How to make the most out of a laptop battery

[chssvl]

I just bought a Compaq Presario M2008 laptop from a friend of mine who had used it for 2 months so you can say it's new. I was just wondering if there's any specfic advise regarding battery care. How can I extend the life of the battery for as long as it's humanly possible? Any tips regarding charging, de-charging, etc.?

[David M]

For rechargable batterys the only thing I know of is to fully discharge your battery at the end of the cycle. Rechargables tend to have a "memory" and will tend to store only as much as the last cycle. Unfortunatly, fully discharging a rechargable used for a laptop is not very practicle.

[glc]

Lithium Ion batteries are not affected by the "memory" issue like NiCad, and to a lesser extent, NiMH batteries. Best care would be to avoid temperature extremes, don't leave it plugged in forever when it's fully charged, and don't leave it dead - if it dies, charge it as soon as possible and charge it fully before turning the laptop on. Being a new laptop, I'd assume it's got a Lithium Ion battery.

[chssvl]

Yes, it's Lithium Ion. I usually have it plugged but should I then make it run on batteries from time to time?

[glc]

Not totally necessary - but unplug it when you aren't using it (powered off) if the battery is at 100%. If the power is on, it's fine to leave it plugged in as it won't keep trying to charge it more.

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by glc If the power is on, it's fine to leave it plugged in as it won't keep trying to charge it more.

Not quite true. The battery will discharge a little bit due to the heat of the laptop, and then recharge. This uses up charge cycles. The best thing to do is to leave the battery out of the laptop when you don't need it and it's sufficiently charged. Put it back in a few hours ahead of when you will need to use the battery just to make sure it's all charged up.

[glc]

That assumes the laptop will even run with the battery removed. Not all laptops can.

[chssvl]

I would probably have to try it out without the battery. Another question. Suppose I use the laptop with the battery and it goes down to 70-80%. Is it best to drain the battery and then recharge or could I recharge right waya?

[thefultonhow]

Originally Posted by chssvl I would probably have to try it out without the battery. Another question. Suppose I use the laptop with the battery and it goes down to 70-80%. Is it best to drain the battery and then recharge or could I recharge right waya?

You could recharge right away.