On Wednesday 05 August 2009 18:38:12 Kwan Lowe wrote:
On Wed, Aug 5, 2009 at 11:14 AM, Blake Hudsonblake@ispn.net wrote:
How old is your laptop? This may be a case of expectations not meeting reality. As the Wiki article linked previously mentions, LiION batteries deteriorate over time and with use (as do all batteries). In my experience, a typical laptop battery (treated well) will last 2 years while maintaining the majority of its original capacity. After 5 years, the battery run time is often inadequate to meet the needs of the owner. When purchasing a laptop, I would have the expectation that the battery will need replaced every 2-3 years - if the laptop is used, assume that it needs a new battery.
The laptop is about 18 months old, so the battery was nearing its end but I'd hoped for at least another 6 months of useful time (more than 10 minutes). The battery is in worse condition than three identical batteries in the other 3 laptops purchased at the same time. The main difference is that this laptop is plugged in continuously while the others are mobile.
My laptop is four years old, and yes the battery is aging. When I bought the laptop there were instructions that if a laptop is used mainly on mains, you should run it on battery, say once a month or so, until you are down to 10%. It was claimed that the periodic discharge in this way actually lengthens the life-span of the battery.
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