How to Compare Laptop Battery Life

Battery life is one of the most ignored specifications on laptops, but every laptop owner will inevitably have a moment where they could have used a little more juice. Comparing battery life between laptop types can help you avoid that problem.

  1. Types of Batteries

    • Most modern laptops, as well as cell phones and anything else portable, use lithium-ion batteries. Older laptops used nickel-cadmium or nickel-metal-hydride batteries. Lithium-ion batteries come with different numbers of cells--typically six or nine. Just keep in mind more cells means more chemicals--and therefore, more weight.

    Considerations

    • The battery life ratings offered by manufacturers, usually rated in hours, assume almost all laptop features--such as wireless connectivity, screen brightness, volume level and other features--are disabled or lowered significantly. In fact, a laptop will probably only live up to its battery rating if a blank screen saver is on and is left unused.

    Laptop Effects on Battery Life

    • In addition to screen brightness, wireless transfers and volume levels, laptop battery life is affected by each hardware component. Low-power components--such as the processor, hard drive and wireless interface--allow batteries to last longer.

    Battery Longevity

    • The performance of all batteries will reduce over time with each charge. This will usually become noticeable after 18 to 24 months of use.

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