laptop, according to Mike Trainor, chief mobile technology evangelist at Intel.

Today, a high-performance thin and light notebook, those weighs less than 5 pounds, might come with batteries that can provide 58 watt hours of energy. The average power consumption of those notebooks, however, comes to 12 watts or more. Hence, battery life totals about four hours, at best. The goal now is to boost capacity to 72 watt hours and reduce average power consumption to 9 watts.

To achieve that, Intel will be using 1-2-6 strategy, which is one watt for the processor, two for the chipset and six for the rest of the system. If you want to get to eight hours, we recommend integrated graphics in chipsets,” Trainor said.