[iceman (Mike)]

I bought a Toshiba Satellite laptop last August. I'm running Windows 7 on it.

When I first got it, the battery would last well over 2 hours with the screen on high-brightness.

Over the months, the battery is now lasting less and less time - now I'm lucky to get just over 1.5 hours with the screen on the minimum brightness - and that's just with normal web browsing, email, etc.
Although wifi is on, as well as using a wireless dongle for 3G internet.

If I do any image processing (lightroom, photoshop), it lasts even less.

I'm using it on battery twice a day almost every week day while I'm on the train to and from work. So it's obviously getting charged during the day and at night.

What should I expect out of battery life? and I'm not talking about how many hours - i'm talking about how long before the recharging of the battery reduces its life!!

If I buy a new battery, is it only going to last 8 months too?

Thanks!