Where do you use laptop on battery?

antharr · 01 Jun 2010

RyanC119 said:

College campus. Classrooms don't always have power outlets, and if they do, they are not conveniently placed. Also, a big power cord is a pain to lug around all day in a backpack full of books. Two-hour battery life turns out to be pretty useless...

I can see your point.

strollin · 01 Jun 2010

I can see where the battery would be useful at school. Portable computers were pretty much non-existent when I was in college so I didn't have that experience. I have 4 kids in college right now and 3 of them have netbooks they carry around.

CarlTR6 · 01 Jun 2010

I use the battery at various WiFi hot spots when I travel. I use it on the plane now and then.

Sbrideau · 01 Jun 2010

I use the battery mostly when I'm too lazy to plug the laptop on the power outlet. Or when there isn't a plug nearby (yes, there are places where the outlets are rare). I like having chosen a higher quality laptop since my battery still lasts almost as long as when it was new (it's now around 2 years old). And it's very rare I do that battery cycle, but I do it sometimes to preserve it's life. I find that doing it too often is as bad as never doing it.

mitchell65 · 02 Jun 2010

I posted the the item regarding the running down of a battery using the Setup page because I know a number of members in the little computer group that I run that have bought laptops instead of a desktop system purely to save space or just so that they can be packed out of the way when not in use. This is fine but most of these members use the laptop as a desktop in so far as they switch on in the morning and it is running all day. I have had numerous problems with the machines suddenly shutting down without warning and invariably this has turned out to be an overheating problem.
I now advise laptop users in this category to every now and again use a compressed air can through the side ports to blow out as much dust as possible, to run with the battery out all the time and just charge it up about once a month. To tand the laptop up on a wire cake stand (The open mesh sort) This gives a good airflow under the machine and helps to keep it cool. This seems to work OK as I haven't had nearly so many calls due to overheating.
N.B. Remove cakes from stand prior to using for the laptop :)

kucing13 · 02 Jun 2010

when i'm far from any socket for plug in :)

strollin · 02 Jun 2010

Clogged air vents can definitely become a problem. I have a 7 yr old Fujitsu laptop that my wife uses to play Solitaire and very light web surfing that started freezing up due to overheating. I disassembled it and found the CPU heatsink caked with lint and dust. Cleaned that out and the thing runs great again. The battery in this laptop died years ago but we have always used it plugged in so don't care. About the only use I have for the battery in a laptop is to power the thing long enough to move to another room in the house where it would get plugged back in! The battery in this laptop can still do that but not much more.

Zepher · 02 Jun 2010

I use battery most of the time and plug it in when it needs charging.

Zepher · 02 Jun 2010

mitchell65 said:

I now advise laptop users in this category to every now and again use a compressed air can through the side ports to blow out as much dust as possible, to run with the battery out all the time and just charge it up about once a month. To tand the laptop up on a wire cake stand (The open mesh sort) This gives a good airflow under the machine and helps to keep it cool. This seems to work OK as I haven't had nearly so many calls due to overheating.
N.B. Remove cakes from stand prior to using for the laptop :)

You should avoid completely discharging a Lithium Ion battery since it can damage it.
There are circuits built into devices to shut them down when the battery gets too low, as to avoid it from discharging completely.

kucing13 · 02 Jun 2010

If you want to use the charger,pull the battery out unless you want to charge the battery :)