One of the easiest things to kill is the battery of a laptop/notebook. In fact, it is common that some people may notice their laptop battery life growing shorter as the weeks go by.
One reason why this is so is because of the way the battery is being used. To ensure that batteries last for the long term, they need to be used properly. Most people keep their notebooks plugged in all day, and whenever they can find a power socket.
They may unplug them to move around, i.e. to go to school, home, or work. But once they arrive, the first thing they do is take out their AC adapters and plug in again. This means that on most days the notebook battery is going from 100% charged to 97% or 98%, and then being recharged to 100% again. This makes the batteries wear out prematurely, as each time you do this, you add another charge cycle to the battery.
Batteries have lifespan determined by the number of charge cycles they can take, and with each charge cycle, the battery’s lifespan is affected.
This is especially true for users who put their laptops on ‘stand-by’ mode, as ‘stand-by’ mode consumes minute amounts of battery, and once plugged in, the battery will charge again.
Lenovo users won’t have this problem though, as Thinkpads (I’m not sure about the other models), provide options to change battery charging behaviour. For instance, I can set my battery to charge only when it’s below 80% – so unless it’s below 80%, the battery will never be charged. And once it drops below 80%, the battery will continue to charge until it is at full 100% capacity.
Of course, I can also change the options so that no matter what, my battery will always charge to 100%.
With proper battery usage, you can expect to see your battery’s lifespan to be prolonged, and reap the maximum from your battery.
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March 8th, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Cool, Alvin! I never knew that!
March 15th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
hahaha glad that helps Elsa
November 9th, 2010 at 2:42 am
This article is very useful for everyone of us. Sometimes the problem is not that big, the only thing we need is to think and use our common sense. And after that, we are going to fix a problem on our own.