Laptop Battery Life

[acropolite (Phil)]

If the battery is a Lithium-Ion type then it will not suffer from the memory effect. Lithium-Ion batteries prefer a partial discharge/charge cycle with a full discharge/charge cycle every so often (I do this once a month with my iPhone and it works well).

that's the way I understand it as well, Apple recommend that procedure on the iphone.

[kustard (Simon)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

I've heard that before yeah, but all the laptops I've owned ended up struggling in the last 25% to 10% of battery life. I don't know enough about battery technology to understand why. In practice running it down worked fine. That first battery I had lasted about a year from new. I've had this one for 4yrs now and I still can get 2-3h out of one charge. I'm not sure which type it is though. Will check.

*nods*

I have heard that as Lithium-Ion age their "useful" life decreases. It seems that no matter what battery you have your mileage will vary depending on how you use it and how you charge it. I would have thought though that a relatively new battery would be better designed and last a bit longer, though the role of the actual battery charger can influence battery life greatly.

The Asus laptop my wife has is about 5 years old now, has a Lithium-Ion and is virtually always plugged into the AC. At the times she does go portable, the laptop will last about 2hours. I must admit though that she hardly ever goes portable.

As others have suggested Mike, getting a super battery pack will probably help you extend your laptop usage time.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Originally Posted by acropolite

that's the way I understand it as well, Apple recommend that procedure on the iphone.

Very interesting thread. I'll keep that one in mind too for my iPod.

My TOSHIBA Satellite battery is a Li-ion (4300mAh) MODEL NO. PA3395U-1BRS. It says it contains Nickel-Cadmium and Nickel-Metalhybride.

It's quite bigger in volume than the new slimline types. It looks more like a brick shape. I left the laptop run out and I got a bit over 2h out of it from a full charge. It's about 4yrs old now.

[iceman (Mike)]

Well I've just ordered a new after-market replacement battery. It's not the high capacity Toshiba one - but $68 instead of $200 seems fine for now.

If this replacement only lasts a year as well, then I'll get a $200 one next time.

It's getting to the point where sometimes I only get just over an hour out of the current battery, on minimum brightness. Really frustrating when I'm trying to work on the train.

I might look at getting that portable battery thing that h0ughy has next time too.

[ZeroID (Brent)]

We replace all our laptops at 3 years regardless. The technology and the software bloat factor says that is all they are good for and the warranty runs out. Try getting any parts at all for a DELL over 3 years old, just about impossible. Batteries have been sitting on the shelf for years, they only do one batch to cover the life of them all so they are pre-knackered I reckon. That's why the generics do better, they are normally of a more recent manufacture.
I have a cupboard full (40-50) of 3-4 year old DELLs at work. Most still work but they become so unreliable it is not worth re-issuing them to the feild. Use some for parts to support the others still going but we have an ongoing schedule to replace them constantly. Keeps me employed ...