Laptop Battery Guide

There used to be different battery types used for laptops but these days laptops come with a Lithium Ion battery. (also known as Li Ion or LiON). Admit it, not all the laptop batteries can last for more than 3 years. You can enjoy the battery of your notebook for 2 years, but after that, the life of your battery will only last for less than an hour.

Unfortunately there is a stigma surrounding rechargeable batteries which do not apply to Lithium Ion, most notably concerning the "memory effect". The memory effect is now widely used to explain why any battery doesn't deliver its full capacity, to counter this people have charged their batteries in certain ways to avoid or try to fix it. Lithium Ion batteries do not suffer from "memory effect", a poor performing laptop battery may be caused by damage or age which means time for a new one. Does "limited charge cycles" have you worrying about replacing batteries often? Lithium Ion batteries have anywhere from 300-600 charge cycles which is 2-4 years of use for the average user.

Some would have you believe you need to fully discharge a laptop battery before you recharge it, which you should NOT do. Lithium Ion laptop batteries have a limited amount of charge cycles(cycle = fully discharged and then fully charged) so if you fully discharge your battery every time before charging then you greatly shorten the life of the pack.

Make sure the power saving features are enabled when using the laptop on battery power. These features may be disabled manually for many laptops if you absolutely need the maximum speed setting for a task, don't forget to turn power saving back on. If you are not going to use the battery for a long period of time then try to store it in a cool dry place at about a 40% charge level. Do not freeze!

laptop battery life : Improving Your Laptop's Battery Life

At my opinion, one of the most important features, if not the most important feature of a laptop is its battery life. You can have the worlds best notebook, but if the battery can’t last more than an hour, you may as well have a desktop because an hour of portability is nearly useless. The battery is an important device a notebook cannot function without. The battery is the powerhouse, which enables a laptop to operate. As such, this device then needs proper care in order to last longer and efficiently carry out its prime function as a power supplier.

Laptops are slowly, for the most part, getting better when it comes to battery life, as new notebooks are being announced with five and six hour batteries or longer. Fuel cell technology is continuing to push forward and promises longer everlasting laptops. Dream about able to go to a Starbucks and expends one day fully business is abstracted being closer and closer to reality.

There are several things you can do to make your laptop's battery last longer.

Step one is to cut down on the juice that your hard drive is using. You can do this by taking care of it regularly with Disk Defragmenter, which allows your hard drive to find data easier. Then you can also make your Windows' page file run smoother. Page file acts as RAM when your RAM is full. Set it to 1.5 times the capacity of installed memory.

Turn off your wireless transmitter : When you are using your laptop with your wireless transmitter, it is always looking for a signal. So by disabling it, in an area where you cannot get any internet access via wireless, it will actually conserve your battery life.

Lower Your Screen Contrast : Most people don’t think about this one. But if you usually have your laptop monitor set at the highest and brightest contrast, your computer is working the hardest. If you simply lower your contrast in half to make it less brighter, you will find you can still see the interfaces on your computer very well. By doing this in a bright area, you may have trouble if your bightness “whites out” too much.