Inspiron 630m battery and switches query

I was able to order 630m right before they removed the $400 off offer, and am anxiously waiting for it now.
.. 2GHZ/1GBRAM/100GB HD/Intel a/b/g with Bluetooth.

I have two general questions -

1. Since I will be using the laptop mostly at home on my desk. Can I remove the battery after some days from the machine and keep it aside. So that I can put it back only when I need it.
Will this extend the battery life ? Is this recommended ?

2. Is there a wireless on/off and a fingerpad on/off switch on 630m model ?

thanks.

 

1) Yes, it will extend the life of your battery. Just make sure it is between 40-60% charged when you take it out.

2) I don't know about the 630m, but it should have Quikset and you should be able to do it in there. Otherwise I believe you can do it through the bios or control panel.

 

1.) yes it is recommended. If you don't plan on using your battery for a period of time, you should charge it to 40% and then remove it until you are ready to use it. This will extend your battery life in terms of number of recharges/discharges, but it propbably won't extend the actual battery life that you get out of your battery.

2.) FN+F2 should turn off/on the wireless. As for the touchpad, there isn't an actual switch to turn it off.

From my experience, if your laptop uses the Alp driver, it does have the option to turn the touchpad off when a USB mouse is plugged in. You can find this setting in Control Panel--> Mouse. This is a new feature with the latest driver, so you might have to update your touchpad drive.

SG

 

Great. Thanks USAFdude02 and Southerngirl !

 

FN+F2 turns Bluetooth and Wi-fi on. But SG I'm not aware of a switch to turn the touchpad off.... I know you can easily do it from the task manager.

 

There isn't a switch, but you can control via software. If your laptop uses the Alps driver, update to the latest release on Dell. Then goto control panel-->mouse--> and the options are on the first tab. You can set it so that the touchpad is disable/enable, or the keys are dispable/enable. You can also make it where the touchpad is disable when it detecs a USB mouse.

Like I said, this will only work if your laptop uses the Alps driver, but I thought all of the Dell XPS/Inspirons use it. I'll double check.

[edit]Nevermind, you guys are using the Synaptics driver. You might check your mouse properties and see if it has that feature.

 

If I am not mistaken...I believe hearing that you can disable the touchpad by disabling it in the device manager. I don't know if this is true anymore, but if it annoys you that much try it.