A control circuit (101) is configured for use with a load in the form of hardware (102) of a laptop computer (103). Circuit (101) includes input terminals (105, 106) for electrically connecting with respective terminals (107, 108) of a battery pack (109). The battery pack (109) supplies a battery current and has a predetermined maximum operational current. Circuit (101) also includes output terminals (111, 112) for electrically connecting in parallel hardware (102) and a supercapacitor (113). A controller (115) is disposed between the input and the output terminals for allowing the battery to transfer energy to hardware (102) and supercapacitor (113) while maintaining the battery current at less than the predetermined maximum operational current.