until death

i heard that batteries have a "memory". that its better to let your laptop die than go..... on off on off on off.

that a "full charge" might actually only be a half charge in reality. hard to explain. am i right?

 

not with litium ion batteries.... infact complete draining laptop batterys will shorten there lifespan. you thinking of nicad's

 

That is if you can completely drain laptop batteries. Normally, it's impossible to drain the li-ion laptop batteries unless you shortcircuit it without the shortcircuit protection circuilt inside the battery case.

 

ah i see. so Nicad will get busted. i have to tell my friend then. he does that to his battery constantly.

 

Heh when i saw this i started thinking back to computers from 10 years ago.

Li-ION batteries are the common now and have been for awhile. They use controllers to prevent losing so much charge that they couldnt be revived and also prevent overcharging. By nature they do not develop a memory and actually do alot better being topped off then drained. A good charge controller prevents the battery from being recharged too soon as is evident on my laptop and my li-ion mouse.

My cell phones li-ion has been going for a solid 3 years and i still only charge it once a week. As computers run through batterys faster dont expect a great lifespan, 2+ years of good service is pretty achievable though my last laptop still held most of its designed charge after 1.5 years. Most wont make it past 3 though.