batteries

[tooj]

My laptop battery only lasts for about four hours. Is this a normal time. I have been told to keep it charging permanently, but I have also been told that constant charging will ruin the battery anyway. Advice please.

[mk1975]

my dell's battery lasts only an hour, you are lucky:) and a friend who is good with computers also told me that constant charging will ruin battery.

[Hymie]

As mk1975 says, 4 hours is very good. Battery technology is improving – it used to be recommended that rechargeable batteries were fully discharged rather than partially discharged, before re-charging to avoid ‘battery memory effects’.

But whenever you are operating the laptop via the mains, the battery is being kept fully charged – so such a strategy in nigh on impossible to implement.

My advice is to use the laptop on the most convenient power source (battery or mains) – and accept that sooner or later the battery will give up. No particular usage pattern is likely to give a significantly increased/decreased battery life.

[gingejbee]

Yes, four hours is very respectable. Lithium-ion batteries do not suffer memory effects and it really doesn't matter how or when you recharge them. Just accept that they don't last forever and performance will eventually deteriorate.

[bibblebub]

I have used my laptop plugged into the mains for the 6 years that I have had it and as a consequence the battery only lasts for about 10 minutes these days. On the bright side, that is sufficient for the machine to shutdown properly if there is a power cut.