dell battery oddness

[homer15]

hey everyone,

a week ago i got a message saying that my laptop battery was charging fine, but it MAY be nearing the end of its useability. the very next day, my battery charged lasted probably 30 minutes (opposed to the 100 minutes i'm used to). the message popped up again, except this time it said it IS nearing the end of its useability. the laptop was just a few days over the original 1 year warranty. this all seems like too much of a coincidence to me. my warranty expires, i get a message saying my battery might be dying, then my battery does die. does this seem fishy to anyone else?

[YukonMaster]

My friend had this happen to his dell laptop, the batteries they were using were only rated for about one year so, your getting an extra few days out of it. It will slowly get worse until one day it just wont turn on without the AC adapter.

YukonMaster

[homer15]

i already got a new battery, so it's no big deal. it just seems so fishy to me. i've got another laptop that i've had for 5 years now and it still preforms like the day i bought it.

[YukonMaster]

Alot of older laptop batterys will outlast any of todays batteries simply because the power requirments of yesterdays laptops were less and todays batterys focus more on quality or power, and size of the battery, rather than usage time. They leave that to the hardware manufacturers to make more efficient machines.

YukonMaster

[Kareeser]

Interesting. Mine lasted about a year and a half before it literally conked out one day and the laptop wouldn't turn on without the AC Adapter.

[YukonMaster]

Ya, sometimes the power in battery will just fade or sometimes it will just go. It depends on the type of battery.

[Confused]

hey everyone,

does this seem fishy to anyone else?

It does to me. After all it is their software and they know the day you bought it. Is there any other way to test the battery such as a volt/ohm meter?

I been looking at getting a Dell but this sounds like a way to sell batteries to me. I've read some good things about Gateway. This may have made up my mind.
Chas

[thefultonhow]

I been looking at getting a Dell but this sounds like a way to sell batteries to me. I've read some good things about Gateway. This may have made up my mind.

Dell is overall better than Gateway, so I think that could end up being a mistake. I have heard some horror stories about Gateway support.

[mainiac]

I know Dell had some serious battery problems recently (some of them blew up or fried the computer). Check Dell's site and see if your computer has a defective battery. If so you might be able to get a new one.

[thefultonhow]

Good suggestion, Mainiac! His computer was produced within the approximate time period of the affected batteries, so he may very well be able to get a new one.

[glc]

Not a bad idea for anyone to check their batteries - Dell is only one of several that are recalling them. Lenovo is the latest.

[homer15]

nah, my battery wasn't affected by the recall. i stay on top of those because of our fleet of laptops. as far as testing the battery, i don't know what would be a viable test. i mean, the battery still works, it just doesn't hold a charge for long.