Laptops Strategies for getting the most out of your laptop batt

[Surve.p]

Hi,
Just wondering what (if any) strategies people are using to get the most out of their laptop batteries...in terms of standby/usage time as well as overall life of the battery.

Some pertinant questions:
Do you charge your lappy 100% and only then disconnect, rather than leave it partially charged (depends on time constraints etc)?
Do you allow your lappy to completely discharge before setting it on charge again?
Do you allow a charge cycle to complete (no charge-to full charge-to no charge) , or do you set it on charge every or anytime you get a chance to?

Some of these strategies help me use my Nimh batts longer, am sure it would be diff for lithium ion batts in Laptops...so looking for some expert opinions on the best way to manage your batt, and extending it's overall life.

Thanks.

 

[Party Monger]

Keep it on-charge as much as possible.

Dont let it heat up much, if u use for downloading, then make sure its well kept and cool. In hot conditions batteries wear quickly.

Every 2-3 days complete discharge is good, if u do it more often no harm.

Once in a month or 2 , let the battery drain and let windows shut down, after that start laptop again and go to bios and stay there till the laptop shuts down completely.

If your charger has a loose connection make sure u fix it and then use, dont keep fidgeting with it, as charging on-off due to the loose contact spoils batteries.

Mine just went from 27% wear to 53% Due to this stupid charger.

 

[F3niX]

Also don't forget to switch off the Bluetooth,WiFi and reduce brightness when not required

This gives a huge increase to the battery life

 

[enigma]

Don't leave it in a discharged state for long periods of time, or you'll kill it.

Lithium Ion have fixed cycles lifetime. Once in a month or two, complete discharge is adivsable [and recharge immediately].

Normal usage, no need to wait for complete discharge, you can recharge at anytime. Lithium batteries don't suffer from 'memory effect' like Ni-MH.

Depending on CPU. Use CPU throttling. So your processor will run at say 800 Mhz low power mode, even if it's a 2 Ghz processor.
This and screen brightness - bluetooth. give the biggest benefit.

Alternatively, purchase a 9-Cell battery if you don't have one.