How can I increase my laptop’s battery life? It’s a common question that technicians field regularly and one that really has a single answer.
Longevity vs. Charge
First, let’s understand the question. The question relates to longevity of the battery not the charge length of the battery. The reason battery lifespan and longevity is so important is because replacement batteries can cost more than $100. Once a battery has lost its ability to charge it is essentially useless.
A Battery In Use Is A Battery Used
The short answer for extending the lifespan of your laptop battery is to simply not use it. That may sound silly and even absurd, but it is the only surefire way to prevent overcharging and charging degradation. Of course, you’re probably asking, “How can I use the laptop if I don’t use the battery?”. Easy, when you use your laptop at home, in a hotel or wherever it’s convenient to plug-in, just remove the battery and use your power adapter to plug into an outlet. You’ll find that a number of technicians actually carry a fully charged battery with them, but use it only when a power source is not easily available.
Alternatives
Other suggestions include drain the battery completely before charging it up and don’t overcharge your battery. If the battery is charged completely, unplug your laptop to prevent overcharge degradation. While this method should increase the lifespan of your battery a bit, the impact of removing the battery is much greater.
Your Thoughts
Have you had to replace a laptop battery? Do you use any other methods to increase the longevity of your battery? Let us know in the comments!
Thank you for this post on longevity of my battery! I have been striking out recently with one of the laptops at home, but that battery is often drained all the way and is used almost all the time. Since I have had to purchase a new laptop batteries , I certainly need all the advice I can get about keeping them working well. From now on, I will only use the battery when I cannot plug the computer in!
Thanks for the comment Erin, glad we were able to provide you with helpful advice!
This is really a nice posting I found through Google & I can’t but just bookmarked it. I wish you will post more and more interesting topic like this one. Regards
Thanks for the post and bookmark!
I use dell quickset to turnoff battery charging so that it will stop charging battery until next reboot, prevents battery overheating.
This is an excellent article. great work done