Batteries for Notebook Computers

An important factor to consider is how much battery life you'll need on your laptop.Lithium ion Battery is the major type of battery found in most notebook computers because they have a longer battery life than regular batteries. Battery Life has been slowly increasing in Notebook Computers, especially with the new Sonoma Platform. Battery Life can range from 1 hour up to 6 or 7 hours so check the battery life of the notebook you're intending on buying - it will save you a lot of grief down the road!

Battery life of Top Notebooks

Sony VAIO VGN-T17GP/S :5hr 32min

Compaq Presario B3813AP:4hr 1min

Acer TravelMate 4000 series:6hr 4min

Dell Inspiron :5hr

Fujitsu Stylistic ST5020:4hr 43min

No matter how much battery you have, using your built in DVD drive a lot and having a 15" TFT screen will drain it faster.Battery technology--just like any technology--is improving all the time. Yesterday's laptops featured Ni-Cad (Nickel-Cadmium) batteries that hurt the environment, didn't offer much up-time (comparatively), and had the annoying habit of remembering how long you have used them and refusing to work any longer the next time. Then there were NiMH (Nickel-Metal-Hydride) batteries. They offered longer life, better efficiency, and no memory problems. The current generation of laptops uses Lithium Ion batteries. These batteries are a gain in efficiency over NiMH batteries. At one point, Micron offered a battery plate that fit on the bottom of their laptops, adding size and a few pounds, but got you about 10 hours of battery life. Li-Ion battery is almost equipped with newer models of Notebook Computers.Li-Ion battery produces the same energy as NiMH batteries but weigh approximately 35% less.

Battery Maintenance

New batteries come in a discharged condition and must be fully charged before use. NiCad and NiMH batteries should be charged for approximately 16 hours initially, and Lithium Ion batteries should be charged for about five to six hours.

NiCad batteries must be fully discharged and then fully charged every one to three weeks, depending on frequency of use. Failure to do so will result in "memory effect" and will significantly shorten the battery's life. To discharge, simply run the device under the battery's power until it shuts down or until you get a low battery warning. Then recharge the battery as instructed in the user's manual. Because the NiMH battery has negligible memory effect and the Lithium Ion battery has no memory effect, they do not require conditioning. But we suggest you completely drain the battery and recharge it at least once every month. Or you can use battery optimizer program from utility software installed on your computer by the vendor to correct battery memory problems.

Ensure maximum performance of the battery by optimizing the device's power management features.Judicious use of your notebook's power-management software can translate into many minutes of extra computing time. If your notebook comes with a power console applet that lets you create customized power profiles, use it to adjust the settings until you get the right mix of functions and battery life. Some laptops claim up to five hours worth of up-time on one battery--take this figure with a grain of salt. That's probably how long the battery would last if you put on the blank-screen screen saver and didn't touch it for five hours. Expect more in the range of two or three hours per battery under continual use. The Power Options and Power Management programs have settings for your notebook's other big power glutton--the hard drive--as well. Once again, you'll need to find the setting that works best for you. Remember to reduce the frequency of auto saves in PIMs, word processors, and other software; your hard drive may otherwise lose power-saving sleep.

To keep your laptop's CPU from doing unnecessary work, shut down any hardware or software you don't need. Check the icons in your system tray (on the bottom right near the clock); there's a good chance you can shut most of these down, though they will likely restart the next time Windows loads.

Disable devices you don't need that may draw a small amount of power when on but not in use. For instance, if you're on a long flight, you probably won't use your modem, your network card, your parallel and serial ports, and possibly your DVD or CD-ROM drive. You can easily disable all of these in Device Manager.In Windows 2000 and XP, right-click My Computer and select Properties, Hardware, Device Manager. To disable a device, right-click its listing under the appropriate category and choose Disable.

Don't use the notebook battery if you don't have to! Many people keep their laptop plugged in most of the time. They can preserve their notebook battery life by storing the battery outside the laptop in a cool place.