10/29/2011

So your laptop battery is going?

By Edward Prackle


Laptop owners of today benefit largely unknowingly from the latest li-ion batteries which can deliver hours of portable entertainment and practicality without forcing you to seek out a plug socket every five minutes. Sadly all good things must end and laptop batteries which are used repeatedly can start to lose charge and become less efficient over the years.

Before li-ion batteries became a norm in the laptop industry there were different energy storage technologies at work. Ni-Ca and Ni-Mh laptop batteries were mainstays of portable computing for many years, but lithium ion technology is not only able to hold much more energy and output at higher wattages but it is also easier to recharge again and again without suffering problems in the short term.

The prevalence of li-ion batteries means that almost any device manufactured in the past half-decade will use this technology. As a result when the time comes to replace laptop batteries you will not be hard pressed to find options that will help revive an ailing computer. Online retailers stock wide selections of laptop batteries, but before you take the plunge and buy a new one here are a few things you should know.

Laptop batteries are not like standard AA batteries. This is because AA batteries are almost always universally compatible with any device which accepts their form factor. Meanwhile individual laptop manufacturers create batteries which are not only designed for their product range but often for a single computer, so you need to buy the right battery for your specific device when the time comes to seek a replacement.

The diverse shapes, sizes, capacities and power outputs of lithium-ion batteries means that careful examination of the instruction manual that came with your laptop is necessary. If you no longer have this document to hand then the manufacturer will almost certainly have support pages on its official website for further details to be found.

A quick way of determining what kind of battery you need for your laptop is to check the existing unit for an identifying code or name. Entering this into your search engine of choice will be a good way to kick start the process and should also put you in reach of other users who may have been met with issues during their search and subsequently found solutions to help speed up the process.

The good news is that once you have discovered the right laptop battery for you it is possible to shop around to get the best deal. There are manufacturer-approved replacements on the market, although you do not necessarily have to stick with these if there are reputable alternatives from mainstream companies that catch your eye. This is where laptop batteries are similar to AA batteries because there is plenty of competition and so you do not have to rely on one official replacement if you do not wish to do so.

Users who are sick and tired of their laptop batteries sucking up power from the plug and then providing pathetic performance when you are away from home should definitely splash out on a replacement. It is easy to detect when a battery is on its last legs and because the process of decline can be quite speedy it might be worthwhile getting a spare before your current cell has gasped its last as it is always useful to prepare for the worst case scenario. You would buy spare AA batteries so why not spare batteries for your laptop?




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment